A VERY DARK tale (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 1

I coughed out feeling my lungs in my chest vibrating with substantial inflammation and closed my eyes.

When my eyes flew open, it was sunny and bright. The sun was under a ten o'clock degree, and the noise of a busy nature immediately alarmed my hearing. My head hurt severely. I lifted my sore arms, and covered my face, hiding from the blinding brightness.

When some of my senses returned, a sharp pain shot through my stomach. It forced me to sit up and crawl to the stream.

I filled myself up with water and shakily stood up. My eyes scanned the view in front of me, and when they stopped on the other side of the stream, I sucked in my breath. I was standing almost face to face with a bear, a large dark brown bear.

The bear walked into the stream and began splashing the water as he progressed my way. My presence didn't seem to bother him. He sat on a stone in the middle of the flow, mounting over the water, and fixed his stare on me.

In return, I stood paralyzed, gawking back at him. I didn't know what to do. My options were slim. I couldn't fight him. I could only run, and even if I ran, I wouldn't get far. I could last approximately for two hours without food, if that.

The bear seemed to contemplate as well, not knowing what to do with me. Both of us were not dangerous to each other, and both wanted to resolve this conflict as peaceful as possible. Answering my unspoken question, he grumbled and scrunched up his nose sniffing the air.

"I know, pal. You smell better than I do," I whispered nodding understandingly.

The bear uttered another sound that seemed aggressive to my ear and dropped onto his front paws into the flow.

I nervously swallowed slowly taking a step back. The bear roared at me and stepped even closer. Panic engulfed me, leaving my instincts bared.

I tossed a couple of possible scenarios in my head, and at the end returned on the ground lying down on my side. My eyes shut down tight. My fear was dissolved into awareness. The bear reached me, and I felt a paw touching my leg. He wasn't rough; he played with my limbs giving me a couple of scratches here and there. Then his nose trailed to my stomach. He nudged me in my ribs, making me inwardly moan in pain, and then he landed his body next to mine nearly crushing me with his weight.

My new best friend made himself comfortable, and as his fur connected with my skin, the warmth immediately spread through me. I yawned, suddenly feeling exhausted. My eyes commanded me to sleep. All fear forgotten.

"Good bear," I mumbled and dived into a nap.

Using my personal heater the bear as a blanket, my body continued restoring, but my thoughts jumped to my mother. I remembered our conversation when I pleaded her not to sign the contract with Mr. Palus. At that moment, I didn't know what exactly this contract required of her as payment for the Animus services. However, I knew that it was a shady deal. I've been weeping for two hours, standing on my knees begging her to reconsider. But, I never learned if Sheila had had signed the papers, I was taken before she agreed to it. Mr. Palus and my own stepfather Thomas had been standing on the porch, watching me being stuffed into a short like some criminal. He had the nerve to assure me that it was for my own good. Bastard! He knew exactly where they were taking me, and if I knew I would find a gun and shoot both of them into their heads.

A sweet day nap of mine was cut short by fury that arose in me, and when I opened my eyes, my bear friend was already in the stream busying himself with catching the fish with his claws.

I blinked amazed at the thought of the bear, and I peacefully spending this beautiful morning snuggling together in the depth of the woods and pulled myself into a sitting position.