Sometimes You Get The Bear

It has been said that one's perception of time often distorts during times of great joy.

The dreamer wasn't sure how long he had been playing the little girl's game.

He would barely catch glimpses of her through the thick woods she leads him through; every time he got close, she darted away leading him deeper still.

"Come on silly, follow me." She beckoned him before darting deeper into the still forest.

There was no sound here... Almost no sound, the dreamer could hear a steady disturbance.

He shook it off and ran ahead.

Through long rolling meadows, through fields of bubbling emotions, through a forest of slanting green, still he followed.

He came to a stop in a clearing in the slanting forest, she was nowhere to be seen. In the centre of the clearing was light, it wasn't harsh and artificial, but rather warm and maternal... It was calling to him.

<<Just a little closer...>>

He stepped forward timidly, maybe he shouldn't listen to the light... But it was so warm and he was so tired.

<<It's warm in here...>>

He moved closer, maybe the girl was in the light? That would make sense...

<<Stay with us!>>

He jerked his head around, almost slipping on pine needles. Where had that come from?

<<It's peaceful here, you like peace...>>

Yes, peace... He walked with purpose towards the light and stretched out his arm, the light... So close and yet so far.

A shrill noise burst into life in his head, right behind his ears, it came from everywhere and nowhere all at once, the resonance made his eyes water.

The sound hurt his ears, it was rough and coarse and he didn't like it, he just wanted peace... The light offered peace...

<<Yes, go to the light like a good boy...>>

"So warm... Must rest," he thought.

"Just a little..." He walked closer...

<<I need ten cc's of adrenaline... Stat!>>

He was confused, the words that seemed to echo discordantly all around him, made no sense.

"I don't want to go!" He screamed, "I want to stay here!".

<<Yes... Come closer...>>

<<We're losing him! I need the paddles!...>>

The dreamer was confused; it had grown very cold and very dark, he felt like falling asleep...

"NOOOOO!" Screamed a voice, which he recognised to be the girl. She was standing inside the light, beckoning to him. "Come to me, please mister."

<<Clear!>>

A buzzing noise hit him head-on, his vision blurred and pitched and the whole world went dark. The last thing he heard was the girl screaming.

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Alex's head hurt. In fact, everything hurt, his chest felt like someone had hit him with a tire iron. Looking around, he came to realise that he was lying down on a white hospital bed, a small grey cannula was embedded into the top of his hand. A tightness in his abdomen alerted him to several stitches spread laterally over a jagged wound.

How? Where? And what happened?

Slowly standing up and almost falling, Alex made his way over to a sink in the far lefthand corner of the room. There was a mirror above the sink. Looking into it, Alex couldn't help but notice the odd way his hair caught the light, it seemed to absorb errant light leaving it looking a very dark navy blue.

He looked into the reflection of his eyes... Same old, same old, he had often wondered why he didn't have interesting eyes, it used to bug him a lot before he chalked it up the universe hating him. Now it just amused him.

"Ahem!".

The soft, kind voice shocked him from his reverie, he turned around so fast he almost gave himself whiplash.

Behind him stood a nurse decked out in form-fitting medical scrubs, her red hair tied in a ponytail, hanging from her neck was a name badge that read 'Bethany'.

"What are you doing out of bed? You might pull your stitches." She scolded.

He looked at her slightly confused. "Where am I?".

"Hospital, that boy messed you up good.".

"Malcolm? What happened to him?".

Bethany sighed, "Well... He got away scot-free, his parents bought him his freedom, they told your parents to drop the charges or they'd sue for harassment...".

He looked to the floor, he should have just left Malcolm alone, if he had, this wouldn't have happened. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Can I have some clothes? The gown is scratchy.".

Bethany laughed, "Yeah, I'll get your clothes, you're very lucky, your mom dropped off some clean clothes for you. Just take a shower before getting changed.".

"Don't I need to get checked over by the doctor?".

"Nah, you've been under constant supervision for a week now, we were very concerned then, it was touch and go, you're lucky to be alive.".

"A week? How long have I been asleep?".

"Three weeks, you've had a lot of healing to do, your wound has mostly healed, still, try not to pull your stitches.".

Three weeks, huh? Didn't seem that long, but then again, time passes differently when you sleep. Beth looked at him curiously, Alex seemed to be considering his life, not odd considering that most people who have a near-death experience do the same thing. Then again, such people tend to have a better grasp of their situation, Alex... Not so much.

