Which means it's International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day! Woo!

Under CC I give you ... wait ... that would ruin the story. I give you free fiction.

***
Into the Woods
by moi

Mathilda learned about Jackson’s death at the same time and in the same way as the rest of the high school—-during third period over the intercom.

It didn’t matter that she and Jackson had been going together for three years, or that they went to the park together after school to do the sorts of things boyfriends and girlfriends do, or that he took her to Dairy Queen every Friday evening.

Mathilda’s sister Annabelle didn’t go to the high school yet. She found out about Jackson’s death after school at the bus stop.

Steffie was talking about how dental records had to be used to identify someone’s body. Jenny had said that wasn’t true--his whole body had been found. Bruce said that the body had been in one piece, and was only missing the heart and liver. Annabelle had opened her mouth to ask who they were talking about when Steffie looked at her and asked, “Is it true about Mathilda?”

“Is what true?” Annabelle asked.

“That she went crazy when she found out.”

Annabelle’s stomach turned. “Found out what?” she asked.

“That Jackson was killed. Duh.”

“Jackson?” Annabelle’s vision blurred. She sat down hard on the grass and buried her head in her hands.

“Can you believe it?” Bruce said. “No one told her.”

All the way home Annabelle leaned against the bus window, cool from the air conditioning. She imagined Jackson’s pale, cold body and how he and Mathilda wouldn’t be going to the park anymore.
#

Mathilda hadn’t gone crazy. Not really. Everyone who has lost someone to death goes through a bit of madness and Mathilda was no different. When she first heard of Jackson’s death the world around her turned surreal, as if everything were forty-five degrees off-kilter. She ran sobbing from the school. Her teacher ran after her, caught her, and sat with her on the sidewalk by the school’s parking lot while Mathilda screamed. Mathilda’s mom came to pick her up not long after and drove Mathilda to the family doctor, who wrote a prescription for pills that would help Mathilda rest. Mathilda went home, took a pill, crawled into her bed, and fell into a deep dreamless sleep. When she woke, she took another pill and returned to bed. And so it went until Mathilda ran out of pills.
#

When Annabelle got home from school, her mother took her aside and, in a gentle voice Annabelle hadn’t heard since she was a young child, told her what had happened: Jackson had gone into the woods and fallen into a ravine where a bear had attacked and killed him. This was why, Annabelle’s mother reminded her, no one was to go into the woods. But she wasn’t worried about Annabelle, no; Annabelle knew the rules and she followed them.

And it was true—-Annabelle knew all the rules. From the time she was small, her mother and Mathilda had taught her the rules for everything: look both ways before crossing the street, always take breath mints on dates, when dating a guy be available but not too available, and, of course, never go into the woods.

No one had ever taught Annabelle the Rules for Death.
#

Mathilda slept through Jackson’s funeral. “Don’t wake her,” their mother said. “She needs her sleep; sleep is healing.”

Annabelle didn’t want to go to the funeral; she didn’t want to be in the same room as Jackson’s dead body. She wanted to remember Jackson as the guy who sometimes let Annabelle go for ice cream or to the park with Mathilda and him, as the guy who wasn’t only Mathilda’s boyfriend, but maybe Annabelle’s friend a little bit, too.

But Annabelle did go. Later, when she thought back on Jackson, she would be glad she had gone. The casket was closed, so it was like he wasn’t even really there. People sang songs and shared favorite memories of Jackson, and cried. When Annabelle noticed the tears streaming down her mother’s cheeks, she finally allowed her own tears to fall. She had wanted to cry all along, but she wasn’t sure how, or even if she was allowed. There must be rules for who could and couldn’t mourn, and it wasn’t as if he’d been her boyfriend. But there was something about being surrounded by other people who were crying and missing Jackson that made it easier for her to cry as well, and Annabelle suddenly felt less alone.
#

Though Mathilda’s pills had run out, she still continued to sleep. But now, instead of being surrounded by nothing, she dreamt. Over and over she watched Jackson go alone into the woods where he was hunted by a great, black animal. He was trying to evade the animal, screaming for help, and then failing, falling to the earth. Mathilda would wake, Jackson’s cries still reverberating through her head.
When she wasn’t asleep she stared out her bedroom or living room widows at barren, naked trees. Sometimes, when the phone rang or someone knocked on the door, Mathilda would jump up to answer, thinking it might be Jackson. And then she would remember, and would go back to bed or return to the window.

