“What was that?” I whispered quietly to Annie.

“I don’t know.” She said, tentatively.

“It’s okay.” I squeezed her hand.

“Oh my-” I clapped my hand over her mouth.

“Shh!”

I had seen it too.

Two eyes. A nose. Large, round lips. A face. It was a girl.

Or was it?

She moved all too stealthily out from her hiding place behind a large tree, she was all too graceful and all too feline.

She barely made a sound.

Annie gasped. I pushed down harder on her mouth. But she had seen something I hadn’t quite noticed yet. It was a mountain lion. Headed right towards the girl.

Oh. My. God.

What am I supposed to do?

My first instinct was to run, screaming, in front of the girl, who could be no older than eight. But I was stopped suddenly from my actions, because the girl was wrapping her arms tightly around the mountain lion. The lion seemed to bend down to her level.

The mountain lion seemed to spring back on its heels and then-

Gone. They were both gone, just as quickly as they had appeared.