They Found Me (Watty Awards 2012)

Prologue

They Found Me, Prologue

I never questioned why or how, I simply went along with it. At the time I didn’t have much choice anyway, but for whatever the reason or however they came to be with me, I never once questioned it. I was four when they found or I, stumbled along each other, ether way it didn’t matter, I am glad I have them.

Not that I remember much before our paths crossed, and the few things I do, don’t make much sense to me. Most of what I remember is that I was in the woods, and it was cold. Beaner, my teddy bear, was as close to my body as I could get him. He didn’t really help with heat, and my cotton red dress that I was wearing, left my legs exposed and a perfect block aid for the attacking wind. I had been walking for as long as I could remember, I didn’t know the last time I ate or drank, but I was weak and tired, and absolutely terrified.

I was walking along a barely there path, made by some animals I guessed, that followed a creek. It was mostly quiet, but the wind was aggressive, bouncing off the trees with force, twisting and twirling the leaves. I had cuts and bruises all over me from falling and tripping, or getting hit by a branch. My whole body was numb as I continued to walk, to where, I didn’t know. But as the sun went down, I started looking for a place to sleep, even just a quick rest.

Walking seemed to take it all out of me, and eventually I fell. I remembered I fell and I couldn’t get up. I hurt so much. I had wanted to cry, but I was so cold, the shakes and teeth chattering prevented me from any emotions, I just couldn’t control my body. Thankfully I landed on Beaner, and he softened my fall a bit, but I was so tired I couldn’t even move my body into a huddle with myself, so I stayed there; sprawled out and freezing.

The fall around this area was unseasonably cold that day. It didn’t take long for my body to start to shut down. Now at four years old, I was smart for my age, and I knew one of two things were going to happen. First, I was going to die. I knew the basics of life and death and I figured with no food and water for a long time, it would happen eventually. I knew the creek was so close, I just couldn’t get to it, so I would ether die from no food and no water, or the second, from the cold.

Ether one would have felt good about then, I just wanted it over with. I kept thinking about the sunshine on my face and back as I swung in the swing of the big oak, my dad had set up. It was my favorite place, I couldn’t remember what my daddy looked like, or my mommy or my brother, but I could remember the smell of the field the tree was in, the smell of the grass being mowed, and the smell of the flowers as I swung back and forth. I let this memory keep me in my thoughts, as I felt the numbness spread, the black waiting to take over. I was terrified, I didn’t want to go, I was only four. But somehow I knew, it would be okay, and that’s what I remember thinking before I couldn’t feel even the numbness anymore, I just slipped into nothing, and for that I was glad.