Sometimes Annabelle would sit by Mathilda and try to start a conversation, but Mathilda couldn’t follow Annabelle’s comments about school or her friends or what had happened on T.V. the night before, and she would find herself staring out the window again.

Her mother sat by her, too. Hugged her and told her everything would be all right, which was expected—-it was one of the Rules for Parents. Once, her mother asked if she would like to return to school, maybe for just a half day. But all Mathilda could think about were the trees and how they looked so cold in the snow without their leaves. She asked her mother if she thought the trees were cold. Her mother put her arms around her shoulders and stared out the window with her.
#

Annabelle spent the winter being mad at Mathilda. So Jackson was gone. But the world had moved on while her sister stayed stuck in her sorrow, sleeping all day with brief periods of staring out windows. She only showered when her mother took her to the bathroom, never combed her hair, and wore the same pajamas for days at a time. Mathilda smelled sour, and it made Annabelle sick to her stomach.

Sometimes, though, when Annabelle looked at Mathilda she could feel her heart soften. Mathilda looked as if she’d shrunk somehow, that without Jackson there was less of her. She looked as if she were utterly lost.
#

Mathilda woke early one morning to Annabelle at her side, holding her hand, Annabelle's eyes wide and terrified.

“It’s okay, it’s only a dream,” Annabelle said over and over. Annabelle released Mathilda’s hand and pulled the covers that had been kicked to the side up to Mathilda’s chin and tucked the edges around her shoulders. She sat on the bed and stroked Mathilda’s head.

Mathilda tried to remember her dream. It was the same recurring dream, but this time upon awakening, she realized it wasn’t only Jackson’s death and absence that was tearing her to pieces. His death was her fault. She had been the one to suggest they go into the woods in the first place, that they needed more privacy than the park allowed. At first he had resisted, but finally she convinced him.

Mathilda looked up at Annabelle; tears blurred her vision. Annabelle left and returned with a box of Kleenex. She wiped her sister’s eyes and nose.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Annabelle asked.

“No.”

“We’re sisters, Mathilda. You used to tell me everything.”

“You wouldn’t understand.” Mathilda rolled over to face the wall until Annabelle left to get ready for school.

Mathilda spent the day thinking about what she had done to Jackson. “My fault, my fault, my fault,” she whispered to herself.

Late in the afternoon, she got out of bed. Without anyone suggesting it, she showered, combed her hair, and dressed in jeans, a sweater, tennis shoes, and a jacket. The clothes were loose but it felt good to wear them. It felt good that she was going to face what happened, what she had done.

She walked to the park. She and Jackson used to run there from school, holding hands. Today, the walk was exhausting, and Mathilda was out of breath by the time she reached the swings. The sun was shining but the air was still cool. Mathilda’s flesh was hot and prickly from her sweat.

She walked past the swings and towards the woods. A feeling of nausea crept up on her; she wasn’t completely convinced she wanted to find the spot where Jackson had died. And what if she fell, as he had? What if she met the bear who had killed him? But if that did happen, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad; maybe that was her penance to pay.

Mathilda finally reached the tall black columns that marked the boundaries between the park and the woods. The bridge swung slightly when she stepped onto it and Mathilda grabbed the rope that served as a railing with her right hand. Her left hand felt empty without Jackson’s hand to hold on to.
All her life, Mathilda had been told by everyone from her mother to her elementary school principal to stay out of the woods. If they really wanted to keep us out, why didn’t someone cut down the bridge, she wondered. The bridge extended over the rushing river below and there was no other way into the woods. If it had been cut down Jackson would be alive. No, she reproved herself, you can’t blame someone else. You have to take responsibility.

