“I can not stay here,” she mumbled quietly to herself. After a minute of careful contemplation, she headed off in the direction she thought she had come, hoping for the best.

Thunder rumbled in the distance as Dani stumbled over tree roots that she failed to see. The wind that had been nonexistent a moment ago shook the tree branches overhead with its strength.

Dani moved faster threading her way between two giant Oak trees as a streak of lightening lit up the night sky. The thunderstorm was heading in her direction.

“There is no way I can find my way out of these woods before the storm reaches me. I have to find shelter,”Dani whispered to herself as she watched another streak of lightening illuminate the sky behind her.

It was closer this time.

Dani pressed on through the woods running now as fast as her legs would carry her desperately trying to find somewhere she could hide and let the storm pass.

The steady downpour soaked her to the skin. Her clothes clung to her making it more difficult to move.

Visibility was a major problem as there was no Moon. She had to inching her way along using her hands and feet to guide her around any obstacle in her way.

Thunder crashed above her causing Dani to leap forward quickly. She tripped over a log and landed face first in rushing water. Sputtering she lifted her face out of the swirling water. Dani guessed she had somehow circled back to the stream and was now prone in the middle of it.

“I’m lost!” Dani sat in the middle of the stream overcome with the utter hopelessness of her situation. She knew she had never run across a log by her favorite spot at the stream. Dani had no idea which way to go to get home.

Listlessly, she managed to get up and walk to a nearby bush that was just high enough off the ground for her to curl up in a ball under it as the storm raged on around her.

Dani lay there in a miserable heap waiting for the storm to end or someone to realize she was missing and come find her. She was too scared to move.

Tears streamed down her face mixing with the rain as she cried out plaintively into the night,” I want to go home!” Exhausted, she fell into a deep troubled sleep. Periodically she would whisper in her sleep, “Please find me,” in a soft pitiful whimper.

When next she woke, it was at the insistent prodding of a wet nose. Dani kept her eyes closed and shrank back in fear thinking it was a wild animal. The wet nose once again poked her. Then a tongue licked her on the cheek and an excited barking encouraged her to open her eyes.

Dani slowly opened one eye and then the other. She found herself nose to nose with a dog. Not just any dog, though. “Chocolate!” Dani screamed in delight as she squirmed out from under the bush into the early morning light.

Chocolate, her Golden Retriever pranced back and forth sharing in her happiness, pleased that he had found his young owner.

In the distance, voices were calling her name repeatedly. Her family was looking for her!

“Come on Chocolate, let’s go meet them!” Dani laughed in relief, grabbing hold of his collar she headed towards the voices that were drawing closer.