At first, Milly had not wanted to tell anybody about the black lizard she found in the forest. But when it got sick in the following days, she knew that she needed to get a vet involved to help the animal. But she had never expected this man to have such an extreme reaction to the animal. Milly needed to get away from the creature immediately… Milly was still completely stunned. The moment she had shown the vet the black lizard she had found, his eyes had gone wide and he jumped back, screaming for Milly and her father to do the same. They obliged out of pure shock but were not getting any more information out of the vet as he quickly started to make a call and left the room. It was clear that he did not want the father and daughter to overhear this conversation… Milly got scared that this vet was going to take the beloved Lizard away. With a reaction like that, there had to be something wrong. She wanted to just grab the terrarium and make a run for it, but her father stopped her. He could understand her emotion but he was not going to let his daughter go against the advice of the vet. They were going to wait for her and face the music. And not long after, the vet came back into the office to deliver the shocking news Milly had no idea what exactly she had rescued from the forest, but the vet knew it all too well. He could not believe that this creature was actually in his office. It should not have even been in the country! This was way above his expertise to handle and so he had called in the experts, who were on the way. And they had a couple of very difficult questions for Milly and her father… But what exactly had Milly taken out of the forest? Was this lizard dangerous to her and why did the animal shock the vet so much?  Milly loved to go exploring in the forest, Ever since she was a little girl, she had been fascinated by nature and mainly by all the creatures that lived in it. And there was no better place to look for all these little miracles than in the woods. But Milly had no idea yet that she was going to find a creature today, that she should have never been able to come across. This encounter would change her young life forever… Normally Milly would go into the forest with her mother, father, or somebody else to supervise her. She was only 9 years old and who knew what dangers could be hiding between the trees. But today, Milly was actually out and about on her own. Neither one of her parents had time to chaperone her, but Milly wanted nothing more than to go exploring today. And mainly her father felt horrible about not letting her chase that desire He had always tried to stimulate his daughter to be in and around nature as much as possible. And deep down, he believed that she was ready to go out on her own. She knew the woods like the back of her hand and had proven to him many times that she was very responsible there. But it was more an issue to convince his wife and milly mother, Anastacia. She thought the idea of letting a literal child alone in the woods was absolutely ridiculous! Anastacia had always been very protective of her daughter. A lot more than her father Michael. If something were to happen to the girl out there all alone, she would never forgive herself. But somehow, some way. She let herself be convinced by her husband. What probably made the most impact was home badly Milly seemed to want to go to the forest. And Anastacia also realized that she could not keep this child inside forever. But maybe she should have… The forest was fairly close to the house so Milly could easily walk towards it. She was almost skipping the whole way, she was so happy. She even brought a basket and even some glass jars in which she would collect bugs. She was planning to spend the whole afternoon in the forest, but when she ran into one particular creature, that plan quickly changed completely. Suddenly, Milly did not care at all anymore, and the bugs or beautiful nature… Milly had been exploring for about 2 hours with everything going very smoothly. She had probably a smile from ear to ear every second she was there. She had taken about a thousand pictures or something and seen many cute animals, But then she suddenly noticed a creature that was anything but cute. And it stood out like a sore thumb against all the beautiful green of the forest. Milly had never seen something so intensely black before… At first, Milly was afraid to get close to whatever this creature was. She had never seen it before and it could be dangerous. Milly knew that the best course of action was to just turn around and walk away. Not taking any unnecessary risks. But something inside her stopped Milly from that. Her curiosity was increasing by the second and she could barely even stop herself from getting closer and closer. She needed to know what this creature was… But getting closer did not help her identify what this animal was. All that her mind could come up with was that it looked like a lizard of some sort, but in all her years walking in this forest, she had not once seen a lizard of any kind her. And that made sense as this climate was anything but optimal for big lizards to survive. Milly had learned that from her father once and that instantly made her worried about the animal. Maybe it would not survive for long out here… One of the glass jars that Milly had with her was still empty. Maybe she could catch this lizard in it and take it home. She had no idea how to take care of a creature like this but she was sure that she could find something on the internet about it. And the animal would probably have more chance of surviving in her care than out of her in a seemingly unnatural habitat for the animal. And so Milly went ahead with her, what would turn out to be a horrible decision to take the lizard home… She put some moss and leaves in the jar that already had some airholes pocked in the lid. Milly then slowly approached the still very still lizard and was icing closer to trapping it in the jar. She was focusing so hard that sweat started to drip off her forehead. Just a couple more inches. Just and little further. And then in 1 smooth movement, Lilly managed to scoop the lizard off the tree with the glass jar and screw the lid back on it in record time! In the jar, the Lizard finally started to move and it was struggling around in there like its life depends on it. Milly could feel the jar shaking in her hand and she quickly put it in her back. Maybe the animal would relax sooner if it was in the dark and it would think that it’s