Jackson and Mathilda had walked by the ravine once, so Mathilda knew where to find it. It wasn’t long before she was looking over the edge and down, wondering exactly where it was that Jackson had died.

“Is it you?”

The deep voice startled Mathilda; she hadn’t heard anyone approaching. She turned. A brown bear was behind her. Her heart pounding in her chest, she took a step back.

“Are you Jackson’s mate?” the bear asked.

Mathilda opened her mouth but no sound came out.

“Don’t be frightened. I won’t hurt you,” the bear said.

“Was it you?” Mathilda finally asked.

“Me?”

“Did you kill him?”

“No,” the bear said. Its voice sounded sad. “I didn’t kill him. I sat with him and tried to comfort him while he died.”

“Oh,” Mathilda said. She felt the tears on her cheeks, but
she didn’t bother to wipe them away.

“So you are the one. His mate. Mathilda.”

“Yes, I was his girlfriend.”

“Do you come to this spot often?”

“No.” Mathilda put her hands in her pockets to keep them from shaking. “I have never come here before, not since...”

The bear lumbered to the edge of the ravine and sat down next to Mathilda. “Sit, please. Talk to me. I won’t hurt you.”

“How do I know that?” She glanced behind her to see if there was anymore room for her to move away from the bear.

“If I had killed him, would I have known who you were? Does it seem effective to quiz one’s prey on their personal lives before killing them?”

“I suppose not,” Mathilda said. She sat down by the bear.
“He told you about me?”

The bear stared out at the ravine. “He told me all about you.” He made a noise that sounded like a sigh, though Mathilda wasn’t sure bears did sigh. “We’re tied together, you and I. We’ve both lost someone very dear to us.”

Mathilda shivered.

“Are you cold?”

“No. Maybe. I don’t know,” Mathilda said.

The bear moved closer to Mathilda, and snuggled against her, his fur soft and warm.

“Who did you lose?” Mathlida asked.

“I lost my mate.”

“I’m sorry.”

The bear and Mathilda sat under the trees for several minutes, saying nothing. Finally Mathilda spoke. “It was my fault he died.” The bear leaned his head against hers. “Does it get any easier?” Mathilda asked.

“I don’t know.”

Mathilda leaned against the bear and together they gazed at the new leaves and flowers that budded on the trees.

She went back to the woods to see the bear the next day, and the next. She became concerned, however, that someone might catch her going into the woods and would try to stop her from seeing the bear again, so Mathilda started visiting him at night. She would sit by the bear and he would hold her in his shaggy arms.

She loved everything about her bear—-his large sad eyes, the hump on his back, how she could look at his long, sharp claws and know he would never hurt her. She found solace in the kind way he listened to her talk about Jackson—-the best times they’d had together, how it had been her idea to go into the woods—-and every night the bear told her that Jackson’s death wasn’t her fault.

Mathilda had been visiting the bear for several days when he suddenly said to her, “Mathilda, I have a confession.”
Mathilda had been leaning against the bear, but now she sat up and looked at him and grinned. “What? You like to eat young girls for breakfast?” The bears eyes grew sadder. “I’m teasing,” Mathilda said.

“I need to tell you about my mate.”

“Oh, I am so sorry. Every night I go on and on about Jackson, and never let you talk about your wife.”

“No, no. It’s not that. But you need to know.” The bear slumped forward, and rested his paws on the ground. “My mate and I had been together for several seasons before we had our first cub. We were overjoyed at his birth. He was sweet and we adored him, but soon after my mate changed. She was sad all the time, or angry. She started acting...strangely; she became paranoid.

“We were aware the moment you and Jackson entered the woods for the first time, and when you came back after that. We could smell you and hear you. My mate was convinced you were after our cub.

