The Real World

The Sun Is All That Matters

The attack was imminent and he was frantic. It must be able to smell them, and it could definitely hear Mackenzie and Penelope. Another muffled laugh came from the girls' tent before they got quiet once again. What would these people do if they knew a bear was a few feet from their heads?

Christian had been calm for the first day, but they'd hiked through a shallow stream on the second morning and a long piece of grass had landed on his leg. Maybe he'd thought it was a snake, but the result was high pitched and destroyed any delusion of handling a bear attack well. Thinking back to this moment, Ash tried to believe Christian would be better prepared now... they were certainly doomed. Ash shook his head in mild disillusioned amusement, and pulled his mind back to his increasing dread.

The bear was moving again and Ash could hear it rummaging through some supplies they'd left outside near the fire. It was truly the perfect storm. They'd made the fire pit between their tents, rather than downwind and far away. Why had they made so many poor decisions? A few pans clinked together and he heard a sleeping bag shuffle from one of the tents. This group wouldn't want to lie around; they all seemed to have something to prove.

Penelope was a high strung type dedicated to being prepared, and Ash had a strong assumption she was here simply to prove to herself that she could be. She was also the type of person that you didn't need to worry about. Ash didn't think that she'd do anything too dumb, and he would bet that she'd prepped for months ahead of time and could probably recite multiple trail guides as to what should be expected. What worried Ash was that she might deal very poorly in a situation that couldn't be predicted or planned.

Mackenzie, the last of the group had clearly befriended Penelope and they had that - we have secret jokes - situation going on. She stood out immediately though, and it made Ash uncomfortable. He came to the woods to get away, but in their first conversation he had been struck by some unwritten quality. It was subtle, and made Ash continually have to think back, questioning each interaction to gauge how well he'd spoken or if he'd said anything clever. Perhaps the quality she had was just that Ash simply had to care about what she thought. He was trying to maintain professionalism, but Mackenzie was having an impact that was difficult to decipher.

He heard Mackenzie laugh again and then the sound of a zipper moving - they were getting out. Through some short sighted concoction of emotion, fear, and responsibility - his will to stay still was no more.

His tent was small, meant for one or maybe two people. Getting in at night, he'd have to crouch and partially throw himself in. In this moment, reason and rationale abandoned him. Today - he went a different way with it, and he stood up. His tent stretched to accommodate this newfound height as he stood as tall as he could. He knew the bear was maybe one or two feet in front of him and he imagined his reaction at seeing this stationary object suddenly rise defiantly up. Sheer terror struck him when he realized how blind he was. He doubled down and pushed his arms out above him. He heard the tent ripping as he began to roar and thrash his arms out and about. His only hope was that the bear would be overwhelmed with confusion. He jumped, he fell, he flew to his feet. He was freaking out and fully committed to whatever this was. He went wild, and loud, and completely out of control - his sanity was gone. His foot landed on a log and it rolled underfoot, just enough. He felt himself falling before hearing an odd thud - his bear battle ended in darkness.

He felt warmth on his face and the sun was in his eyes when he opened them. After squinting and lifting his hand to shield himself, he saw their faces above, which were all concerned. Why were they all looking at him? A moment later, an immense pain from just above his eyebrow began to grow. It made him wince as he rolled to his side and sat up.

"Are you alive? What was up with all the screaming?" Christian asked with his head tilted slightly to the side like some intrigued puppy.

Mackenzie and Penelope sat quietly in camping chairs nearby. They looked as if they'd both just finished a serious talk about someone dying. Ash lay half out of his tent, across some logs they'd cut the night before. His head had been on the ground and as he brushed leaves from his hair, he came to the conclusion that the bear was gone.