Bastian’s face floated around in my head as I stared at the screen; the words flowed out of me with ease. I was able to continually keep typing without stopping as the story rushed out of me. Occasionally, I’d stop for a few seconds to stare at Bastian, only for more words to form. What started as minutes, turned to well over an hour of writing, the sound of his axe long since gone as I was swallowed into my writing.
By hour two, I’d thrown out over a six-thousand-word count. I saved my progress and stretched with a satisfied grin. I hadn’t written that many words straight in such a long time. Especially in that short amount of time. I gave one last glance to the cabin next door before going back inside.
I was so thrilled and exhilarated to have done so well, there was an extra pep in my step as I readied myself for my hike. I gathered everything I’d need and threw it into a backpack Aunt Em had let me borrow, along with the trails she drew for me on my map. Flashlight, water bottle, energy bars and an extra sweater were packed away. I threw on some jeans, a scarf, fingerless mittens, a beanie for my ears, and a thick thermal shirt with a light jacket. I grabbed my camera last, hoping I could get some great shots of everything I saw. I really wanted some of the frozen lake.
I was so excited to get out for what I felt like would be the perfect way to spend the rest of my day. I put the last of the coffee in my thermos and was about to leave the cabin, when I remembered the bear spray Aunt Em had left for me in case of emergencies. I’d never dealt with bears, but I still wasn’t too sure if this small spray bottle could do much of anything to a large grizzly. I’d take her word for it, though. Apparently, it worked on wolves too, so that was a small relief since I’d more than likely run into one of them.
Nature, here I come! I said to myself, wrapping my headphones around my ears so they wouldn’t slide and turning on the playlist I’d made for myself as I left the cabin.
The beginning of the trail was easy to find; as it was marked with a sign telling me that’s where it started, and that the lake was in the direction to the right. The first part of it was an easy hike. The path was mostly level dirt with all the tree branches and bushes cut away. I marveled at the massive trees that towered as high as some of the buildings in Chicago. Not skyscraper high, but still taller than any trees I was used to. I saw animals along the way that I never thought I’d see outside of a zoo or pet shop. A beaver, rabbits, birds that weren’t pigeons, were just a few of the many types of wildlife frolicking in the area. A little white fox was probably my favorite. I almost missed him since he blended so well with the patches of snow, but could snap a few shots of him before he disappeared into the heavier wooded area.
It took about forty minutes of slow hiking before I managed to get to the lake. When we had first arrived here, it looked like it had been right on the edge of town; but was actually some miles behind it. I learned the hard way from my first time hiking here. But every time I looked at this lake, I almost stopped breathing at the sight. The lake was a few miles wide with all sorts of birds flying above it. I sat close to the edge on a fallen log and took it all in, marveling at the geese formation above me, most likely flying south for the winter.
“This is incredible,” I whispered, almost afraid to shout and somehow ruin this moment. With my luck, there was just no telling.
I quickly snapped a quick selfie of me with the lake and mountain behind me, sending it to Hannah with the caption “Be jealous!” She was mad I hadn’t taken one last time. I was too stunned by the polar bears, so she couldn’t exactly blame me.
I got a quick response back.
Hannah: Not gonna lie, but that’s pretty awesome! My view is just a bit better tho!
A picture of her new snow boots propped up on a chair in what looked like a good court, greeted me. I laughed at the little fluff balls dangling from the laces.
Me: You’d better have gotten me a pair since snow boots seems to be the only thing you’re buying...
Hannah: U know I did! Have fun with your nature! Love U and be safe! XoXo
I laughed and sent her a quick reply.
Me: I will! You too <3
I shoved my phone in my pocket and took as many pictures as I could of the lake, until finally having to stop and pull the extra flap over my frosted fingers to warm them. I stood up and continued my hike, excited to see what other magical views this place had in store.
This part of the hike was where the trail became harder to see and would go up into the mountains. Aunt Em said that I’d have to pay close attention as I made my way through here. The terrain was a lot rougher and the trail was much easier to lose the further up I went. I grabbed my jacket from my backpack and wrapped it around me. The higher I climbed, the colder it got. Thankfully, I’d gone on a hiking trip with a few friends several times when I still lived in Pennsylvania. We would take trips to the Catskills and tread through there, so this wasn’t new to me. Just unfamiliar. I liked it that way, though.
As I got to a particularly confusing area where it looked like the path could go either of two ways, I pulled out my map. The way she’s drawn the line didn’t specify which route to really take. They were both so close together I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Deciding my best bet was to stay in the general direction with the town to the east of me, I went in the right direction.
I took quite a few pictures, making sure not to stray from the path too far if something caught my eye off it. I hiked on for a while longer before it started to darken a bit above me and snow started falling hard. I pulled my phone out to check the time and saw it was already half past five. The sun would be setting soon, so I needed to head back.
“I had no idea I’d been hiking this long. Time to turn around,” I mumbled to myself.
Feeling accomplished with myself for hiking as far as I did, I turned to head back the direction I came, pulling the map out. But as I unfolded it completely, a huge gust of wind picked up and tore the map from my hands.
