I grew up outside. During my childhood, I could never be kept indoors. It just felt wrong not having the sky above my head and the wind in my face. I loved the outdoors. Today was no different from any other. Early in the morning there was a refreshing rainshower that left the ground moist and soft, and I was having great fun wriggling my toes in under the soil, and watching the myriad bugs scuttle away in fear.
My life isn't all sunshine and butterflies, though. Recently there have be rumours of outsiders, some call them people, who are coming and taking us away. We never hear from those they take again. My father says that these rumours are true, and we must remain extra vigilant so that we don't get taken. My mother, on the other hand, whom I am constantly attached to, says that my father is just exaggerating, and that we are so valuable to the strangers that they would never dream of taking us away. Mom's a bit full of herself sometimes.
But the day came that my father's predictions came true. I was in the field, minding my own business and playing with the bugs in the dirt when I heard shouting, far off and faint. Looking up, fear stole over me as a huge shadow loomed in the distance. I tried to run, but I couldn't pull my feel from the ground. Rough hands grabbed me and forced me over. The sharp sunlight pierced my eyes as my world was turned upside down. My heart beat faster. In the distance I heard screaming, terrible screaming. A glint of steel filled the sky, as the blades came down and enclosed my neck. I cried out in agony as they sliced through the soft tissue there. Everything went black.
Jane caught the rose before it could hit the ground. If she had listened carefully, she would just have been able to make out a tiny, distant scream.