For a moment, she couldn’t move. Pablo twisted and kicked in the eagle’s grip, his small body helpless against the bird’s force. The shock was too sudden, too cruel to process. A ragged, desperate scream broke from her throat, piercing the air just as the eagle had moments earlier.
People began stepping out of their homes, drawn by the noise. Neighbors gathered along driveways and fences, mouths hanging open in stunned silence. Above them, the eagle soared higher, Pablo still dangling from its talons. No one said a word. The scene didn’t feel possible—but there it was.
Samantha stumbled backward, clutching her chest as if she could hold herself together. Just minutes ago, Pablo had been bouncing through the garden. Now he was gone, fading into the clouds. The whole thing felt like a hallucination—too strange, too savage to belong to her quiet life.
“What just happened?” someone asked softly, still staring at the sky. Another neighbor shook their head with a grim look. No one was surprised that an eagle took a rabbit—it was nature, after all. But the way it happened—so sudden, so close to home—left everyone quietly rattled.