Black Morass I got Fire in My Soul

Helen bolted through the forest, tongue lolling from the side of her mouth. Her ears flapped wildly in the wind. Instead of the usual crunching of the icy snow, or the rustling of leaves beneath her paws, this time it was a squelchy sound that grew louder the further she ventured. Her agile legs were starting to ache as the perpetual stickiness of the ground seemed to pull her down. Speeding towards any direction on this terrain was a risk - that was what two years of experience had taught her. The mudflats in Alaska were giant trap holes, waiting sinisterly to engulf any unsuspecting victim.

By now, the tips of her pale coat was dripping with mud. Panting heavily, she finally decided that this was enough racing for a day. One paw after another, she cautiously padded through the mushy grounds, as the ambience of the woods finally started to sink into her. It felt empty here, except for the eerie croaks of frogs. Empty. Empty. So empty, that it was spooky. The towering, thick trees looked nothing like the ones back in the coast, but were extremely intimidating. Helen felt regret creeping up onto her. Perhaps she should have been a little more careful to where she was mindlessly dashing into. 

It wasn't night, but it was dark. The umbrellas that surrounded her blocked every ray of warm, golden sunshine from creeping into this lonely place, with its lush canopy. For now, she needed to look for a place to call her temporary home. But at the same time, she fervently hoped that she would not sink into the ravenous pits below her before she found shelter.

Not long after careful treading through the mud, Helen stopped. Her ears twitched as other squishing noises resounded from a distance. A mudskipper? That was too loud and too frequent to belong to one. Of all the places she expected to find company, Helen spotted the silhouette making its way in her direction. Intrigued, she peered inquisitively from behind a solid stump of wood, squinting at the figure as it drew nearer and nearer. While her last encounter with the brute back at the sound was everything but pleasant, she tried to mind her own business this time. However, she knew eventually he might find her. So, Helen decided to approach him. With her tail curling into an awkward position, she greeted: "Uh, hello."