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12 By Isabelle LeFebvre On June 18th, 2008, I turned 11. The big one-one. That day I was walking to the living room, I had forgotten it was my birthday. I sat down in my favorite chair and picked up the book I was reading. I could here my brothers just waking up and my dad going outside to get the paper and my mom letting the family dog Skye out the door. I could here my brothers wrestling even though it was only 7 in the morning but I could care less. I kept reading. That is until everyone sat down on the couch across from my chair and stared at me. Finally my brother broke the silence. “Mom,” He had said, “She doesn’t look 11.” “What?” I shot back, “I’m 10. I won’t be 11 for another week!” “Honey,” My mom had said looking a little worried, “Your head must still be in last week. Have you looked at a calendar in a while?” I had sprung off the couch and ran to the calendar. I sat down on the couch and smiled. “Let’s get this party started then!,” I said. Also that day, after dinner, I had gotten a new puppy. I was thrilled. Those are just 3 of the words that described how I felt. It was a Border collie puppy that I named Jess. But this was a year ago. Now Jess and I are both one year older. 1 year later… “This is your big day!” my mom sang. I was going to be performing a dance with my friend, and we were representing Minnesota. It was a dance competition through out the world but we were only at state. At least for now. Everyone was clapping for us. I could feel my face burning up. Now it was up to the judging table. “You did awesome!” my dance instructor said. She had made up the dance. She called it ‘Battle Scene.’ My friend and I had no idea why. I heard a barking sound. Jess came on stage. Everyone awed. I picked her up. All of a sudden people dressed in all black broke through the windows on the ceiling with a crash. My dance instructor yelled, “Get them!” I relaxed. She had it all under control. The security guards ran in. The black dudes didn’t stand a chance. I was wrong. My dance instructor had meant… me. Security guards and the black dudes were headed towards me. I tried to run but my dance instructor held me firm, making me a clear target. I got shot with something. I felt like I was floating through darkness. All I could feel was my dog and all I could hear was my mom’s never ending scream. I woke up in a dark room. I got up. I found the door. I tried it. It wouldn’t open. I wanted to scream. My dog was gone along with everyone I had ever once known. I was trapped. I found a chair and a window. I tried standing on my chair and opening the window. That was also locked. I noticed a security camera on the ceiling so I kicked it until I knew it wouldn’t work anymore. I lay down on my bed and noticed part of the ceiling was ajar. I didn’t waste one moment. I put the chair on top of a desk I had just found and climbed on top of the chair reached up and yes! It opened. I hoisted my self on to the top of the roof I then noticed I was still wearing my dance outfit that had high heels. My dance instructor had probably planed that. I threw off my shoes and dropped them down into my old dark room. I ran on top of the roof and found a shed. I calculated its height away from me. I decided to jump. I landed, not as quietly as I had wanted to but, hey, I landed and didn’t die or break anything. I jumped off of the shed and landed on the grass. I decided to look around and try and find my dog. It was nearly an hour after I escaped. So far so good. The sun was just starting to rise. I had found out absolutely nothing yet. Almost another hour later, I had found what I thought to be the main house. The good news was that I could hear my dog barking. The bad news was that there were security guards everywhere. My plan was to jump on top of the wheel barrel and use it as a lever to kick off the earth and on top of the roof. ‘Here I go.’ I thought. I was inside the laboratory. I found tons of dogs barking and then I found my dog, cowering agents the back of her crate. A black dude was trying to get her out of there for who knows what. My dog bit him. “Yeah Jess!” I totally surprised the dude. He hit his head on the back of another crate. He came at me. I tripped him easily. A dance move. I grabbed my dog as at least 30 security guards came streaming out. I found a remote and decided to press the green button. There was a pleasant ding as all the dog’s crates were opened. The security guard’s eyes opened wide as they wrestled to get to the door first. The dogs started barking and ran after the security guards. I could hear their muted yelps. I buried my face in my dog’s fur. “Lets go home.” I whispered. Jess barked in agreement.