Dawn Rising

M I S C H I E F ☽

The empty feeling of hunger awoke Mischief. She blinked open her eyes and glanced around her at the rocky landscape around her. A rocky landscape with no food, with no sign of life. Mischief sighed quietly. They had been travelling for days now, and the summer lands Mother-bear described so fondly were nowhere to be found. Even though Mother-bear didn't say it, Mischief knew that they were lost. She didn't know how long they would wander around the mountains until they died of hunger or cold.

Mischief turned to look at the sleeping forms of Mother-bear and Starry. Mother-bear's ragged flank moved up and down steadily, like ripples in a puddle. But when Mischief glanced at Starry's flank, she saw it was still. Mischief's heart froze. She peered at Starry's face; the small cub's eyes were half-closed. Mischief pressed her ear against Starry's chest. Silence. Terrible, terrible silence. Mischief's eyes widened. Starry was dead. A loud, broken whimper escaped her throat. Mother-bear shifted and opened her eyes. When she saw the look on Mischief's face, she scrambled to her paws and nudged Mischief's cheek.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Mischief couldn't reply. Her throat felt clogged up and swollen. All she could do was nudge Starry's light brown fur. It was cold.

Mother-bear turned to look at Starry. For a moment, she merely stared at Starry's closed eyes and still flank. Then a look of blank horror settled in her eyes. She placed a paw on Starry's side and felt the cold that death had brought. The look of anguish that crippled her face in the next moment was indescribable. "No! Not her, not my baby!" she cried, grasping Starry's face in her paws. She turned to stare at Mischief, her eyes wild in pain. "What have you done to her?" she cried.

Mischief stepped back, taken aback by the question. "N-nothing," she whimpered. "She was already- already dead when I woke up." Mother-bear's face crumbled. She bowed her head so that it touched Starry's. Her eyes were squeezed shut. "Mama?" Mischief whispered.

Mother-bear looked up. "I can't do this," she whispered. Her voice was small and scared. Mischief stared at Mother-bear in frightened confusion. "I can't take care of you. I'm lost. I'm lost here, I can't find the summer lands. Everything I said was a lie." Mother-bear looked miserable. "We're going to starve here and die, all because I couldn't find those wretched summer lands."

Mischief didn't know what to say. She stared up at Mother-bear, her eyes wide. Her heart ached for her Mother-bear, and her paws trembled at the thought of dying here, in these cold, harsh mountains.

Mother-bear lowered her head once more to nuzzle Starry's fur, her eyes closed in pain. Mischief lowered her ears and hunched her shoulders. She felt forgotten now, forgotten and heartbroken as Mother-bear curled up with Mischief's dead sister. She whimpered softly. "I'm sorry," Mother-bear said. "I'm sorry you have to die here." She scooped Mischief with her paw and nestled her close to her warm body.

Curled up with her Mother-bear, Mischief closed her eyes and let her sadness consume her.