Olive lived in a New York City, in a studio apartment in a bright pink cage with a squeaky little wheel in the corner. Her water bottle dripped just a little and her food was always just a little bland, but Olive had a great life. Her days usually consisted of waking up and watching Elizabeth get ready, eating breakfast, sleeping most of the day, and then anxiously waiting for Elizabeth to return home so they could finally play. Elizabeth was Olive’s owner but also her favorite human being in the whole world. Elizabeth was a 10 year old red-head with the cutest little freckles that dotted her face and her green eyes shined when she played with Olive. When Elizabeth wasn’t busy with school she would take Olive everywhere, whether it be to the park or the coffee shop. They would do everything together, they were the best of friends. One day the apartment was filled with a flurry of excitement and a hurry of hands. Elizabeth filled her dotted purse with lipstick, odd change and her sunglasses. How odd questioned Olive, they must be going somewhere. Maybe they were visiting Elizabeth’s grandmother. The family visited Elizabeth’s grandma every so often so it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary but they hadn’t mentioned a word about it all week. Olive didn’t think much of the ruckus so she dozed off to sleep. Olive woke up as the afternoon sun warmed the prickles on her back, it was peaceful in the apartment. Maybe she would get out of her cage and explore the kitchen for some crumbs, maybe take a float in the toilet, or scratch her prickles on the sofa. All of these things were forbidden when the family was home. There was loophole in Olive’s cage that only she knew about, she could get out at any time by just wiggling the latch with her nose. Olive didn’t like to escape very often, only when the family was out of town. She had a traumatizing experience the first time she escaped. She had made a stealthy getaway and was on her way to the chips drawer, she just wanted the taste the cheesy goodness of Doritos. As she was making her way to her destination huge human feet started coming down all around her. Olive knew right then she was not going to make it. One of these gigantic feet would squish her like a little bug, Elizabeth would be so devastated! Curling up into a round little ball was the only thing Olive could think of to save herself. It felt like hours had passed by before Elizabeth’s tiny hand surrounded Olive and picked her up off the cold ground. Elizabeth set Olive back into her cage and scolded her for being a naughty hedgehog. Olive promised she would never leave her cage ever again. Maybe escaping her cage wasn’t the best idea, it was so frightening that Olive couldn’t even stomach her bland pellets. Olive tried to keep her mind off her loneliness, she made a sculpture with the wood chips, she tidied up her sleeping area, she even stayed on the wheel for longer  than 2 minutes (which was an accomplishment for Olive). The only thing Olive could think to fill her time was to sleep, but she was too nervous to sleep. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, something felt very wrong. Why hadn’t Elizabeth told Olive the family was going to visit grandma? Olive pondered for a moment and suddenly it hit her, she must go find them! They could have gotten in a car wreck on an empty street or they might have ran out of gas on the way to grandma’s! They were in trouble and needed Olive to save them, she was the only one that could do it! With her food pellets Olive began to create a map of her quest. She would begin her search in Central Park, Elizabeth’s favorite place in the whole world. Then she could continue to the nearby coffee shop, Beans. From there Olive would hitch hike on the back of one of those not-so-smart pigeons that line every sidewalk in the Big Apple. Elizabeth would have to be somewhere along that path. Olive packed a few food pellets in her backpack handcrafted by Elizabeth and set out on her journey! Luckily the front door didn’t shut completely so Olive was able to wiggle through the small crack that led to the hallway. Olive made her way through the hallway and down the winding staircase, reaching the bottom of the stairs in a huff and puff. She took a small rest and nibbled on a food pellet, waiting for a tenant to open the main door so she could sneak onto the busy sidewalk. Finally, Chester from 25B rushed down the stairs, obviously running late for something, and pushed the door open without skipping a beat. Olive tried to rush through the door but her tiny legs couldn't get her there quite fast enough. So Olive reluctantly waited for another chance. This time the weird girl for 26C that always wanted to play with Elizabeth trotted down the stairs holding a jump rope. This was Olive's chance! The little girl shoved at the door with all her might with Olive following in close pursuit. It was a success, Olive stepped onto the warm pavement ready for an adventure. She headed down the street towards Central Park in search of her beloved Elizabeth. Olive scurried along the warm pavement always keeping an eye out of elizabeth. Soon olive was to central park, but she still hadn’t found any sign of elizabeth. Maybe someone around here had seen her, olive decided to ask a friendly looking pomeranian.

“Have you seen a cute little red headed human running around here?” Asked olive.
“Uhhh, nooo? why would i? excuse me, you are blocking my sun!” exclaimed the snobby puff ball.
This journey was much harder than olive had expected. it was nearing nighttime and olive had nothing to show for her efforts. Olive cringed at the thought of having to spend the night in this big scary park. She scurried back to her home at a much faster pace than before. Soon her tiny ears perked up at the sound of footsteps. someone was chasing her, she must get away or she would never be able to see her beloved elizabeth ever again. with every step the stalker gained on olive, soon the creature was upon her. Olive finally faced the stalker, she spun around and was met by the snobby pomeranian she had encountered earlier.

“You scared me! Why are you following me?” aske olive.
“ohh well i was just wanting to let you know that i think i saw that little girl you were looking for earlier. She was with what looked like her parents, and she was holding another hedgehog that looked just like you.”
“Oh my gosh! She must have gone home saw that i wasn’t there and went to buy another hedgehog to replace me.” whined olive.
Olive knew she must hurry home to elizabeth and show her that she was alive and she could get rid of the hedgehog that had replaced olive.
“Thank you so much puff ball, i have to hurry home!” said olive.
“Well you’re welcome, it was the least i could do.” hollered the pomeranian.

This time olive was determined to make it home. Soon enough olive arrived at the front of the apartment complex door. A couple that lived inside the same building came and opened the door. OLive hurried in and scurried up the stairs with excitement. She couldn’t wait to see elizabeth. Arriving at the door olive scratched with all her might to get the attention of the family inside. after a few seconds Elizabeth opened the door with a confused look. She looked right and left, and finally down. Her eyes lit up with love as she grabbed olive.
“I missed you so much olive, i was so worried about you. I thought you were gone forever.” squealed elizabeth.
Olive was relieved to be back at home, never would she venture out into the real world, it was much too scary.
“I have a surprise for you, i can’t wait to show you!” exclaimed Elizabeth.

“I bought you a buddy so you wouldn’t get lonely when i was at school. His name is Pickle and i think you guys will be best friends.”
By this time they had made it to olive’s cage. Elizabeth set olive in to meet her new friend.
“Hi, my name is pickle and i like to sleep and eat.”
“Hi, my name is olive. I like to do the same things.”
Little did olive know that this hedgehog would become her best friend.  As olive dozed off to sleep she was happy to be home and have a new friend.