Survival In The Wild 
When I was a 28 year old man 44 years ago, with a German wife and two kids of mine, 10 year old boy and girl, they had to write something about their parent’s life and they picked me. So I told them about something that happened 60 years ago. Something weird…
Now, I’m an old man, age 72 with people waiting for me outside my house  everyday. My children published my story when they became older, which caused a lot of arguing, and people taking sides about my story. In the end, they decided to ask the person who was there, and it is me.  
As people are waiting for me outside, I am preparing to commit suicide. So I prepared this for them. Don’t worry about the story because I remember it like yesterday. And this story, my “story,” starts with my friends and I chasing a dog during Halloween.
 

My story takes place in Ontario (Canada), in 2008. It was Halloween that day, and my friends and I were trick-or-treating until my pet, Belgian Malinois ran away and we ran after him, yelling for him to come back, but unfortunately he kept on running.
The reason why we went after him is because he always find some valuable things like bones from the past, and even more. He even found a buried treasure box full of gold when my family and I brought him to Georgian Bay.
Anyways, we found ourselves in a forest. My dog was digging the ground furiously and found nothing. Of course, my friends blamed me, and they expected me to find a way out, but I couldn’t because all you could see around you is trees, trees and more trees. We eventually decided to camp there because it was getting dark. My friend, Oliver had complained about how hungry he was, until I shoved candy in his mouth.
Now our only problem we’re facing is how cold it was. But it wasn’t a problem, because my other friend Howard brought a lighter and a couple of glowsticks. I asked him why he had a lighter and he stuck his tongue out. We gathered sticks, leaves and stones and in no time, we made a campfire. 
I was looking at the fire, wondering what time it was until I heard snoring. I looked up and saw both of my friends, sleeping. I started to feel sleepy, but I didn’t want to leave us unprotected. So I tried to stayed awake for a minute, until my dog curled next to me. I touched his fur, and fell asleep.

When I woke up, I saw my friends chatting around the extinguished campfire.  My dog was chasing a squirrel around a tree. I sat up and joined my friends.
My friends decided that they should walk around and find a way out of the forest. I agreed quickly, until Oliver asked about what food we would eat, until my dog came up to him and let go of the squirrel he was chasing. It was dead.
I told them that we could eat squirrels and rabbits like in “The Hunger Games”, that just came out at that time, but they argued with me, saying that they rather die than eat those poor creatures, until I pointed that eating only chocolate will make us unfit. Then they agreed with me. So we snatched the dead squirrel from my dog.
So we started walking. Oliver was humming a song, and Howard was whistling, I think he was whistling ,”Some Nights” by Fun. I was throwing sticks and my dog went after the sticks and brought them back.
We stopped walking when we saw a sign laying face down. We held it up, and it said, “STOP” on it. I said that it was very good news, because that could mean that we are close to a town or something. We were wondering why the sign was there.
We left the sign there and kept going. We found a cave at some point so we decided to rest there. We started a fire in the cave and ate the squirrel. By the time we were finished, it started to rain.
So we decided to explore the cave. With a stick on fire, we walked down the cave and found truly amazing things: Half-Burnt Scrolls, Vases, bones from animals and more. We even found weapons made of bone. We let my dog eat the bones (from animals), and we took a look at the scrolls.
Most of the writing was erased or burnt out, but it said something about a Flood, and something about god. Oliver (who is Christian) said that they were actual records of the Bible, and Howard and I agreed. Why else would it have said a god and a flood?
We decided to leave the scrolls and take the weapons. We could use them in case of an emergency later. We went back up and we realized that it was night time.  
Before we went to sleep, I told them that there should be a guard each time we sleep and then change from time to time. They agreed so Howard and I left Oliver on duty.
 
When we woke up, Oliver was gone.
Howard was shocked by the news because Oliver was one of his best friends and he yelled at me when I suggested that he was eaten by a man-eating squirrel. I knew Oliver really well, because he is the type of person who likes joke around, so I expected him to come out of nowhere and freak Howard out. But as time passed, I began to grow worried and told Howard that we should find him.
He agreed quickly. We grabbed the bone-made weapons and headed out of the cave. We called Oliver’s name. My dog howled and then he sniffed the ground and started heading towards the river. We followed my dog and we found Oliver, dead. He was lying in a pool of blood and lying face-down. We didn’t know how he died and we didn’t want to find out.
I told Howard that we should get out of this forest quickly, before we get in more danger. He said that if we are going get out, we need to do it now. We glanced at his body for some time, saying our last goodbyes to our dead friend until my dog yelped. We looked and saw nothing but bushes and trees. I asked my dog what is wrong, but he kept on whimpering.
Suddenly, I heard a rustle in the bushes and a I saw a humongous bear coming towards us. I grabbed Howard’s arm and we ran as fast as we can. Howard yelled at me to stop running and I told him to look behind him. Then he shut up and kept on running. We eventually lost the bear, and we panted heavily. My dog fell asleep. We were really exhausted that we fell asleep.
I felt someone poking me and I looked up and saw three kids looking at me. I yelled and scooted back. Howard woke up complaining about how loud I yelled, and then he saw the kids, and scooted back with me.
I recognized the kids. They’re in my school, and one grade below us. Their names are Brandon, Phillip and Stephen Bardsley. All of them are brothers and Oliver, Howard and I met them during trick-or-treating. I asked them what they’re doing here, and they said that they were finding their treehouse in the woods but they got lost finding it. Howard and I got up and told them what happened to us so far. Then they said that we should find their treehouse before anything bad happens.
We found it when it was around mid-day. The treehouse looked like an actually house, only that it was on a tree and with a ladder.
We all went in, and relaxed on the chairs, and I asked them if they made the treehouse by themselves, and they said that actually didn’t make this and their grandfather made it when he was younger. After we asked each other questions, we ate some nuts and berries the three found in the woods, and we decided to sleep early and plan on what to do tomorrow.  

