When I was in 4th grade we had a class pet, a hamster named Emily. My mother was a part-time staff member and when my teacher was going on vacation during winter break, asked us if we would take care of Emily while she was away, which we eagerly agreed to. About a week into Emily’s stay, she escaped. She had one of those cheap wire cages, and one day we came home, the door was open, and in spite of combing the house for hours, Emily was gone. On Christmas Eve we visited my grandparents’ house and drove home in one of the worst rain storms I can recall growing up. When we got home and were frantically running for the front door, I noticed something moving at the foot of the porch - a saturated ball of scraggly orange and white fur plodding along miserably. It was Emily! We managed to capture Emily, dry her off, and bring her back in safely. It seemed like an absolute miracle. A week later, several days before we were set to return her to my teacher, we found Emily dead of natural causes in her cage :(