“The day Jackson came by himself was a very bad day for my mate. She believed he was there to kill our cub; she pushed him into the ravine. He lay at the bottom and she attacked him. I finally stopped her and she ran.” The bear sighed and then looked at Mathilda. “There was nothing I could do but stay with him while he passed. And now, I pay for what my mate did by trying to comfort you. I am sorry.”

“I am, too,” Mathilda said. She stood up and left the woods just as the morning sun peeked over the eastern hills.

She didn’t sleep much that day. She watched trees blossom and listened to birds sing, not knowing what to feel. Should she be angry at the bear for what his mate did? Should she be mad that he hadn’t told her sooner? Should she be angry at the mate? Should she be angry at Jackson?

And then Mathilda realized she didn’t have to be angry at all. The bear had lost his mate and the two of them were in this together. He was paying for his mate taking Jackson’s life; she was paying for causing Jackson to go into the woods and causing the mate to kill him and then. . .what?

What had happened to the mate?

Mathilda returned to the woods the next night. “What happened to your wife?” she asked the bear.

The bear hung his head. “I turned her in for what she had done; it was wrong. We are never to take a human life unless we are being attacked. Jackson meant no harm. He said he was trying to find something he’d left behind the night before.

“The council was concerned about what my mate had done—-she might attack another bear, or another human, which would bring harm to the rest of us. People would be coming to look for your mate as it was, which they did the next morning. They found him quickly. We knew the humans would realize that a bear had killed your mate, so the council took care of mine. They left her for the people to find so that they wouldn’t hunt further for the killer and hurt other bears. We had to be left alone, as we have been since before I was born.”

“That’s horrible,” Mathilda said. “Or not. I don’t know.” She sat down on the forest floor. “We’re in this together, aren’t we?”

“I suppose we are.”

That night the bear introduced Mathilda to the other bears. It took some doing, but finally he convinced them that she wasn’t a threat. They welcomed her and were kind.
#

It seemed to Annabelle that Mathilda was improving. She was bathing and eating again. She didn’t talk much, but she smiled, a strange secret smile, and laughed at Annabelle’s jokes. Their mother was concerned that Mathilda was still sleeping all day and hadn’t gone back to school. Mathilda promised she would return in the fall. “I just need more time,” she’d said. Annabelle was glad Mathilda was feeling better even if she was lost in her own world.

One night at the beginning of summer, Annabelle was up late reading. It was almost midnight when she heard Mathilda’s window squeak open and then a thud when Mathilda dropped to the ground outside. Annabelle peeked out her window and watched Mathilda jog across the front lawn. Annabelle slid on her shoes, climbed out her own window, and trailed after her sister.

Mathilda had never explicitly given Annabelle any Rules for Sisters, but Annabelle was sure there were some, and one of them had to be, “If one’s sister is going through a traumatic period and sneaks out of the house late at night, it is one’s duty to follow and make sure she is okay”.

Mathilda ran to the park and Annabelle followed, staying a fair distance behind so as not to be caught and sent home. Annabelle was doing a good job following the Rules for Sisters, she was sure.

By the time Mathilda had crossed the park and stood at the entrance to the woods, Anabelle’s lungs and thighs burned, the inside of her nose tingled. She stopped to catch her breath and watched in horror as Mathilda went into the woods.

Annabelle had been to the park plenty of times, but she’d never gone near the woods’ entrance; it was one of the Rules. Only bad things happened in the woods—-a girl could get raped, or killed, like Jackson had. But the Rules for Sisters had to be more important than the Rules for the Park or even the Rules for the Woods, so Annabelle approached the entrance.

It was marked by two huge black columns that rose at least a hundred feet into the air. As Annabelle stepped across this threshold, she found herself no longer standing on soft earth but on something harder. She squinted her eyes so she could focus and could make out the wooden bridge beneath her feet. She walked a little further and felt the bridge gently sway. Water swooshed underneath. She grabbed at the rope railing to her right, her heart pounding. Annabelle was worried that she might be caught and she was afraid of what she might meet in the woods, but at the same time she was exhilarated by her adventure.

