You are going to enter a creative writing competition. Your entry will be judged by a panel of people your own age. Write the opening part of a story about a place that is co-inhabited by humans and animals.

I could hear a cacophony of calls in the night- this is what woke me. I searched in the dark for a torch and fumbled for the switch. A beam of light hit the edge of my tent and I saw the unmistakable shadows of the others in my camp outside. Something was wrong. I crawled outside to investigate and instantly understood. One of the elephants from the circus tent had escaped; all around me I saw people running in different directions, some towards the area where the other animals were resting to check they were secure, some to warn others of the potential danger and most streaming in one direction, where I assume the elephant would be found. So of course, that's the direction I followed.