Blood Bride

Chapter 6 (1st Draft) 2756

*Just as a side note reader, none of the places in this story (Rutherford, Arrowfield, Copper Lake, etc.) actually exist. They are fictitious.

In the early morning, after a restless sleep in her old bed, Meadow found her father was already up and gone to the wood lot. She let out a deep sigh. It was a relief not having to deal with his unpredictable mood swings that morning, and a joy to be greeted by Taffy the moment she stepped into the empty kitchen. The two of them had the ground floor all to themselves since her mother was a late sleeper. Already the day was starting out far better than Meadow had expected.

It didn't take Meadow long to decide to spend the day hiking up the mountain behind her parent's place. There were plenty of trails up beyond her family property that led to a small green glacial lake where she and her brothers use to go swimming all the time. Though it had been years since she'd made the two hour hike to Copper Lake, Meadow trusted it would be a great way to spend a beautiful spring day that promised to be sunny and warm.

Grabbing a worn knapsack from the closet, she packed a picnic lunch, a first aid kit, and a couple of towels into the canvas bag. If the sun was out and the breeze warmed up, she thought she might even be brave enough to take a dip in the lake for old times sake. She left a note for her mother and called for Taffy to follow her as she stepped off the veranda.

Taffy was good company and a good walking dog. She didn't need to be leashed and she rarely ventured far from the path. She was also good at spotting bears. This time of year, when mother bears were out foraging with their young cubs, it was important to be vigilant about potential bear encounters. Consequently, Taffy was invaluable on a mountain hike in what was typically considered bear country.

Meadow wasn't overly afraid of bears, certainly not enough to stay off the mountain, but neither was she okay around them either. There was something particularly frightening to her about the sight of a bear on its hind legs, which is why Eddie's dark image through the window had freaked her out so much the evening before. 

Her mother told her she'd been attacked by a bear once when she was a kid, though Meadow had no memory of this, and that was why she was extra sensitive about the large rambling omnivores. Apparently, the animal had snatched her off a biking trail close to her school and had dragged her to its den where it kept her for a couple of days before Search & Rescue found her.

Local Rangers claimed that the mother bear had lost its young, and they believed its mothering instincts drove it to claim Meadow as its new offspring. The family was told this sort of thing was unusual but not unheard of. And a local child psychologist told Meadow that she couldn't remember a thing about it because she suffered from selective amnesia, which was common among children (less so with adults) who suffered through a traumatic event. Meadow didn't know what to make of it all, not being able to recall a single memory, but she definitely was hyper aware of bears.

Which is why, she had checked and rechecked the town's 'Bear Watch 2020' page on its website that morning. Luckily, there had only been a handful of bear sightings on her side of the mountain all spring. The risk of running into one was pretty low as a result, which was why Meadow felt confident to take the chance.  

As it was, the hike up the Elk Trail to Copper Lake, Meadow's destination, proved uneventful. She and Taffy encountered more squirrels than Taffy could bark at, some Grey Jays that flitted across the trail from time to time, a handful of big horned sheep high up on a rocky outcropping, and that was about it. Meadow wasn't disappointed. It was a relief not to encounter any dangers.