Helenmollybooks

“Come on Tommy, it’s not far into the woods. We can make it by sundown!”

Tommy paused, grabbing his sister’s wrist. She nearly dropped her basket.

“Tommy!” she hissed. “Let go of my arm, we have to go deliver this before we can’t!”

“Polly, maybe we should go home,” he said. “Rethink this. I know you want to give that present to Ms. Talvert, but there’s the bear walking around.”

Polly snorted at him before readjusting her basket.

“Really? You believe Calvin’s rumors? Y’know he just doesn’t like to help Ms Talvert.”

Tommy looked worried and tried to reason with his sister.

“But, what if there really is a bear?” Polly yanked her hand out of her brother’s wrist.

“Then we’ll deal with it then. Come on, I don’t want to be in the woods when its dark.”

Tommy briefly considered just going back home, but knew his mother would be angry at him leaving his sister by herself. He pictured the lecture in his head.

Sighing, he nodded.

“All right, let’s go,” he said. So off they went into the woods. The birds chirped, and the leaves crunched under their feet as they made occasional chatter. Tommy saw a few animals look at them before walking away. Before long, they had arrived at Ms. Talvert’s house.

Polly knocked before holding her basket out. A few minutes later, the door opened.

A frail, older woman with a purple kerchief stepped out. Seeing Polly, she smiled.

“Is that for me? Thank you, dear,” she said. Polly reached into the basket and gave the woman the mason jar of hot liquid. Ms.Talvert regarded them before closing the door. Polly and Tommy then walked the rest of the way back home. Polly mocked her brother and told him that he was letting Calvin’s stories get to his head.

“We’ll tell him tomorrow that there was no bear, and we’ve even prove it!”

Tommy shook his head, and didn’t comment. Gotta leave it to Polly with her crazy ideas about things.

The next day, Polly and Tommy went to school, which was about 5 miles away. It was quite far a walk, but that was the only option as the two lived out in the remote village, far from the city. The lessons went on as usual. Tommy sat, bored. There was nothing remotely interesting about what he was learning, and he so wished to be outside. The fresh spring weather just calling for him to go out there and play, instead of being in school and not doing anything. Polly was pretty much the same, except she was more interested in learning. The teacher was talking about an English lesson that the two siblings were barely paying attention too. Polly’s attention was on that bear in the woods, rumored to be there by Calvin, and Tommy’s was on just going home after school. That was different than usual, because he usually enjoyed playing after school.

There were hushed whispers in the class, and the teacher occasionally had to hush the class.

Calvin was whispering to his friends about something, which Tommy was listening to.

“You heard about that bear, right? Said it’s a mother with her cubs. I can’t believe Polly went here yesterday to visit that frail, pathetic, stupid old woman.” Polly bristled, but resisted the urge to stand up and slap him. He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, she thought. But still he continued quietly talking. After a few minutes, she finally stood up.

“That woman is so pathetic, he should be-“ He was cut off as a hand slapped across his face.

“You little shit!” Polly snapped. “Ms. Talvert is amazing, wonderful and-

Calvin slapped her back, and they got into a significant fight. The teacher stood up and walked over briskly, an angry look on her face.

“No more!” She turned to Polly.

“You, and your brother go home today.” And she turned to Calvin too.

“You too, also go home.”

Calvin tried to protest but the teacher slapped his wrist with a ruler.

“Go home. Or I’ll call your mother.” Calvin sagged and got up.

Tommy tried to argue too, but the teacher shook her head and didn’t reply.

So, Tommy, Polly and Calvin picked up their stuff and left the school.

The two siblings went in a different direction, just to get further away from Calvin. But he still called after them, mockingly.

“That bear’s gonna getcha or that creepy old lady!” Polly’s face turned red with fury as she heard his words.

“That little piece of crap is gonna get it!” She took off after him, and Tommy wasn’t quick enough to catch her hand.

“Polly!” he yelled. But she continued to run towards Calvin. So, Tommy was forced to run after her to get her. He actually preferred this oddly because he didn’t want to deal with a lecture about Polly at home. Polly’s footsteps continued to trail further and further away, and Tommy was struggling to catch up wit her.

She was just moving too fast, and he had to stop to catch his breath. While catching his breath, Polly’s footsteps completely disappeared. A sense of panic filled him. Where is she? As annoying as she was, she was still his sister. So he ran off in the direction where she went.

Polly stopped for a moment, hearing Calvin’s echoing laughter in the forest. I’m so going to get him! After catching her breath, she continued running towards the sound of Calvin’s laughter.

But as she ran towards it, it just got further and further away, and eventually she completely lost the sound. As she sat down, she soon came to the realization that she was alone in the forest. Without her brother. Crap. She stood up, realizing she left her brother behind. Tommy. Where’s Tommy? She also noted something else. The sun would set soon. She and her brother was kicked out of school right before they were let out. Usually, their mother would collect them with her cart and horse, as it wasn’t safe to walk in the forest alone at night. So, she started walking back to where she thought her brother was. She started calling for him.

“Tommy, where are you? I’m sorry that I ran off. That was stupid of me.”

There was no answer to her calls.

Tommy, noting the sun’s position, began to run to find his sister. These woods are creepy at night, I have to find her and go home as soon as I can. The birds chirped, and animals looked up, or ran away as Tommy ran to find Polly. He had to pause several times to catch his breath, as he was just not as agile as his sister. The more he spent time stopping, the more time it took to find her. The sun continued to set, as Tommy’s worry increased tin foiled.

Polly sat down on a rock, realizing that she had been walking in circles and didn’t know the area. Tommy had always handled the directions, and where to go. She knew the woods, but he knew them much better than she did. The best option was to wait, or- A thought suddenly came to her mind.  Ms. Talvert! I can go to her! I know where that is!

Polly got up and started walking towards there, confident that the old woman would take her in. She knew it would be dark but Ms. Talvert was kind and wouldn’t mind helping her after getting lost. As she started there, she suddenly thought about her mother. She’s probably going to be worried sick, but I’m sure she’ll figure out where I went. Tommy continued running to find his sister, and as he paused again, it occurred to him where she could have went to. He silently grumbled, and realized that he should wait until the morning. So he started back home.

The sun completely set as Tommy returned home, and he rushed to find his mother. Luckily he found her before she left to pick them up from school. She looked very surprised, and concerned to see him standing there.

“Tommy, why aren’t you at school? And where’s your sister?” Tommy looked crestfallen as he explained the situation. Tommy’s mother looked angry at first, and then it melted into fear before she got out of her cart.

“There’s nothing you can do,” she said. “Not until the morning.” Then she got back into her cart.

“I’ll go. You stay here.”

The crickets chirped as Tommy boarded up the windows and made sure the door was locked.

He tried to stay calm but knew the situation was dire. That’s when he heard it, and sat hidden.

Stomps. Loud stomps. Tommy held his hand over his mouth as it walked closer. As it walked past his house, it paused for a minute. Tommy prayed and begged for it to go away, and it did eventually. But he worried deeply about his sister and mother. The bear and her cubs.

Later that night, as he went to sleep, his mother and sister still did not return.

In the morning, his mother rolled up in her cart. But his sister was not there.

“Where’s Polly?” was the first question out of his mouth. His mother looked devastated, and angry.

In her hand, she held Polly’s basket and something in it. It was her gift to Ms. Talvert. And in the basket, were Polly’s clothes. Torn to shreds. There was also something else in the cart on top of the clothes. It looked like cat hair.