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Big Bear
The giant stuffed bear had never spoken to her before, but ...
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INKsters is a competitive writers' group founded by ItsNaughtKnotty Cannned (aka INK) within the 3D virtual world of Second Life. We host daily writing contests for members to participate in for a chance to win a L$ prize.
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…Eliza still held out hope. Every day she sat at the foot of the giant bear for hours. She would watch it intently until it grew too dark to see it against the black starless sky. Sometimes she could swear she saw its eyes glance at her, or its lips purse on the edge of a word. And she felt certain on a number of occasions she’d seen that tell tale intake of breath that precedes a spoken word. But, on the other hand, she could never be totally sure of herself. Even she had to question the sanity of someone who sat for hours in anticipation of a giant stuffed bear speaking to her. Especially, since there’d never been any reports of it having spoken to anyone else. Ever.
The bear had appeared mysteriously one night just outside her bedroom window about 3 months ago. That first morning, Eliza had thought it was a present from her parents. She was proved wrong by her mother’s shrieks of surprise at finding a giant stuffed bear sitting in their driveway. No one knew who put it there, or how it possibly could have been moved. For the first few weeks, it was the talk of the town. People she didn’t know would come to stand in her front yard and idly stare at the giant bear. They’d bring their families and have a picnic in the shade of his foot, resting casually against his leg.
She didn’t mind the people staring, or picnicking by his foot. It wasn’t until she saw a little boy climbing atop him that she began to get upset. Her anger surprised her and suddenly she felt defensive of this bear. She felt strongly that it needed to be protected. That’s when she first began sitting at the foot of the bear every afternoon and evening after school. She couldn’t remember when she first got into her head that the bear could talk to her if it wanted. She did remember that she’d told her mom. Her mom said she was anthromorphosizing the bear. Eliza wasn’t sure what that meant. But she wasn’t doing it.
Eliza looked up at the bear. It was quickly growing dark and soon she wouldn’t be able to see past his big wide belly. Tomorrow her parents were moving. They couldn’t stand living in a house with a giant bear in the driveway and the attention it brought with it. They also didn’t think it was healthy for Eliza to sit outside watching it all of her free time. Her mom and dad were insistent that a change of scenery would be good for her and put it out of her mind.
The next morning she went out and gave the giant bear a hug goodbye. Even tho it hadn’t spoken to her, she still thought of it as her best friend. She reluctantly got in the back of the car and watched out the back window until she could no longer see the bear.
‘Eliza?’
The giant stuffed bear had never spoken to her before, but tonight was different. It might have been all the alcohol consumed at the sorority party. It might have been her lack of sleep in the last 72 hours. It might have even been the marijuana laced with PCP she was force to take a hit of at the inauguration ceremony for joining the sorority. Regardless, here in her dorm room at 0243 hours, her only comfort of home in a foreign environment was talking to her.
“Hello Clarice,” boom the bear, “Why don’t you play with me anymore? We use to play together all the time before you got here. Let’s go to Never Land again. You can be Wendy and I’ll be Peter Pan. We’ll fly to Never Land like we use to. Let’s f…”
“SHUT UP,” screams Clarice, “I don’t need you anymore. I have friends here now. It’s not going to be like back at the base. I have time to make friends here. I’m not force to move any more when mommy gets redeployed and, daddy not here to touch me anymore. I’m staying here. I have friends…”
“Are they really your friends Clarice” questions the bear, “would real friends force you to drink until you puke while under age. Would real friends make you take illegal drugs just to join their little club? I never force you to do anything. I always been there when you needed me. I accept you for who you are. I’m your only true friend. So Clarice, let’s go to Never Land together again, just like old times. All you have to do is jump out the window and I’ll give you wings to fly, fly away to Never Land. We’ll fly far away and escape from the war, the sorrow, the loneness, the neglected, the abuse, social expectation, the pressure, everything. ”
“…O.K., just… this one last time…” whispered Clarice as she stumbles toward the open window “I’ll fly away with you this one last time…”
She jumped.
At 0745 Clarice body was found by a group of students on their way to a early morning class. The autopsy report revealed her death was caused by the crack ribs puncture her right lung resulting in death by chocking from internal bleeding. Report also shows past scars all over her body and that she was under the influence of both heavy amounts of alcohol and marijuana at the time of death. Clarice death resulted in the crack down on hazing of underclassmen by fraternities/sororities and the separation of her parents. No one was at her funeral and no one shed a tear.
Big Bear
The giant stuffed bear had never spoken to her before, but today when Sheila snuggled up to the soft comfortable fake fur and slipped on her headphones, she could have sworn she heard him groan slightly, happily. She looked around for a few seconds, then hit play on the ipod and didn’t really think about it anymore for awhile.
She relaxed back against the cushion of the bear’s stomach and closed her eyes. She was so glad her mom had found this secret place for her to hang out after school. Her mom worked a kiosk about 30 feet away, selling incense and hippie jewelry and stuff. The shift ran from 4 to 9 pm, so every day when Sheila got out of after-school at 5, her Aunt Jeannie would pick her up and bring her to the mall. Jeannie worked over at the Dippin Dots from 6 to 9 everyday after school.
Sheila’s mom had discovered the secret place under the bear as soon as she’d started working the second job at the mall last month. Sheila felt intimidated by the size of the mall and the number of people. She was really just a bit too young to roam around alone. As usual, Mom solved the dilemma. She showed Sheila how to slip into the big fenced off display area that filled the big corner near the escalators. From there, Sheila could sit down between the bear’s legs and no one could see her. The display would be up till after Christmas, and Sheila treasured the little sanctuary amidst all the hustle and bustle. She would do her homework, then listen to her ipod and daydream.
She knew after Christmas this time would pass, and she tried to absorb every detail today. As the song on her ipod came to an end, she thought she heard something in the silence. She hit pause, and there it was…
She removed her headphones and heard nothing but the typical mall din. She slipped the pads back over her ears and there it was again, a gruff huffing sound, like someone clearing their throat preparing to speak. Then, “What’s your name?” in a friendly, stuffed bear sort of voice. Sheila thought of her name. “Ahhh, I like that name, and I like you. I’m so glad you come here and keep me company.”
Sheila was stunned at first, this strange, thought-to-headphone conversation she had with the bear. But within minutes they were talking like dear old friends.
From that day until the display was taken down, which was a very sad day for Sheila, she spent every moment she could talking to the bear. He became her best friend and confidant. The bear taught Sheila to treasure every moment of every day, that life was a precious gift. Sheila never forgot the bear’s warmth and wisdom.
That Christmas, in her stocking, was an ornament that looked just like her giant stuffed bear friend. Sheila kept it all her life.
Copyright 2008 MJSC as Lorelei Larsson
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