Where You Are

Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park

Jesse

Birgitta and I sat at the campfire for a long time after supper. The sun had gone down over an hour ago and we'd gone through nearly an entire pot of tea. I knew I was going to be back and forth to the toilet all night, because that's what happens when you get old and drink tea too late, but I didn't care. It was the last night of the trip, I didn't care if I got any sleep at all.

We'd spent the afternoon the day before at the beach instead of doing the hike like she'd wanted and the entire day by the sea today. It was nice and relaxing. I knew she would have preferred to be more active, but we both knew she could injure herself further if she pushed it. And lazy days on the beach were brilliant, too, in my opinion.

I'd gone to the shop at the park's main office for more ice earlier. Birgitta hadn't wanted to use the ice from the cool box on her foot, but it seemed to help. She had her foot propped up on an old stump with the fresh ice on it at the moment. I was just happy to be of help and glad that she'd stopped resisting it.

I packed up her smaller tent and moved her things into the bigger one. We hadn't done much beyond kiss a bit before bed, but it was definitely easier to fall asleep with her beside me keeping me warm.

I heard a very sharp intake of breath coming from where I'd left Birgitta at the campfire. I'd just gone to the tent to fetch my jumper. I'd been cold for over an hour, but I hadn't wanted to break the conversation.

'Birgitta, are you okay?' I jumped and made to run back to her.

'Wait, stop!' She hissed frantically. 'Stay where you are!'

'What? Why?' I asked, feeling my panic rise a couple of notches.

Then I heard rustling that sounded like it was coming from something much larger than her and I froze.

Slowly, I peered out of the open tent flap. It was hard to see at first, even though we had a fire, it was still dark. I could barely see her anymore, but something very solid was between us.

'Just stay there, I'll tell you when you can come out,' she said softly.

There was a massive, dark shape moving slowly through the campsite. My heart was in my throat, I knew it must a bear, but I hadn't expected it to be so big. I might have yelled out loud in shock or done something stupid if she hadn't given me a warning.

The bear didn't seem to be doing anything in particular. It was just moving slowly from one end of the campsite to another with its nose to the ground, clearly sniffing for food, but it was still bloody terrifying. Now I understood that Birgitta hadn't been neurotic in the slightest with getting rid of our rubbish and keeping the food in the cool box in her car the minute we were through with it.

It still took every ounce of self-control I had not to move from where I was. The bear was moving slowly, but Birgitta was injured, if it decided to attack, I was already too far away to protect her.

It felt like hours, but it was probably only a minute at most before the bear got to the other end of the campsite and disappeared into the forest.

'Okay, you can come back now, if you want,' Birgitta finally said, her voice a bit shaky.

In an instant, I was back at the campfire, kneeling down beside the chair where she was sitting, both feet on the ground now.

'Are you alright?' She asked before I could say anything.

I reached up to hold her face in my hands. Her eyes were wide and shining, like she was trying hard not to cry.

'Are you alright?' I asked her.