A Bear Named Boo

The Way Out

The days were getting shorter.

At first I thought I was going crazy. It must simply seem as though the days were getting shorter. How could the sun turn her back on us, leaving us in darkness for longer and longer each day? But soon even the earth was reflecting the change. The nights were colder. The soil took longer to warm up each morning. Even the leaves, with the lack of sunlight, faded from their vibrant green to a dismal yellow-brown.

The men provided us with hearty snacks of sweet orange roots and giant red berries the size of my paws with white flesh, as well as seeds and nuts that we had to race to get to before the squirrels packed it all away. Everywhere we looked, animals were manically gathering food. The whole mountain was screaming that our days were limited.

Where was Avani now?

Was she already in the north, waiting for us there?

Was she in danger?

We should have been well on our way by now. We were running out of time.

My frustration grew each day. I couldn't sleep, and when I did my dreams were vivid and unsettling. I kept dreaming of Mama, and of the tapestry of stars in the night sky.

"I'm sure it means something," I told Rowan and Cari. "I just don't know what."

They tried to seem interested, at first, but after hearing about the same dream a dozen times even Rowan grew impatient. 

"The stars, though," I said once, still lost in the memory of last night's dream. "They're so vivid."

Rowan snorted in disgust and stalked away, ignoring my belated apologies. "Wait - Rowan, I'm sorry! Come back, I'll ask about your day now!"

I exchanged a look with Cari.

"It does make you sound like you're going kind of crazy," he told me.

After that, I simply kept my dreams to myself.

I woke one morning from an oddly restful sleep to find that our world had been coated in a thin layer of snow. I lay without moving, feeling cold flakes of frost on my lashes.

It was peaceful. No birds were squawking. No squirrels were cackling. The snow seemed to muffle even the sounds of the insects that usually scurried beneath the earth.

"Cari?" I said softly.

He lifted his head from my back.

Together, we took in the new world around us.

"We need to build a den," Cari pointed out after a time.

My stomach lurched.

"A den," I repeated.

"Keep warm for the winter."

I didn't reply until I was sure I had control over my voice.

"You make it sound like we're going to stay here forever."

"We'll need shelter, Boo."

I rose and stalked in a wide circle, leaving brown footprints in the blanket of white.

"We need to find Avani!"

"When are you going to drop it?" Cari snarled, surprising me with his ferocity. "I miss her too, OK? But she's gone!"

A fire erupted in the pit of my stomach.

"What are you saying? You're giving up on her?"

"I'm facing facts. You've heard everything Rowan's said, about how dangerous it is out there. Remember the wolves? We wouldn't survive one day without Mama, or without the men to watch out for us. How do you think Avani could have survived all this time?"