The Stages

CHAPTER 1:

“Oh come on! What are you, scared?”

“I’m not scared,” says the teen girl reluctantly. “It’s just that, we are so far from home and it’s – it’s dark.”

The boy flirtatiously grabs her hands and pulls her closer. “But you have a big strong man here to protect you.”

"Big. Strong. Man. Hmmmm," she says checking out his smaller physique.

Embarassed, he realizes a man, big or strong may be a poor choice in words. He is a young teen barely out of puberty. He is more young and fearless, or an adult might say reckless.

He leans in for their first kiss, trying to appear like it isn’t his actual first kiss.

A sound interrupts them.

“Grrrrr,” with heavy breathing and footsteps pacing.

Could that be the sound of despair?

“WHOA!! What’s that noise?”

The boy’s face lights up as her pulls her onto their next adventure.

They walk through the woods searching for the sound, walking towards where it appears closer.

The teens walk up on a sight they certainly weren’t expecting.

“Well look at that,” the boy can’t control his excitement.

A giant black bear, haggard and worn paces back and forth on a strip of concrete.

The teens were deep in the woods, but this area had the remnants of a home destroyed in a forest fire. Charred wood and a framed door all burned down to its slab.

“Grrrr!!” frantically panting, the bear paces back and forth, always staying within that small square on concrete as if he didn’t realize he has an entire forest to roam.

“Hey Little Teddy! It’s you, right? Little Teddy!” the boy speaks down to the massive beast as the girl holds him back.

“Leave him alone. That bear is big enough to eat you,” she tries to talk him down from becoming victim to one of his teen pranks.

“No worries. He won’t leave that little strip of concrete,” the boy says confidently.

“What do you mean? He can charge right after you at any moment.” The girl is frightened and done and wants to go home.

“He can but he won’t. My dad told me about this guy. I didn’t think he was real," He walks closer to the bear to examine him. He picks up a stick and starts to poke him.

Teddy growls.

"During the forest fires he escaped from the zoo. He has the entire forest to roam. But all he does is pace back forth on this little strip of concrete,” the boy shakes his head arrogantly.

Teddy’s story is so dark and sad that he is considered a myth because no human wants to admit their own cruelty.

For 25 years, Teddy was locked behind bars at the zoo in a small confined space and all he knew was a little strip of concrete. It was his hell and his comfort zone all in one place. Teddy endured so much neglect and abuse, he was completely lost, forlorn and full of despair.

His only home that he knew is now destroyed in the forest fire. Even though it wasn’t a good home, it was a home and as much as Teddy craved to leave it while it was intact, he now craves to have it back now that it’s gone.

This massive, beautiful beast is broken.

CHAPTER 2:

Precious was the most beautiful cat you have ever seen. One crystal blue eye and the other eye as green as brightly colored moss. Her fur was milky white with a plume for a tail that she loved to slowly wag back and forth flirtatiously.

She wears a pink collar with real diamonds, beautiful jewels passed down from other generations of Cortez cats.

She is the prize cat of the Cortez family, the famous wine family with a vineyard passed down four generations, which is unheard of in a family business, as the younger generation usually enjoy the spoils of great wealth and leave the hard work behind.

Jose Maria Cortez was the grandpa in the family and Precious loved him more than anyone. He showered her with so much love and attention that his wife would playfully act jealous.

“You spoil that gato,” she would say to him and turn around and give Precious a wink, to tell her that she is the only other woman she will allow in her husband’s life. It’s just between us girls.

“Awww, but she is my Preciosa, she doesn’t talk back to me and doesn’t make me do chores,” he always teased right back, but his wife, Adelaida knew she was his true love and it was her job to keep her husband honest.

Precious lived in a home full of so much love between a man and a woman, but behind the layers of their life, there was sadness that it was just them. Their only child passed away at a young age of leukemia. 

In a time of grief, Precious came into their lives like a miracle and a blessing, a distraction from their sadness as they focused all of their love and attention on her.

In the wee hours of the morning, Precious awoke from a beautiful dream about her human mom and dad.

Slowly opening and closing her eyes, she could see the tops of the trees, very different from when she normally woke to the see the four posts of her golden canopy bed.

It smells like the mixture of a noxious burning plastic and a warm campfire. Her eyes are burning, red and her vision is blurred. Her beautiful white fur has turned charcoal from all the soot in the air.

She lays back, closes her eyes and repeats to herself “this is just a dream, this isn’t real, this is a dream, this isn’t real,” and yearns to go back to sleep again where she can be safe and happy.

As she drifts back to sleep, Precious says to herself “they will be back for me, my family loves me. They are looking for me now. I will just wait here so they can find me.”

This stunning creature is in denial.