Warm Bodies: The Little Brown Bear

The Nightmare

R opened his eyes.

The sun was shining. The warmth of it tingled over his skin as he sat on the grey bench at the edge of the park. The trees were swaying in the warm spring breeze, full and green, and the sounds of bird song and laughter carried to him across the wide expanse of lush grass, spotted with yellow dandelions, as he watched a young family playing around an old oak tree.

A black lab sat nearby, his leash tied to a 'No Dogs Allowed' sign, next to an abandoned red bicycle. The dog watched him, panting, occasionally glancing over at the family as a child let loose with wild laughter.

"Hey buddy," R said, smiling. The dog tilted its head to the side and stared back.

R sighed and closed his eyes, leaning back on the bench as he soaked in the glow of the bright midday sun. The golden light sank in deep, thawing the deep chill at the core of his being.

It just felt good to be warm again.

"Hi Rowan," came a quiet voice to his left.

R turned his head. Beside him on the bench sat the young girl with bright brown eyes and curly auburn hair, cascading in a wild mass around her face. The sunlight made her pink jacket glow, as she played with the little brown bear in her hands.

R's heart sank.

"Crap," he muttered and flopped back against the bench. For a few bright moments he'd thought this was real, the sunshine, the happy family, the goofy dog.

But it was just the fucking dream again.

"What are you going to do to me this time?" he snapped. "Bite my head off?" Brow furrowed in irritation, he slouched deeper against the bench.

The girl just laughed, and the sun seemed to flare in brightness and warmth. "No silly. I'm just glad you're here now. I was really worried you wouldn't make it."

R glanced over at her. Her smile was bright and sincere, and he suddenly felt bad for snapping.

"Sorry," he said with a sigh, and turned his face towards the sun again, determine to draw every bit of warmth he could from the dream while it lasted. He had been too cold before. Bitterly cold, and never wanted to feel that way again.

"That's okay. I haven't been very nice." She sighed, glancing down at the bear. "It's not all me doing that to you though. The dark thing makes me do things I don't want to do."

R frowned and looked over at her, "The dark thing?"

She nodded, "It doesn't like you very much."

A cloud drifted across the sun, snatching back the warmth he'd been basking so deliciously in. He straightened on the bench, his stomach twisting.

The dark thing. Was she talking about that creature he'd fought in his dream in the hospital? The thing Julie had said had taken him over? The thing that looked like a boney?

He'd never really been sure what to think about that moment in the hospital. Julie had described it in detail of course, and he remembered wrestling with a boney in his head. But he'd come to see it as a personality he'd manifested for the disease, to better wrap his brain around it. When he'd forced it out of himself, it had been because his body had beaten the infection.

But what if it wasn't just a disease? What if it was an actual entity, something with a mind, with a will, driving this whole thing?

"It's in my brother too," the girl continued. "He used to be nice. But it's been twisting him... changing him. He does very bad things now." As she spoke, her voice became a whisper, and R wrapped his arms around himself as the sunshine grew pale and thin.