Little Red Rose

The grey wolf howled in sorrow at the moon, it's calls echoing into the eternal black of night like the toll of a bell. It clawed and scratched the walls of its cage, biting hysterically at the manacles binding it to the ground. Like tears from the eye of a lonely child blood and sweat dripped ever so slowly from its mouth.

All around the encaged animal stood a throng of furious, seething people. Women in their Sunday dresses, makeup dabbed meticulously upon their smug faces. Men in business suits with finely cropped hair and suitcases at the ready.

Adolescent girls, frantically chattering away on their mobile phones, cast obsessive eyes towards pocket mirrors. Young men with all manner of gold jewellery hanging from every limb like trophies made threatening gestures. Priests with large, metallic crosses resting at their hearts roared "Blasphemy!" and held wooden crucifixes out in protection from the captured beast.

Rose

Dakota, a grey wolf at the UK Wolf Conservation Tr...

The wolf blows down the straw house in a 1904 adap...

The enraged pack screamed in utter resentment at the animal, pointing at it like it was some kind of monstrosity. A particularly irate member cast a stone through the iron bars, smashing the solitary creature in the face. The rest of the mob followed suit, picking up and throwing stones at the helpless wolf.

It backed into a corner, scratching at the bars and letting out a terrified whimper. Once more a rock flew into the animal's face, blood now pouring from its snout from several deep cuts. Letting out one last powerless, frail howl, the wolf dropped to the ground, its final breaths a slow drip of water from a rusty tap.

•The black haired girl's blue eyes, wide and dilated, suddenly opened, her face wet from tears and sweat. But, as open as her eyes were, her mind was closed tight shut.

Her previously loose...