I sat on a roof instead of following the others; I was in no way interested in going to a convention. My head still hurt from the smoke when I followed Shadow and Ice to that burning house. I pressed on my temple trying th block out the thoughts in my head.

"Maman! Papa! Where are you?!" My own voice called in my head as it ran through the burning forest. I saw the image of my mother running as fast as she could. "Quick! Don't let her get away!" A human growled and raised a gun. "Maman!" I screamed my eyes went wide in horror as she went limp and collapsed to the ground. I froze in my place; I couldn't move. My paws were petrified in fear. The man wore a satisfied smirk on his face at the mutilated corpse of my mother. With a twisted grin he reloaded and pointed the gun toward me. I knew it was the end I shut my eyes when the rifle blast exploded through the air. But I felt no entry of the bullet. I slowly reopened my amber eyes, "Papa!" I barked. He had thrown himself in front of me. His beautiful caramel-white coat stained with blood. "Papa, let me help you!" I nudged at him trying to push him up. "Echo, no!" He growled and thrashed. I stopped stepping back. He panted heavily, "It's too late for me. You must live on and continue walking. Your life can't end here." His ears perked up at the cocking of a rifle. His amber eyes burning with an interanl fire. He staggered to his feet and ran at full speed toward the hunters. Lundging into them and tearing open one of their necks. "Quickly! Echo run!" He barked at me; my feet took off on pure instinct. I yelped when I heard the gun; it was over. My jaw trembled as I ran. The large evergreens had caught ablaze and burned brightly. It was like a horrible celebration. "Look! There's another one!" Another man yelled and took aim. I quicken my speed and narrowly escaped the incoming bullets. They impacted the ground as my paws avoided them. I was close the river would not be far off I could escape them from there. Suddenly, an ominous cracking engulfed my hearing. It grew louder; I turned to see that one of the pines had begun to collapse. But, I realized much to late; the heavy tree thudded as it slammed to the forest floor. I yelped in pain. It had landed on my hind legs. My fur caught fire and it burned my skin. The cackling of the flames almost seemed as if they were laughing at my weakness. I twisted and pulled my way out from under the trunk. I ran with a limp; my fur was still ablaze with the evil flames. They licked at my back with their burning consumtion. The clear waters of the river made itself I visible. I took one finally leap and crashed into the icy water. I woke up on the bank the neck day; my legs and torso throbbed horribly and were caked with dry blood and destroyed skin. My fur had almost completely burned away. I hobblied slowly up the bank. But stopped, I could venture no further when my eyes took their first look upon my childhood home. Everything was gone. The pines were charred black and numbers of them lay collapse. There were no longer any songbirds; the air only smelled of death. I limped closer. Desperation burning my core; I let out a long howl. I waited ofr a moment waiting to hear a return; but there was only silence. I trembling and collapsed to the ground. I was truly alone. I ran away from that horribly place and took on the form of a human. It was the only thing left for me.

I tried to stop the memories and make them go away from my thoughts. I shouldn't be thinking like this. I shook my head and stared off into the sun. I shouldn't get so close to them. I thought. I will only ending up losing them. My hands trembled; I bit my lip and hopped to the ground. I needed to get these thoughts out of my head; I jumped off the roof and ran toward the convention. I didn't know why but I wanted desperately to see the other wolves; it was all I wanted to think.
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So Echo decided to go after all. Just a small glimpse into her past induced by the sight of the burning house. She's afraid to be alone but she doesn't want to get close to people becuase she's afraid she'll lose them too.