The full moon and stars shone through the trees. Mathilda was nowhere in sight. Annabelle spotted a path that veered off to her right. As she followed it, she heard a rustling in the trees and hoped she wasn’t following some animal instead of her sister.

Annabelle was approaching whatever was in the trees when the rustling stopped. She walked just a couple more yards and then she heard what sounded like Mathilda giggling.

Annabelle walked a little farther until she found herself at the edge of a large emtpy clearing, roomy enough for three full-sized tents. Mathilda was sitting on a log in the arms of a grizzly bear. It was nuzzling her as she caressed its tousled brown fur.

Annabelle stifled her screams with her fist and then calmed herself by creating another Rule, “When trailing one’s sister, never scream or give yourself away if you find her in a compromising situation. She’ll know you followed her and that will lead to more trouble than the scream was worth.”

Mathilda spoke to the bear, her voice low and happy. The bear’s mouth moved and it looked and sounded as if the bear was saying something back. It looked around and sniffed the air. Mathilda laughed, said something, and stroked the bear’s chest.

Other bears appeared from out of the trees—-tall ones, short ones, bears with bushy fur, bears with sleek fur. There were black ones, blonde ones, brown ones, white ones—-about a dozen bears in all. Some nodded their heads towards Mathilda and the bear, some seemed to speak to them. Soft music began to play, coming from all directions.

The bears stood on their hind legs. Annabelle grabbed a low branch on a nearby tree to steady herself. Her sister was trapped and there was nothing she could do. She watched, panicked, as the bears paired off, touched one another, paw to paw, and began to waltz. They twirled around the clearing, graceful and sophisticated. Mathilda and her bear rose and joined the other bears in the dance. He held her to him as they glided across the dirt floor.

The music ended. The bears stopped dancing and clapped their paws, their long claws tinkling together. The music started again and the bears tangoed. Mathilda obviously didn’t know how to tango, but it wasn’t long before her bear had her floating across the ground. One of the bears snapped a small twig off a tree and put it between its teeth.

Despite her misgivings Annabelle laughed. The bears stopped dancing and looked in her direction. Annabelle turned and ran.

Behind her she heard a gruff voice, “I told you I smelled a human.”

“Annabelle! Is that you?” Mathilda called. And then, “Wait, it’s my sister.”

Annabelle ran through the forest, tripped, got up, and ran some more. She felt as if her lungs would burst, as if her heart would explode, but she didn’t stop running until she had climbed back through her window and was in her own room again.

Annabelle heard Mathilda climb through her own window at dawn.
#

Mathilda came into Annabelle’s room with peanut butter sandwiches, cookies, and milk late the next afternoon. She was still wearing her nightgown and her hair was bushy. She sat on Annabelle’s bed, looked her sister in the eye and said, “Annabelle, I know last night was a strange experience for you.”

“Strange?” Annabelle said. “That’s beating around the bush, don’t you think?”

Mathilda rubbed her eyes, and then said, “Honey, I know you’re too young to understand such things.”

“I’m perfectly capable of understanding such things—-you’re crazy. What if they attacked and hurt you? What if they did to you what they. . .what they did to Jackson.”

Mathilda sighed a big sisterly “I know best” sigh and shook her head. She brought her legs up onto Annabelle’s bed and folded them under her, Indian style. Her nightgown shifted up, exposing her legs, which were covered with downy golden hair.

“I mean, look at you,” Annabelle said. “When was the last time you shaved your legs? So your boyfriend has the hairiest legs I’ve ever seen, but jeez Mathilda, have a little pride.”

Mathilda pulled her nightgown down over her legs. Annabelle picked at a hangnail on her thumb. She studied the blood that oozed from the torn flesh.

“He’s really wonderful,” Mathilda finally said. “I feel alive again. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve really felt alive? And happy? He’s kind, thoughtful, loving. I’ve never met anyone like him.”

