The Dragon

Teddy Bears

5 years old

I clutched my teddy bear as tight as I could as my mom walked me up and into the school. We stopped just in front of the classroom door.

"Okay, Marki, honey? I know it's a new school and it's scary, but you have Teddy. And who's Teddy?"

"Teddy's my fwiend..."

"Yes, he is. And he's going to protect you. Now go and try to have some fun and make some friends. Mommy loves you."

Then she kissed my forehead before the door opened and a tall woman walked out.

"Hello, Mrs. Fischbach, it's nice to meet you. And is this Mark?"

"Hi, Ms..."

"Hello, Mark. I'm Ms. Flowers."

"She's your teacher, Mark."

I waved shyly. Ms. Flowers looked at me with a smile on her face until her eyes met with my bear. When she saw it, she turned to my mom.

"Uh, Mrs. Fischbach, we don't usually allow toys...a lot of kids find them distracting, and they can be damaged or stolen or..."

"I already discussed this with the counselors. He needs the bear."

"But, why would he NEED a bear? Anyways, we have plenty of bears here..."

"Did the school not go over his condition with you? He needs the bear."

"I just don't see how it's beneficial to his education..."

"Okay, let me say this very clearly one more time before I call the principal down here to inform you on what they already should have told you. HE. NEEDS. THE. BEAR. Understand?"

Finally, the teacher submitted as it was clear my mom wasn't backing down about the bear.

"You know what, fine. He can take the bear, but you can't send any complaints if something happens to it."

"Then make sure nothing happens to it."

Then, they turned to me as my mom waved and the teacher sighed.

"I'll see you later, okay? I love you, Mark."

"I wuv you too..."

Then she walked away as Ms. Flowers opened the door and walked me into the classroom. Inside, I saw a bunch of kids playing and drawing and doing all sorts of things.

"Okay, well go make some friends while I finish up some things, Mark."

I smiled and ran into the room, going straight to the computer. But on the way over, I ran right into another kid, falling over in the process.

"I'm...I'm sowwy..."

The other kid just looked down at me, not even trying to help me up.

"Why do you have a stupid bear?"

I felt a few tears in my eyes before I responded nervously.

"He's my fwiend..."

Then, the kid just laughed at me before walking away. Just as I got up, the teacher called out that it was time for recess. All the other kids ran outside as I followed them. I went and sat on the slide with my teddy bear, going down it a few times with him on my lap. But after the third time, somebody snatched him away from me.

"Hey! Give him back..."

It was the kid again, with a few of his friends.

"You're going to have to come and get it!"

Then he started running as I got up and followed him into the trees. He ran to the small creek behind the school, standing at the edge with his friends. Then, they grabbed me as he held my bear teasingly.

"Let me go...pwease..."

I had started crying.

"Aw, the little cry baby wants his teddy back."

Then, he ripped off one of Teddy's arms as I screamed out.

"Teddy!"

Then, he dropped the arm in the creek and I kept crying as it washed away. My ears started ringing and I started to feel like I was suffocating as I saw him rip off one of his legs and his head as well, dumping everything in the creek. Then him and his friends just laughed at me as they ran away. I crawled next to the creek, curling into a ball and crying. I started holding my head and I felt like I couldn't breathe, causing me to cry out even louder until I couldn't anymore. Everything was spinning and I was so scared. When I finally thought it was bearable to open my eyes, I saw a small girl with two brown braids looking at me from behind a tree. As soon as she saw me looking at her, she started to run away.

"Pwease...help...."

Then I saw Ms. Flowers run over as she scooped me up, carrying me away from the creek.

"Teddy..."

Then all of the spinning around my slowly faded to black.

~~~

I couldn't sleep last night. My mom had to stay up with me all night to help with my anxiety and to prevent any panic attacks, and you could tell she was exhausted this morning when she walked me to school. I sat in the corner the entire day when we weren't learning, and at recess, I went back and sat by the creek.

"I miss Teddy..."

Then, I heard a creak in the woods and turned around to see the girl from yesterday coming up to me. She looked like she was holding something behind her back as she sat down next to me.

"Hi. You're new."

I just nodded shyly.

"I'm sorry for not helping you yesterday. But I did find these. I put them back together during my sewing class yesterday."

Then she pulled out the object from behind her back, and it was the dirty, loosely stitched together pieces of my teddy bear. A huge smile lit up my face.

"Teddy!"

I grabbed him and hugged him as she smiled at me.

"Thank you..."

"No problem. I also got you this, so that he could have a friend."

Then she pulled out a small, green, stuffed dragon and handed it to me.

"What's his name?"

"I dunno..."

"Can I call him Tim?"

She nodded as I picked up the dragon, hugging it along with my bear.

"Hey, what's your name?"

"Mawk..."

"Hi, Mark. I'm Lindsey."