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                            Love,

                              Rihanna

Rihanna Caithryn Arellano-Ramos  is a 6th Grade Homeschool student. She loves drawing, making comic books, flipbooks, and writing short stories! She also enjoys baking cookies and outdoor sports!

Fozzy the bear was still awake in the middle of the night. He was thirsty.

Since it was winter, he could not find enough water, because the rivers and lakes turned into solid ice.

If he were to break a hole in the ice, the water would be freezing cold.

“Hmmm,” Fozzy thought. “I’m not sure if I can last winter. I need to migrate with my friends tomorrow,”

And so, the next day, Fozzy asked his friends: Fox, Wolf, and Cue the hedgehog if they want to migrate with him.

“I’m having a hard time finding meat since the other animals left. I will come with you,” Fox said.

“I’ll come too!” Wolf said.

“I will come, but may I bring my baby hedgehogs on the journey? I can’t leave them; they will go hungry.” Cue asked, shivering from the cold.

“Of course you can come with them. But can you carry them all?” Fozzy asked.

“I’m afraid that I can’t. Can you help me bring them? They are 4 months old, and they’re very small. So please bring them very carefully,” Cue said to Fozzy.

“Don’t worry, I will handle them gently. This is what great friends do!” Fozzy smiled.

After the conversation, Cue went to her burrow to get her little baby hedgehogs. She went to the nest and saw them, tucked under the leaves and branches. She picked them up and went to where the others were.

Later, they got ready and prepared some food to bring.

Then they set off to their journey.

They were in the middle of a snowy forest when suddenly some balls of ice fell from the sky. 

“What’s going on?” Cue asked, nervously. 

Fox and Wolf picked up a ball of ice saying, “I think it’s hailstorm.” 

“Oh no!” Cue said, running in circles. 

“Come on, let’s find shelter.” Fozzy said, running towards the nearest cave. 

They ran as fast as they could, until Fox noticed Cue was missing. 

“Guys…” Fox said, trembling. 

“What is it?” Wolf asked. 

“Wait, where’s Cue?” Fozzy asked. 

“I don’t know, but the last time I saw her was when we went past the berry bushes.” Wolf said. 

“Oh no, there she is!” Fozzy yelled, running towards the berry bushes. 

The group followed, and then they saw Cue— lying on the ground. 

“Cue, are you okay?” Fozzy said, inspecting Cue if she had any injuries. 

“No, I don’t think so. A ball of hail fell on me, and my head hurts.” Cue said, rubbing her head. 

“Oh my…” Fox said while picking her up, taking her at a nearby cave. The others followed. 

“Aaaahhh!” Wolf screamed upon reaching the cave.

“Whaaaat?” Fox asked, quite surprised. 

“A SNAAAAKE!” Wolf shouted and barked. 

A huge snake is in the cave, ready to attack. 

“Hmm, I think I can handle that…” Cue said then stood up without hesitation. She swiftly shot her spikes at the furious snake. 

Fozzy threw some balls of ice towards the snake. Fox and Wolf snarled and barked at the snake. The snake hissed at them— frightened, before leaving. The group cheered for victory. 

Cue peeked outside, saying “The hailstorm’s over”. 

Wolf followed Cue and replied, “That’s great! But how are you feeling?” 

“I’m feeling better now. Thanks to that snake I regained my strength and reflexes.” Cue said jokingly. 

So, the four friends left the cave and continued their journey.

After a few hours of walking, they stopped under the trees to take a rest. Cue saw a squirrel gathering acorns and nuts, stuffing them in its cheeks. Cue turned to Fozzy, who was busy munching on his fish. 

“Look, over there!” Cue whispered, pointing at the squirrel.

“What?” Fozzy said, looking up from his meal. 

Cue pointed at the squirrel again saying, "It’s a squirrel,”

Everybody, except Cue, stood up and crawled over to the squirrel, who was busy pushing its nuts into some holes in the tree. Cue wanted to help them capture the squirrel, so she 

shot out a spike at the poor squirrel— making the squirrel jump in shock. 

The defenseless squirrel got scratched fiercely with claws and spikes, until 

it squeaked, “Oh please stop!”

“What will we get if we stop? We just want food!” Fox said. 

The squirrel replied “Hmmm… I will give you some fruits and nuts, and some branches— 

in exchange for my life. Just please don’t eat me!”

“Well, I can have the nuts for supper.” Cue said, popping a nut in her mouth.

“The branches are for campfire,” Fozzy added. 

“We are so sorry,” Wolf apologized to the squirrel. “We just wanted a decent meal.”

You can even come with us if you want. It’s dangerous being alone here.” Fox suggested while plucking some spikes off the squirrel. 

“What is your name by the way?” Cue asked. 

“I’m Squek.” The squirrel said. “Ok then I’ll come with you. Just promise not to eat me?”

Fozzy, Fox, Wolf, and Cue all laughed and agreed.

The group spent hours of walking. Soon they saw an abandoned village. They rushed inside houses and kicked wooden doors open.

They tumbled tables and chairs, refrigerators, wardrobes and televisions. Everyone was busy finding food in the whole house when Cue called out, 

“Guys, come here, I found someone!”

Everybody ran through the  mess and went in the bedroom to see. 

It was a white dog with brownish-orange spots. A collar hung around its neck, labeled, Woof.  “Is your name Woof? And why are you alone in here?” Squek inquired. 

“Yes, I’m Woof My human left and did not come back for me.” the dog replied, sadly. 

“Aww, that's too sad. Do you want to come with us? Fox asked. “We will move to a place where there’s enough food, water, and shelter for all of us.” Fox added. 

“Sure, I want to come!” Woof replied, his face lit up.

Shortly they left the village and spent a few minutes walking.