text: It was a cold snowy day in the middle of January. My dad and I went hiking in the forest at the fabled Algonquin park. The snow was falling with such grace it made the forest look like a scene from a classic Christmas movie. We decided to go hiking to get our minds off of our dog Meeko, who had passed away a week before. As we continued our hike through the forest, we saw something breathtaking. Although I have seen this creature before, I have never been within arms reach of it. The creature had yellowish-brown fur similar to my beige hiking boots. When it saw us it got startled. Its antlers toward over us. Instead of dashing off into the snowy horizon, it just looked at us. It was about the same height as me. As I reached out to touch its seemingly soft fur it sprinted into the distance. As the creature sprinted away we decided to follow it. Although we knew that since the sun was setting we would be surrounded by darkness, we continued anyway. We both knew that we would not get lost as we have been on this path before. While we continued along the path my dad kept on talking about the creature. He said the encounter we had today reminded him of how he would take Meeko on hikes in the forest. It was evident that this encounter with the creature evoked a feeling of warmth and calmness within him that he had not felt since the passing of our old canine friend. As my dad and I continued hiking, we talked more about our encounter with the creature. We talked about why we pursued the creature after it bolted into the dense snow-covered forest. Was it because we wanted to see more of it? Or was it because it reminded us of another furry animal that we cherished? We both came to the conclusion that the creature evoked a feeling in both of us that we had not felt for a while. We wanted to follow the creature because it reminded us of when we would chase Meeko in the same forest. We felt like we were walking with him in the forest. Our hike came to an end when we saw the creature lying down next to some trees. We were both flabbergasted when we saw this because of how much it resembled Meeko. We walked closer to it hoping that it would not sprint off again. It let us touch its soft fur. As I was touching its soft fur all I could think of was Meeko. The creature’s fur felt the same, its fur was the same colour, and its eyes were the same ultramarine colour. We stayed for about ten minutes then hiked our way back to the car. Once in the car, I began to recall the encounter we just had. The encounter brought me joy and happiness. However, this slowly faded away as it only reminded me of what we had lost.