The First Encounter
The forest was alive, rustling leaves, distant bird calls, and the soft crunch of boots over fallen twigs.
Ten-year-old Aarohi clutched her father's hand tightly, her eyes gleaming with curiosity as they followed the winding trail deep into the heart of the jungle. It was their annual family tradition, a weekend trek away from the chaos of city life.
"Stay close, Aarohi," her mother called from ahead, brushing a low-hanging branch out of the way.
"I am, Mama!" Aarohi replied, but her gaze had already drifted to the bushes to her left. Something had moved.
She paused, peering between the shrubs.
A soft, low whimper.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Hidden in the tall grass, barely breathing, was a small black creature, not much larger than a dog. Its fur shimmered like silk under the dappled sunlight, but it was coated with dirt and blood. A deep gash stretched across its hind leg.
A baby panther.
For a long moment, Aarohi froze. She had seen pictures of wild cats in her schoolbooks, but never this close. And never like this, trembling, bleeding, scared.
Her instincts took over.
Without thinking, she knelt beside the creature, ignoring her father's distant voice calling her name. The panther cub looked up at her with wide golden eyes, not fierce, not wild, just... broken.
"It's okay," she whispered, gently extending her hand.
To her surprise, it didn't growl or flinch. It simply lay still, too weak to resist.
By the time her parents found her crouched beside it, Aarohi was already wrapping her scarf around its wound.
"Absolutely not!" her mother said. "It's dangerous. We can't take a wild animal home."
But Aarohi's father studied the injured cub for a moment, then looked at his daughter's pleading eyes.
"We can't just leave it to die either," he murmured. "We'll call the vet when we get back."
And so, the panther cub came home with them.
Few Weeks Later…
The cub, now stronger and alert, had become part of Aarohi's daily life. She named him Shadow, because he followed her around the garden like one. He would rest his head on her lap when she did homework and purr softly as she read him stories aloud.
But the forest was never meant to be caged.
When Shadow had finally recovered fully, Aarohi stood with her parents near the edge of the jungle. She knew this moment would come, the moment to say goodbye.
"Go on," she said softly, tears in her eyes. "You're free now."
Shadow paused. His golden eyes met hers for a moment longer, as if memorizing her, and then he disappeared into the trees.
But something told her... that wasn't the end.
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