Someone was poking me and I woke up. It was Brandon. He looked really shaken up, with Stephen, my dog and Howard. I looked around and I saw Phillip on the ground next to me. I stood up and examined him. His face was really pale, and I realized that he was dead. I asked them about how he died, and they said that they don’t know. Little Stephen glared with me, as if I did it. Howard looked at me nervously. Brandon was as pale as his brother, and he kept on looking from Howard, to my dog, to me.
Later, when Howard, Brandon and I were collecting sticks for a fire downstream, leaving Stephen and my dog at the treehouse, I told Brandon that we didn’t kill his brother. He stayed silent for a minute and he replied that he thinks that it's his little brother, Stephen, because of the amount of times Phillip teased him.
When we came back, we found my dog, lying down, sleeping, but we didn’t see Stephen anywhere. We woke my dog up and asked him where he was. My dog sniffed the air and started running. We went after him and saw Stephen on the ground, dead. His neck had teeth marks on it.
Brandon was lost in words. I tried to comfort him, but he wanted to be alone. I left him alone and talked to Howard. I said that we need to get out of here. He agreed with me. We called Brandon over but he was still upset and told us to leave him alone.
Howard and I started getting ready to leave. We left my dog with Brandon. We packed all we can find, canned food, drinks, et cetera.
As we were packing, I realised that it was quiet outside. No chirping of the birds, no rustle of the wind, panting of my dog and no sound of sniffling from Brandon. We started to get worried. We called their names but no reply came.
We wondered what happened to them. We were too scared to go outside and see. We thought about this and brainstormed. Why aren’t they answering? We thought of two things: 1. That something attacked them and are waiting for us to come out or 2. They attacked each other and one of them are waiting for us outside or 3. Both attacked each other and died.
We both thought that something attacked them and waiting for us outside. I said that the best choice was to wait here since we have enough food and drink and it’ll eventually leave. Brandon thought that this was an excellent plan. Then we realized something. Where are we? What about our parents? We started to get worried and worried. We decided to leave this place when things calm down. Then run in one direction, hoping to find something.

We regretted staying in the treehouse that night because it was cold outside, and living in a treehouse and being covered in blanket didn’t change the temperature that much. It was still cold.
Brandon said that we should just run and hope for the best, and I agreed. I don’t want to stay in this place anymore.
The moment we landed on the ground, we started running, but we didn’t run long because we had no energy. Suddenly we heard a bark behind us. It was my dog, it had blood on it's teeth and it was running after us. He looked mad. We started running as fast as we can. My dog chased after us, barking and growling. As we were running, I saw police patrol with dogs. I think they were looking for us.
I yelled as loud as I could and sprinted at them. Brandon did the same. We were so close to being saved. But my dog was catching up to us, and sank its teeth in my leg…

I don’t know what happened after that, but I found myself in a hospital.. Brandon told me that the police shot my dog. My mom yelled at me for a couple of minutes, but ended up hugging me. She said that she’ll get me a cat. I said good. I had enough of dogs.
When I looked at my leg, there was teeth marks on it. The doctor said that he fixed my wound, and it would heal in a few weeks.
Everyone wanted to know what happened but I just said that I got lost in the woods with my friends and my dog got mad and he killed Oliver.
Nothing happened much for the rest of my life. I went to Brandon’s funeral (he died of smoking).

Now this my story. Are you happy now? I’ve been keeping this story for a long time… I tried to not tell anyone… I have a gun in my hand, ready to kill myself… And when I pull the trigger, I will say one thing…
IT'S ALL MY CHILDREN’S FAULT! I BEEN DREAMING OF EVERYTHING IN THE WOODS HAUNTING ME… TREES AND EVEN CUTE SQUIRRELS!!!! ALL MY CHILDREN REMINDED ME OF MY NIGHTMARE, FEELING BAD FOR MYSELF!!!!!!!!!!

*gunshot fires*

THE END