“Shit! No! Come back!” I yelled uselessly at it, trying to catch it as it floated downwards along the steep rocks. I slid down, keeping up with it as best I could. But, I was too late. There was a sudden drop where I finally had to stop, watching in defeat as it flew off over the trees below me.
“Well, fuck. What am I supposed to do now?” I backed up and sat down, thinking of my options. I knew the route back closest to me, but I knew at some point I’d lose my way. That map was the only way to be sure of the path.
Get up and get moving. You can’t be out here when it gets dark. I figured if I gave myself a pep talk, it would motivate me to keep moving. With determination, I stood and dusted my pants, going back the way I knew to go. It helped having footprints in the snow to follow.
After about thirty minutes of this though, it was getting too dark to see where I was going, and I was getting to the point that the way back was unfamiliar. I pulled out my flashlight and turned it on. My panic became palpable as the temperature began dropping more with each passing minute. I did my best remembering, but I figured out quickly, I was lost.
“Fuck!” I shouted, kicking at some branches in aggravation and a little fear. I pulled out my cell phone, but I was in a dead zone. “Double fuck!” I pushed it back into my pocket.
I knew if it got too dark, Hannah would call me noticing I wasn’t back yet. Aunt Em knew this area and would send for help in time. At least, I hoped she would. The snow fall began to thicken, and I shivered. I continued walking, knowing it was paramount to keep moving so my body temp would stay up. I’d risk freezing well before they found me if I didn’t.
Another fifteen minutes past, and I was getting beyond terrified of my predicament. Not only of the possibility of them not finding me, and the fact my feet and hands were past the numbed stage, but of the wildlife that was coming out to play for the encroaching night.
Howls echoed, branches snapped, and owls hooted; all made the forest seem like it came right out of a horror movie. I pulled out my bear spray just in case I needed it
and held it closely to me. When a rather loud branch snapped close to me, I jumped and spun around with my flashlight.
“S-s-hit,” I whispered, my breath coming out in a thick fog. “S-Stay calm, D-Daisy. Back away s-slowly. B-Breathe.” I muttered this to myself quietly over and over; my words stuttered from elevated cold.
I waited, but nothing came out. I began walking again, but I was getting way too tired. My body was frozen, and my movements became more sluggish.
Another ten minutes went by, and it was steadily getting harder to keep my eyes open. I just wanted to sit for a minute. Rest.
I found a tree and stopped. I dropped to my knees then leaned back against it, looking up at the lights shimmering in the sky. It was so beautiful.
Suddenly, a massive, white animal appeared through the trees, coming straight in my direction. I screamed and jumped to my feet, backing away cautiously and holding up my spray. I rushed back further in terror when it picked up its pace, causing me to stumble on something and propel me backwards.
The animal roared as it ran at me, but that was the least of my troubles. I continued falling. I screamed again as I toppled completely off a slope I hadn’t seen. My body slammed into it over and over as I rolled and slid down the snow-covered rock.
Branches lashed at me. Rocks dug into my skin. Snow and mud clouded my eyes and filled mouth as I gasped in pain. When the ground leveled off, I finally stopped. I felt a large rock next to me, which was most likely what halted my tumble. Unfortunately, between the exhaustion and now my dazed state from my fall, my world went in and out of focus around me. A few watery coughs escaped me. I’d been in the cold for too long now. My ears rang from my head bouncing against the ground. From the corner of my eye, I thought I could make out the sound of something coming down towards me. However, my mind was just too fuzzy to brace for impact in case it was a bunch of rocks.
I slowly lifted my hand to my eyes and rubbed away some of the mud. The northern lights waved in a haze through the trees above me. Every part of my body was either in pain or completely numb from the ice packed around me.
I blinked a few times, trying to gain some of my vision back, when something large landed next to me in the snow. I turned my head to my right where the sound came from and immediately thought I was hallucinating. It had to be from the knock to my head. And maybe a little bit of hypothermia.
An enormous polar bear approached me slowly and low to the ground. I blinked a few times again, thinking it would make what I saw go away. It did nothing. It only made me realize how close I probably was to the precipice of death; either because he would eat me, or because I’d die from the cold. So, I turned my head back to the sky, seeking comfort from the ocean of lights flourishing above me.
The last thought on my mind before I lost consciousness, was that I would die on the side of this mountain, never having lived my life to its absolute fullest. This was it for me. Dying here.
Alone. Broken. And so very cold…
Thirteen
Bastian
When Emery called me to tell me Daisy hadn’t showed back up at her and Hannah’s cabin before sunset, I knew something was wrong.
While this place was beautiful, it was also deadly if you didn’t know the terrain.
“Find her, Bass. Please. You know those woods better than anyone. Whatever it takes, I beg you.” She had pleaded.
I knew what she wanted. Emery Hudson knew the truth about my bear form. And she was asking that I use it to find Daisy; even if it meant exposing what I was to her. It was a lot for her to ask of me, but somehow, I knew I could trust Daisy with my secret. I’d regret not using it when my sense of smell was ten times better as a polar bear than as a human. If she was indeed lost in the wilderness, my bear was her only hope.
