Bear Child (Book 1)

Chapter 12

          12. Rescue

          I was cold. I couldn’t see anything. There was darkness as far as the eye could see. Was I dead? Is this how the afterlife looks like? All those times that my mom had taken me to church when I was little, they talked about there being a Heaven and a Hell. Was this how Hell looked like? There was supposed to be a pit of fire, miserable souls, the Devil enjoying our pitiful misery. There was none of that, and this was too dark to be Heaven. Heaven is supposed to be full of light, angels singing, and golden gates. Was all of that just a myth?

          I thought of my mom. Was she in this same darkness as I was now? Where was I? So many questions filled my mind. I ended my life trying to find some stupid bear. Could I even remember how I died? I tried to think back.

I remember water, and rocks, and trees. I remember bleeding from my face. I scraped my head with something. I think it was a rock. I remembered then, I went through rapids; the rapids of Knik River. What else had happened? I remember sharp stinging on my body as I fell. I was screaming and I fell into water. The waterfall; I fell off the waterfall. All of that caused my death? It was no wonder I died. How could my body have handled that and allow me to live?

Ben popped into my mind. He had just gone through the loss of my mom and now I died. He must have felt completely horrible. He must have thought I hated him. I didn’t, I honestly didn’t. Not really. I was angry, yes. I still wasn’t use to have him around, but I never hated him. I never even got the chance to call him “Dad” . . .

I started to feel tired and in pain. I see I low, dim orange light close to me, and I started to feel a bit of warmth, but I was cold at the same time. Was I finally going to Hell? Then I hear someone call my name. It wasn’t all that loud or clear, but I could make out that it was my name. It sounded like a girl. Her voice sounded familiar. I’ve heard it somewhere before.

She was saying something. She was talking to someone. Her words faded in and out. What was going on? I could only make out a few words. Words like “she”, “alright”, “weak”, “unconscious”, and “resting”. I heard her say my name a couple of times. Then I thought of something. The girl had said “unconscious”. What if she was talking about me? What if I wasn’t dead? What if I was just unconscious from the fall?

Then a fire shot through my head and I groaned. I could actually hear myself. “I think she’s coming around.” The girl said. “Clair? Clair, can you hear me?” I knew that voice anywhere! It was Sonia. “Clair, buddy, you okay?" That sounded like Alex.

I tried to open my eyes. I was weak and I felt fragile, but I wanted to see my friends and I wanted to know where I was. My eyes fluttered open. As soon as my vision adjusted, I quickly sat up, but I felt dizzy. My hand shot to my forehead.

“Easy, Clair.” Sonia said as she tried to keep me from falling back. “Whoa, head rush.” I said in a hoarse voice. “Are you alright?” she said in a warm, gentle tone. “Sonia?” There was a sting on my hair line. “Huh?” I mumbled in confusion. As I felt around the hair line, I felt a scratch on the left side of my head. “Don’t worry, it’s barely noticeable. Just cover it up a bit with you hair.” Sonia said. “What happened? Where am I?”

“You’re at my house.” She replied gently. “What?” I asked confused. I looked around. There were pine trees all around us. Sonia did say she lived on the reserve. A low, dim fire was lit in a pit to my right, and a log cabin lay in front of me a few feet away. The friendly, warm, worried faces of Amorak, Alex, and Sonia surrounded me.

“How did I get here?” I asked “The last thing I remember is that . . . I was drowning . . .” I dazed off. “What happened?” I asked. It sounded more like a statement than a question. “You were unconscious for at least an hour.” Amorak replied. "About an hour ago, we heard someone screaming. It was coming from the waterfall. As soon as we heard it, we went running towards it, and we saw your body on the side of the water, but there was a bear next to you.”