nighttime or something. Milly of course did not know that lizards are mostly nocturnal, but that did not really matter. What mattered most was that Milly needed to get this animal home as quickly as possible On the way home, Milly tried to look online what kind of lizard she had just found. She assumed that there would not be a lot of black lizards and that it would be easy to identify the animal. She had no internet until she finally made her way out of the forest again, and then found that there were in fact a LOT of black lizards in the world. But no matter how many pictures she scrolled through, she could simply not find any lizard that looked like the one she caught… When she got home, Milly’s parents were very relieved to see her. She had been away for a while and even though that had been the plan, it is never fun for parents to not exactly know where their 9 years old daughter is for an extended period of time. They asked Milly how it had been and if she had encountered anything special today. Milly greatly hesitated about telling her parents about the lizard in her backpack. She really wanted their advice but also knew that they would probably not be happy that she just took an unknown animal home… She decided to just keep her parents in the dark about the black lizard for now. It would probably be better if she knew a little bit more about it herself before she would ask for help and advice. She just smiled at her parents and told them that she had a great day, but that she was really tired right now and wanted to relax in her room for a little while. They were very much okay with that, as they had a lot of work to still get done themselves. When Milly closed the door of the bedroom behind her, she immediately took out the jard with the black lizard and put it on her little desk. The creature had calmed down by now and was just chilling on the bed of leaves that Milly had made in the jar. But even though the animal was doing alight now, Milly knew that that would maybe not last long. She needed food, water, and probably a bigger enclosure for it. And she needed it fast! Luckily, Milly knew that her parents still had an old fish tank stored in the attic. And seeing as her parents were currently very buzzy downstairs, this was the ideal moment to go and get that tank. When she placed it in her room, Milly snuck out of the house via the window and the roof, so that her parents did not see her. She got into the garden to collect moss, leaves, twigs, and everything she could fill the old fish tank up with to make it more like a terrarium.  Milly had also looked up what lizards normally ate and she was very much in luck that they mostly just ate bugs. Because she still had all the bugs she collected throughout that day, before encountering the black lizard. She felt bad for the poor bugs, but at this point, keeping the lizard alive was just more important to her. At least, until she found out more about it. And when she did, Milly would very much regret putting so much effort into helping the animal When Milly goy back into the house, she quickly finished up the terrarium, put it in a bowl of water, and then went ahead and carefully tried to put the lizard in. She was still afraid to get in contact with the animal as she had no idea if its skin could maybe be poisonous to her. Or worse, it could even bite her. But the transfer was luckily a success. Milly put a couple of life bugs in and then closed the glass box off. Not long after that, the lizards started to look very content. But now she had to decide what her next steps were going to be. She could not just keep this lizard hidden in her room and fed it forever. She needed to think about what exactly she wanted in this situation and the first thing she wanted was more information. Mostly about if this animal could potentially be dangerous to her. But that was very difficult if she could not find this exact lizard online. But there was a lot of general information and warnings about lizards to be found And out of all the information Milly could find, there were 2 things that stuck with her in a very positive way. The first was that Lizards would only rarely bite and most did not even have the kind of teeth that could perforate human skin. Especially now small lizards like the one she found. And the second thing was that the toxicity and danger of a lizard or other amphibian were mostly indicated by their bright color.  Seeing as her Lizard was as absent of brought color as it could possibly be, Milly felt confident that the animal was not poisonous and thus not dangerous to her. She immediately felt a lot more comfortable about her decision to bring it home and now even dared to pick it up out of the enclosure to play with it. She named the lizard Sirius, after the beloved harry potter character Sirius Black. And from that moment on she really started to connect with the creature more and more… Days passed without her parents having any idea about Milly’s new friend. All the noticed was that she was spending more time in her room than usual. They found this somewhat odd as Milly always wanted to go outside. But at this point, they did not feel the need to question it yet. They often came into Milly’s room and then never saw anything out of the ordinary. They had no idea about the homemade terrarium that she was hiding under her desk. At least, not yet… While the first couple of days went fine for Milly and her lizard, she started to notice some worrying changes solemn after that. The lizard became less and less active, it started to eat less, and Milly even thought that the animal was not drinking anymore. Milly still did not know much about this kind of animal, but she knew that this could not be good in any way. She was afraid that maybe the environment was still not good enough for the lizard to survive It would most likely thrive the best in a semi-tropical climate, but Milly had no idea how she would be able to create something that was even close to similar to that in her bedroom. Online, people were saying that she needed a heat lamp of some sort. Nu Milly had looked it up online and they were way too expensive for her to afford the little pocket money she had left. The little girl was now faced with a very difficult decision to make, but she knew that saving the animal should be her highest priority. She was as nervous as could be about it, but Milly knew that she needed to tell her parents about the Lizard. She figured that they would probably be angry that she had been