Walking over to a cabinet by the side of his bed, Beth pulled out a bundle of clothes. "These are yours, the bathroom is that way-" She pointed to a barely noticeable door in the corner that closely resembled a closet. "-And after you finish changing you can wait for your mom in the hallway, understand?"

Alex just nodded, picked up the clothes and headed into the bathroom.

--------------------------------------------

Twenty refreshing minutes later and he felt much better, the hot water and soap had helped clear his head, plus it felt good to finally be clean after three weeks of dirtiness.

It took another twenty minutes to get dressed, the lack of use had turned his muscles into jelly, not that they had been very useful beforehand, that and the fact he probably needed proper food.

There should be a vending machine outside, but...

He checked his pockets.

Not a single cent.

A rumbling emanating from his stomach alerted him to the hunger pains, a single tear slid down the side of his face as he dramatically crumpled to the floor.

"So this is how it ends... Not with a bang or a whimper, but by hunger... How humiliating." He thought to himself.

He lay on the floor for a few minutes before limply crawling across the floor to the corridor. "Foooood..." He groaned "I need fooood..."

Alex had a ridiculously fast metabolism which he inherited from his mother, high-fat food which would normally fatten up regular teens were just enough fuel to get Alex through the day, his best friends were sugar and fat. The amazing thing is no matter how much food he ate, he never put on any weight, earning him the nickname Sticks.

However, long periods without sugar often had the effect of turning him into a vegetable, one might be inclined to call it an actual problem.

Right now though, as he slowly ninja-crawled across the floor in 'pain' he slowly came to realise he was being watched. A little girl, looking no older than six and wearing a medical gown similar to the one he woke up in, looked at him pityingly and handed him a few quarters. "Thank you... " he mouthed gratefully.

Crawling up to the machine was an easy task now that he was fueled with the promise of sugar. Slowly he inserted two quarters and waited patiently for his chocolate bar. The machine violently spat the coins back in his face. "No, be a good machine, coins for chocolate, please!".

"You do realise that you're pleading with a machine, right?".

"Huh?" Turning around he realised it was the girl who had spoken.

"You know it can't hear you, right?".

Right now he had a dilemma, the girl was right and he could be sensible and give up on the machine, but he was hungry.

Bringing himself up to a knee, he looked into the girl's eyes.

"Sometimes when life refuses to give up its delicious chocolate bars, you take your quarters and keep feeding them to life till life gives you your chocolate bars." He said all this in an inspirational tone, and as if by cue a chocolate bar dropped out of the machine, he smirked knowingly.

"See? Never give up," he paused to chew on his bar, mumbling as if he was eating the most delicious thing ever. "How can I thank you for the quarters?".

She smiled darkly, "Well, first you can call me by my name instead of 'girl'.".

"Sure... I think... What is your name anyway?".

"Elise. I know, it is old fashioned, but my parents are old folk.".

"I see... Your mom and dad... They normally let you talk to strangers?".

Elise chuckled darkly. "But you're not a stranger, I was waiting for you.".

"And I just remembered why I don't like children, too creepy..." He muttered under his breath.

He shifted awkwardly "How nice... I must be going, it was nice to mee-".

"You still owe me you know.".

"Yeah, three quarters.".

"No," she walked towards him till their foreheads touched and he could see deep into her eerily dark eyes, "You owe me your soul.".

"For a chocolate bar?".

"No, for the quarters.".

She stalked towards him dangerously, a dark aura wafted off her, absentmindedly Alex still chewed on his bar.

Shadows and light seemed to bend away from her causing a void that hurt the eyes to look at. And, was she getting taller?

Alex looked down the hall, there was not a soul in sight.

Did everyone take a sudden demon girl related vacation?

She was now directly in front of him, she raised her palm over his chest and... His phone beeped, which should have been impossible considering that it was in aeroplane mode.

Both he and Elise looked towards his phone, which as if on cue beeped again.

"Apologies, let me get this really quick." He said, reaching for his phone and flicking the screen on. There was one new message from a contact named 'Proctor' that he did not remember adding, it read quite simply 'Run'.

<Who the hell? Is this freaky day?>

"Ahem, remember me? I still need your soul.".

"Yeah... About that," he started backing away slowly, "I really appreciate you helping me and all, but I happen to like my soul, so..." Reaching the end of the corridor he took off running.

Elise watched him run, smirked and clicked her fingers. An instant later all the power went out, the only visible thing being her teeth glinting in the dark.

Somewhere deep in the dark, something old and powerful woke up.