“Not even Jackson?” Annabelle said, her voice snide.

“It’s different,” Mathilda said. “At first it was about me losing Jackson and . . . other things. But it’s not anymore. He’s the best thing in my life.”

“It’s just not natural,” Annabelle said. “It’s not how things work. It’s against nature. It’s against the Rules.”

“The Rules don’t always apply.”

“You need to talk to someone. This just isn’t healthy.”
Mathilda reached out and grabbed Annabelle’s hands.

“Please,” she pleaded, “I can’t—-I’d never see him again. Don’t tell anyone, Annabelle. Okay? Not Mom, not anyone. I couldn’t lose someone who means so much to me again. It would kill me.”

Annabelle sighed. “Fine,” she said. “I promise. But only because I’m your sister, and that’s what sisters do.”
#

Mathilda continued to sneak out at night to meet her bear, and she began to change. Annabelle noticed Mathilda’s eyes first—-the once grey eyes changed to a deep chocolate color. Her pale blonde hair changed to a dark honey, and instead of being sleek and straight it now grew from her head in thick, shaggy chunks. And every morning Annabelle found thick, honey-colored clumps of hair in the bathtub drain. Mathilda went through refillable razor blades like they were disposables. She left long, wiry hairs on the soap. She gained weight, developing a belly over her taut abs. And during the day, when she slept, she snored to raise the roof.

Annabelle was grateful she and Mathilda didn’t share a room.
#

Mathilda ignored the changes at first. She noticed she couldn’t pull her comb all the way through her hair, and she had hair in places she hadn’t before. When she applied her mascara before sneaking out at night, she noticed her eyes were darker. When she brushed her teeth, she noticed her teeth were getting longer and sharper. Her nails needed constant filing.

Then, one night, she could barely button the jeans that that spring had hung so loose that they’d almost fallen off. She had been eating more regularly again, but in the past few days she couldn’t keep anything down at all. She always felt sick to her stomach and was constantly tired. Her visits to her bear grew shorter and shorter.

In the middle of July, Mathilda went to the drug store and bought three tests. All were positive, with one little pink line and one little blue line.

Mathilda didn’t go to the woods that night, nor the next, nor the one after that. She stayed at home in bed, crying. She was scared and her heart was heavy. She tried to figure out what she would do.
#

When their mother asked Mathilda if she was feeling well, Mathilda said she thought she had a virus, but she would be okay soon.

Annabelle lay in bed at night and listened to Mathilda either snore in her bed or heave into the toilet in the bathroom next to Annabelle’s room. Annabelle cried into her pillow.

She had tried to talk to Mathilda, but Mathilda wouldn’t talk back. She noticed Mathilda wasn’t leaving the house at night anymore. She and the bear had probably broken up, which was for the best. Maybe Mathilda would start looking like herself again soon.

Then, towards the end of July, in the middle of the night, Annabelle heard Mathilda’s window open. Annabelle got out of bed and ran into Mathilda’s room.

“Don’t you know how to knock?”

“Please don’t go back there,” Annabelle pleaded. “Stay with Mom and me.”

“I have to go,” Mathilda climbed onto the chair that was positioned next to her window.

“I’m asking as your sister. Don’t you see what’s happening to you?”

“I’m fine,” Mathilda said. She grunted as she swung one leg over the window ledge.

“Don’t you care?”

“Look, Annabelle. You’re a kid. I have responsibilities you can’t understand.”

“It’s not right to go out there and be with him.”

“Go back to bed,” Mathilda said. She dropped out the window.
#

He had understood; he would take care of her, and the baby. Mathilda felt light for the first time in weeks. She would have a new life, a good life. No more sneaking around, no more long nights. She wouldn’t have to go back to school and have everyone staring at her fat, fuzzy body. She wouldn’t have to listen to Annabelle’s lectures about wrong choices and the Rules. She wouldn’t have to watch her mother’s worried eyes stare at her from across the dinner table.