keeping this a secret from them for so long, but if they could help her take care of the animal or maybe bring it to a vet for her, it would all be worth it. And so she went into the living room with her knees shaking and the terrarium in her hands. Anastacia was busy in the kitchen when Milly came downstairs and did not immediately see what her daughter was holding. Michael was still at work at the time. She quickly turned the heat down on one of the boiling pots and turned around to face her daughter with a smile. But that smile quickly faded from her face when she saw what Milly was holding in her hand. And that their old fish tank from the attic? The fact that Milly had managed to bring that thing down from the attic was strange in itself and Anastacia had definitely some questions about that as well. But then she started to notice that there was actually something in the fish tank and that Milly was looking very upset. Anastacia asked her daughter what was wrong, but the more Milly tried to speak, the more she felt the tears well up in her eyes making her unable to get out a single sensible word Anastacia quickly took a couple of steps towards her daughter so that she could have a better look at the fish tank Milly was still clenching onto. She saw that there was a lot of moss, tree bark, and even a bowl of water in it. Her daughter seemed to have made a terrarium of some sort. But why? Or for what? Then suddenly something moved inside the tank and Anastacia jumped back and let out a little scream. What had her daughter been keeping in there? Anastacia now had eyes on the creature that moved inside the tank and took a closer look at the small black lizard. She had never seen anything like this before. Milly was now as nervous as could be. She knew this was a make-or-break moment where she would have to convince her very apprehensive mother that she had done right by taking the creature home and that they needed to help it now… Anastacia looked at Milly with a very strict expression on her face. “Well? Are you going to explain what is going on here??”. Milly had to swallow away her nerves and with a stutter in her voice, she started to explain that she had rescued this poor creature and that it would have died if she left it behind in the forest. She claimed to have been really c careful when handling it even though she knew that this was not entirely truthful… Milly could see that her mother was having doubts. And she was right. On one hand, Anastacia wanted to be very angry at her daughter. She had drilled into her head that she should never tackle home animals. Especially once she did not know. And she had blatantly disobeyed their orders. But on the other hand, Milly’s motivation had been nothing but praiseworthy. She had done it to save this poor little animal and apparently, she had been really careful in doing so… As Anastacia was debating on the response she was going to give, the silence was suddenly broken by Michael coming home from work in a very good mood. And when he walked into the room and was in the fish tank with the lizard, he actually got excited. As Michael was a bit of a nature freak, he always loved seeing animals up close, and the fact that he did not know this one only made things more interesting for him Anastacia knew that it would be very difficult to be strict when her husband was so excited about the find and so she decided that if there were to be consequences, they would have to come later. When all the commotion had settled down. She told a very relieved Milly this and then immediately went on to discuss what they were supposed to do now. Mully did not just bring this creature to their attention for no reason… Milly told her parents that her mystery lizard Sirius was not doing so well. He had started eating and drinking less and was not as active anymore as in the first couple of days she had found him. She was convinced that he was sick or that the environment here was simply not optimal for the animal. They needed to bring Siriuys to a vet and have him checked out before it was too late. But Michal had a different opinion about this. His argument was that the animal had apparently survived in their local environment well enough as he only started to deteriorate when Milly capture him and put him in a small glass cage. It was not abnormal for a wild animal to get depressed or have less energy when their living space is suddenly drastically slimmed down. Maybe this animal did not need to go to the vet, but back into nature. Where it came from… Milly understood that this was also a possibility that she had not yet considered. But there was still that chance that she was right and the animal did need help. It was clear her parents had no interest in checking it out. If she wanted something to be done, she would need to do it herself. And so she offered her parents something that took them both a bit aback. It was clear that she was very passionate about helping this animal Milly offered to pay all the vet costs herself if her parents would only bring her. And if the animal was fine, she would release it back into the forest anyway. Michael explained to her that it would probably cost her every penny she had at the very least., And if the lizard needed treatment she might be paying off the debt for years to come. But Milly did not care. She had her mind made up and her parents could honestly only have respect for that. While Anastacia was not in favor of letting her daughter waste all her money on something like this, Michael was much more willing to let his daughter chase her ideals and it did not take him a lot of effort to convince his wife. She could also see that if this was so important to Milly, then it would then be a mistake if she were to stand in her way. Even if it meant that she would have to spend all her savings on it… Michael called the officer of the vet to see if they could make an appointment to have their rescue lizard checked out that day and luckily, the vet actually still had a spot for them later that afternoon. He assumed that it would probably only be a small check-up and that he could do it in under 10 minutes. But nothing would turn out to be further from the truth. But the vet would only find that out when he saw the lizard… Milly and Michael still had a couple of hours to kill before they were set to meet the vet and they spend that time taking a closer look at the black lizard themselves and doing some further research. Mic hael was actually smart enough to bring out gloves