Sapphire

  “Orin! I told you not to follow me.”

  Three year old Orin stopped in the path behind his older brother, of ten years, looking mutinous. His brother rolled his eyes, stomped back, and grabbed his chubby little hand. Orin started wailing. He wanted to be with his brother and go into the village with him.

  “Mom’s going to be mad at you for following me,” he scolded as he dragged him down the path back to their home.

  They crested the hill and his big brother slowed to a stop, gripping him so hard that Orin cried out in pain. Smoke was rising from below, from their home, and he could hear his father shouting and his mother screaming.

  “Stay here!” his brother yelled at him as he dashed away down the hill.

  Orin didn’t understand what was going on. He was frightened. He wanted the safety of his brother’s hand again. There were terrible noises: tremendous roaring, crashing, and rumbling. His mother had stopped screaming. He tottered up and over the rise so that he could see, whimpering for his family. The vision that met his young eyes made him stop and burst into terrified sobs. A giant bear, at least fifteen feet standing, was thrashing and roaring, saliva flying from its jaws, as his father tried to fend it off for his family to escape. His mother wasn’t moving. His brother was trying to revive her and move her with all his might.

  The bear had crashed through the entire cottage, knocking walls down like they were paper. Half the roof was sagging and on fire from their stone-stove where mother had been baking honey-buns. His father had no weapons but a scythe and pitchfork, which were barely keeping the infuriated bear at bay. His brother ran over to help his father who was shouting at him to run to the village for help. Orin was sobbing so hard he could barely take a breath to cry out.

  He saw his brother start to run up the hill towards him. He reached out his little arms for him, glad for the safety of his big brother’s arms. Down below, the bear took a powerful swipe with paws the size of wagon wheels and caught his father, hurling him high into the air. He landed hard, crumpled, and didn’t move. The entire house was on fire now.

  His brother didn’t see what happened, didn’t see the bear turn and begin charging after him. Orin screamed at the top of his tiny lungs. His brother turned his head to see a gaping maw of massive fangs stained with blood.

  By the time the villagers had seen the smoke and ran towards Orin’s home, they met nothing but death and destruction. The bear and Orin were gone.