He was a good bear, a loving bear. She had known he was, but now he had proved it.

Mathilda thought of Annabelle. No matter what happened, they were still sisters, and if it were possible, she wanted Annabelle involved in her new life. She wanted her sister to be happy for her.
#

Annabelle woke to Mathilda knocking on her window. She went to the window and opened it.

“I’m sorry I was so harsh. Forgive me?”

Annabelle reached out to her sister and helped her through the window. It took all of her strength to heave Mathilda’s ever-expanding girth into her bedroom.

Mathilda sat on Annabelle’s bed and leaned back. Her face glowed, her brown eyes shined. “Oh, Annabelle. I am so happy.”

“Happy? How can you be happy? Have you looked in the mirror lately?”

“I know,” Mathilda said quietly. “It’s going to be okay, though.” Mathilda raised herself up from her reclining position. “Ask me why I’m happy.”

“Why?”

“I’m getting married!” Mathilda squealed and jumped up, causing the bed to shake. Mathilda danced around the room, her newly heavy bottom shaking.

“Married? To who?”

“Bear.”

“The bear? You can’t be serious. Do you know how insane this is?”

Mathilda turned to face Annabelle and placed her hands on her sister’s shoulders. “I’m pregnant, Annabelle. My baby needs a father.”

“Of course,” Annabelle whispered. “Are you sure it’s the right thing to do?”

“Yes. He’s a good bear. I adore him, and he loves me. And be realistic—-I don’t fit into this world anymore, but I fit there with him. Will you come with me when I get married?”
Annabelle nodded; that’s what sisters do. It was one of the Rules.

Annabelle and Mathilda went to a clothing store in the mall and found a lacy white dress for Mathilda in the women’s section. They bought a pink one for Annabelle from the junior’s department. Dainty pink roses for Annabelle’s hair and Mathilda’s bouquet were purchased. They ate chocolate chip cookies and drank Orange Juliuses in the food court.

Annabelle was sure she would never see her sister again after the wedding and she felt empty. That night they dressed and snuck out of the house and into the woods. Annabelle asked Mathilda one last time if this was the right thing for her to do.

“I’ve made my bed, Annabelle. I have to sleep in it. It’s the Rules.”

It was a nice ceremony. The bears welcomed Annabelle as Mathilda’s sister. The moon shone through the clearing and illuminated Mathilda’s dress, almost as if it were blessing her and her baby.

Afterwards, the bears and Mathilda danced. Annabelle danced a few times with a younger bear who was cute, as bears go, but he wasn’t really her type. He tried to talk her into staying and marrying him. He told her he would make all of her dreams come true.

Annabelle briefly considered it. She studied his furry chest and arms. It might be nice to curl up in them all winter long, but she knew better. It would be breaking the Rules—-humans weren’t meant to sleep their winters away, birth tiny bear babies and wake to cubs after a long nap. They weren’t supposed to live on juicy berries or sweet honey. They weren’t supposed to dance their summers away. Mathilda may have fooled the fates, but Annabelle knew it wasn’t for her.

Annabelle said goodbye to her sister as the sun’s light filled the sky. She held Mathilda close to her, breathing in her heavy scent, Mathilda’s downy cheek tickling her own. “I love you,” Annabelle said.

Mathilda squeezed Annabelle and then released her. “I love you, too.” Her brown eyes glistened.

Annabelle walked home alone and went to bed. The bears’ musky scents clung to her hair, but she was exhausted. She would shower later. It would be a long day—-she would have a lot of explaining to do when her mother noticed Mathilda was gone.
#

Every year on the first day of spring, Annabelle would go to the park in the evening and wait by the pillars until the bears came. There was always the large brown grizzly and the small honey-colored female. Some years, a new cub would accompany them, returning as a bigger bear the following spring.

Annabelle would wave across the bridge to the bears and the bears would wave back. They never missed a year—-it was one of the Rules.

END

***

Originally published in Say... what's the combination?