when he handled the Lizard. Something that Milly should have thought of a lot sooner. But she had to stick switch her claim that had been very careful. Out of the glass box, the lizard actually started to look a lot better. Michael tried to keep a good hold on the creature but it was struggling around a lot, desperately trying to escape. It even got away once, but father and daughter were smart enough to only take the lizards out in their locked-off bathroom and so the animal had no way to escape out of their reach. But this behavior was confirming Michaels’s suspicions a bit and Milly started to get a bit nervous… If her father was right, then she would indeed be wasting all of her money on getting the vet while it would be for absolutely nothing. And then she would have to say goodbye to her little friend anyway, as per the agreement with her parents. But it was too late to change her mind now and so she had to show that she was still confident about her decision. So they quickly put the lizard back in the cage and got ready to leave The ride to the vet was nerve-racking for Milly. She could not take her eyes off Sirius as he was almost spastically jolting through the glass box. He probably had a very difficult time processing why he felt like he was moving when he was not moving. Hse knew that their cat also had this problem when they transported him in the car. She just hoped that this whole endeavor would not stress the animal out too much… When they arrived at the vet, Milly and Michael were told that they had to wait a little while to be seen by the vet. He was in the middle of an operation that was taking a bit longer than expected. The pair were totally fine with that of course and Milly was even a bit relieved. This meant that Sirius had a bit of time to calm down before he was presented to the vet. A calm lizard would be much easier to examine than a hyperactive one The pair was called into the office about half an hour later by an exhausted-looking vet. It was already past closing time at this point due to the surgery and Milly was his last customer of the day. He just wanted to get this over with and get home, that much was very clear. But when he got a good look at the lizard, the vet instantly knew that this would not be the case today. His reaction would stay burned on Milly’s mind for a long time… The moment the vet put on his glasses to get a better look at the strangely black lizard, Milly saw his eyes go wider almost in an instant of realization. He suddenly seemed full of energy or adrenaline again and jumped back. Away from the box. He then screamed at Milly and Michael to step back as quickly as they could. The pair was stunned but did follow the vet’s orders. But they were desperate for an explanation… But before they could ask the vet anything, they were told to wait in the room as the vet quickly picked up the glass box and brought it to the other room. Milly wanted to follow the man but her father quickly stopped her. He did not like what was going on here either, but he did realize that this was not something they could fight. They would just have to wait until the vet returned and then they could ask him for an explanation. Milly and Michael were nervously waiting in the room for about 20 minutes. At that time they could hear the vet making some calls and they could hear that his voice sounded almost shaky. Whatever was going on, they knew it would probably not be good. After about 15 minutes of silence, the vet suddenly came back into the room again. But this time, he was without the lizards which immediately set Milly off… She demanded to know what he had done and where he had taken her little friend. But the vet was not willing to tell her anything before they answered some of his questions. With a lot of effort, Micheal managed to calm his daughter down and they sat down with the vet to help him however they could. Milly told him where she had found the animal, what she had done with the creature in the time he was with her, and what she had fed him. She even admitted to the vet that she had handled the animal with her bare hands. Something that drew not only a headshake from the vet but also a look of disappointment from her father. Milly had clearly lied to him about being very careful with the animal. If this creature was poisonous in any way, then who knows in how much danger Milly had possibly put herself in? But the vet quickly put those nerves to rest… The vet was satisfied with the answers Milly had given and actually looked a bit relieved for a change. He told the pair that Milly was not in any danger as the animal could only be slightly poisonous if it bit you and that was not the case with Milly. He went on to explain that he had called animal control so that they could pick the black lizard up. They should actually be here any second now Milly immediately got upset again that her lizard was going to be taken away but this time the vet could explain that he simply had no other choice. He had recognized the Liazrd the moment he saw it. Any vet in the area would probably have been able to do that. This is because, about a week ago, a message was sent out to all vet animal shelters, or agencies that could possibly encounter a lizard, to keep an eye out for this particular animal! The vet went on to explain that the Lizad was actually a very rare and endangered animal. There were none left in the wild and only a few were in existence period. They all lived in special breeding programs with the sole goal of getting the population numbers up again. And Sirius had actually escaped from one of these particular breeding programs at the university nearby where Milly lived! It was the only male they had there, so it was absolutely imperative that they found the lizard back, but the university had little hope as it could have been anywhere in the forest after escaping. The fact that Milly found it and then decided o capture the lizard was like a one-in-a-million chance miracle! Milly and Michael could not believe what they were hearing, but suddenly they had no problem anymore with handing the lizard over It was clear that Sirius had a much greater purpose than to be a pet or be out in nature. He was tasked with saving an entire species and Milly was fully responsible for making that possible again. And she was also rewarded as such. The university promised to pay for her first 2 years of education there if it would ever come to that and of course, she did not have to pay a penny of her savings to the vet!