“Daisy is in trouble,” I told Addy. “Miss Hudson is going to come stay with you because I don’t know when I’ll be back. I promise to be home as soon as I can, though. Listen to Miss Hudson.”
Addy knew by my tone how serious the situation was. She immediately agreed.
“I’ll be good, I promise. I hope you save her.” Addy had replied.
“Me too, baby girl,” I replied sadly.
I kissed her temple and tore out of my back door, yanking my clothes off as I went. After shifting, I shook off the tingling after effect and sniffed for her scent in the wind. I caught it immediately. It was a smell I’d worshiped since the day we met, so it was easy to pinpoint.
I trampled through the trees, hell bent on finding her before she was out too long in the cold. The sun was almost completely set as her scent grew stronger going further north. Why had she gone so far north?
I knew Emery would’ve drawn her a map. Either she ignored it, or lost it; neither supplied good outcomes. I kept running as fast as my legs could carry, climbing higher and higher into the mountains.
Finally, her scent was so strong, it was as if she stood next to me. I could tell she was at least a mile or two ahead of me. The Aurora Borealis gave me the extra light I needed as I scoured the area, not believing she’d made it so far out. I’d been running for almost an hour and the path that she was supposed to be on was only ten minutes tops from the edge of town.
When I came around a bend, I saw her ahead. She was shaking past a healthy level. Her beautiful, tanned skin was turning blue, and her body was stiff. A branch snapped beneath my paw. She jumped and started moving the flashlight wildly in all directions, searching for the direction the sound came from.
I slowly approached as stealthily as I could. Unfortunately, the branches beneath the snow were hidden, so there was no getting around making noise. As I came within her line of sight, she stood and began to back up rapidly. I sprang into action when I saw the steep drop behind her. She was about to fall.
Completely forgetting I was a bear, I roared at her when I meant to shout for her to stop. But it was too late. She tumbled backwards. Her scream was a haunting echo along the desolate mountainside.
I ran and jumped downwards, flinching as she tumbled and rolled, slamming into everything. The smell of her blood drifted up to me. I roared again in anguish at seeing her fall. I wasn’t fast enough. She was rolling dangerously close to a fall I knew without a doubt would kill her.
Please, don’t let her die! Please don’t let her die! I chanted as I raced down the slope, trying not to slip myself.
My heart pounded in my chest as she finally came to a stop next to a boulder. I slid to a stop before jumping the last bit down to her and landing just feet away. I could hear her heart beat pounding, but it grew faint. I ebbed my way slowly to her, crouching so as not to frighten her with my full height.
Her head turned and eyes widened at the sight of me, but she said nothing and turned her face back towards the sky. When I looked over her, her eyes began to close.
No!
I instantly shifted back and gathered her frozen body into my arms, giving her the warmth of my overly heated body.
“Stay with me, Daisy! Stay awake! You can’t go to sleep!” I yelled, shaking her and palming her soft cheek.
Her eyes opened a little, looking at me but not seeing me, then closed again.
I pulled her tighter into me. “I’ve got you, Daisy. Just hold on for me.”
I tried to hold it together as I picked her up. She groaned in pain, and it hit me like a punch to the gut. She didn’t deserve to be in pain. She was everything good and honest in this world. I cradled her to me and cautiously climbed back up the mountain side. However, when we got to the steepest part, I knew I’d need my arms for this.
I turned her around my body, spreading her legs to either side of my waist and wrapping them around me with her arms crossed around my neck. I did the best I could with one hand on her arms and the other grabbing onto the smaller trees to yank us up.
It took a bit, but I finally managed to get her all the way up. I pulled her back around me to cradle her bridal style in my arms and walked over to the tree she’d leaned against
. As gently as I could, I laid her against the side of it.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t grabbed my clothes in my rush to get to her and left my phone. There was no way I would get her back home in time. I racked my brain, trying to think of what to do.
As I looked at our surroundings, I saw a slight cavern through the trees in the mountain side. With little time to get her warm, I decided it would be my only option to keep raise her body temperature myself until the morning. I just prayed it was enough and that she’d survive the night.
I gathered her back into my arms and trudged as fast as I could through the snow to the cavern. It was partially hidden by some overhanging branches and would be a tight fit, but it would be the best way to keep her out of the falling snow. The ground inside had very little snow and the dirt was at least mostly dry.
“Alright Daisy. You’re not going to like this, but it’s the only way to save you,” I mumbled to her pale sleeping form in my arms.
I nestled her shivering body against the wall and shifted back into my bear form. It was a tight fit. I had to lower my head to avoid hitting it against the rocky roof. I positioned her to lay with her back to the wall of the cavern and my back to the opening, then wrapped my hulking body in a fetal position around her. I was beyond thankful I ran a lot hotter in this form than my human one.
Slowly, her body stopped shaking. I watched in relief as some color slowly crept back into her cheeks. My heart rate slowed down as I relaxed at seeing her sound asleep.
She shifted and dug her hands into my white fur then snuggled her face into my broad chest. I couldn’t help the rumble of contentment that ran through me at the feel of her being comforted by this form.
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