Deep End

Stow Away

The sky was scattered with a range of orange colors as the sun rose over the horizon. The forest came to life as the birds started to chirp their melodious songs for the world to hear. Rays of light started to take over the earth beneath them as the sun rose above the horizon. The light reached into a nearby window of a cave, filling the room with light.

A small creature slowly parted his eyelids to see what was the ever so bright light trying to kidnap him from his land of slumber. Within a second, the creature groaned in discomfort and turned his head away from the brightness. In the next room, a bigger brown creature of the Ursus genus had already returned from his trip to the city of dreams. The bear rose from the fetal position on the couch to a more upright one. The bear stretched his back vertically and extended his arms upwards while letting out a yawn before going into a standing position. The bear scratched his fur before heading towards the kitchen to receive an expected breakfast.

The bear stumbled into the kitchen, "Good morning bros, I hope you t-" the bear halts his words as he found no one inhabiting the kitchen. The bear let out a low, "Hm," in a reflective manner. Maybe his brothers were not awake yet. The bear walked his way over to the fridge before slowly opening it to peek inside, nothing, or at least nothing he was looking for. He groaned, annoyed, wondering where the polar bear variant brother was. He knew his other brother, the panda, had art classes today, so with another groaned, he exited the kitchen and headed towards his room.

The small creature, the koala, was now sitting upright on the bed scanning the room. He never noticed how messy everything was. The koala, without a second thought, started to try and tidy up the room a bit by putting things together and throwing out other questionable things. While the koala was doing some voluntary cleaning, the door slowly opened and furry snout slid through the small opening in the door. "Hey, Nom Nom, are you awake?" The koala's heart skipped a beat but then he soon realized it was the voice of Grizz. The grizzly entered the room and saw Nom Nom on the floor holding some of his stuff. "Dude, what are you doing," asked Grizz. Nom Nom broke a slight sweat but then he furrowed his brows. "This is room is disgusting, how could you live like this!"

Grizz was honestly surprised and a bit upset at how harsh the koala had said that. "Oh, well, I try my hardest to keep it clean, I-" Grizz said as he looked down and spoke in a tone. "Yeah, well you need to try har-" the koala stopped himself, he realized what he had said. But before he could apologize, Grizz started to speak an aggressive tone "Wait, this is MY cave and MY room. How are you going to tell me how to live, when you can't even keep your own life together." The grizzly stood up for himself this time. Nom Nom looked down and started to tear up. He knew what he said was wrong but that last bit that Grizz said got to him. A tear started to fall down his cheeks as he ran out of the room and towards the bathroom where he proceeded to lock himself in there. "Fine! Cry about it then." Deep down, Grizz always wanted to stand up for himself, but now, he actually did it. And it feels good.

The bear went back into the kitchen. He thought he would at least make breakfast for the miserable koala. He didn't exactly know what the koala ate but he thought he could just put together some cereal. Everyone loves cereal, right? The grizzly proceeded to make two bowls of Frosty Fluffs. Grizz took the bowls and headed towards the bathroom. Grizz sat on the floor in from of the bathroom door and put the bowls beside him. "Go away," said a distressed koala from the inside of the bathroom. "I brought you cereal." Grizz picked up one of the bowls and extended his arm out. Nom Nom quickly opened the door, grabbed the bowl and shut it again. Grizz picked up his bowl of cereal and started eating them. "Are you still there? That's creepy, you big oaf." Nom Nom stated from the other side of the door. Grizz sighed, "Well, you're eating cereal from inside the bathroom. There was a brief silence. A chuckle came from the koala, "You're right." The koala opened the door. Grizz smelled depression. The koala sat down beside him and chowed down. As the koala ate, he leaned his head against the grizzly's side. They sat there and ate in silence.