Needs

Little Bear

“Jane! I can’t find anyone! I can barely even smell them!” Jenny yells from the west side of the island. Even on the east side, I think I could have heard her if she spoke in a normal tone.

“Me either.” I spoke carefully, trying not to frighten her any more than she already sounds. I hear wind rushing and knew she’s running for me.

“What if they left us Jane? What’ll we do? I don’t know how to swim, and even if I did, I don’t think I’ll make it all the way to shore. And what’ll we do about money? I have no idea where my credit card is!” Jenny grabs a fistful of hair and tugged at it, her eyes panicked.

“Do you really  think they abandoned us Jane?” She sounds nearly crazed. I grab her hand before she can rip out some hair and hold her still.

“No Jenny. They probably just went to the mainland for something. There is absolutely no need for panic. They wouldn’t do that to us. Grell wouldn't have gone through all the trouble of making us just to abandon us. Can you see their strings?” I ask, mentally slapping myself in the head for not thinking of asking her the question earlier. Jenny nods.

“Then we know they’re okay. What direction did they head in?” Jenny nods her head to the direction of the shoreline. I grin.

“Told ya! They wouldn’t leave us Jen, stop worrying.” I grin harder when she looks content, showing a smile.

“Anyway, Fluffy is probably really lonely. Help me find her?” I ask holding my hand out for her to take. It’s Jenny’s turn to grin.

“Let’s race.” She begins running before I can even give my answer and I laugh in delight as the force of my running whips my hair and shirt back.

“It’s no fair if I can’t see the finish line!” I yell, catching up to Jenny. She laughs, pointing straight ahead of us.

“Just make a beeline in that direction.” She calls, her voice barely carrying over the wind in my ears. I speed up and pass her, blasting into the thicket of forest and weaving my way through it. This is so fun! The ability to run at speeds like this and being able to swing and jump and flip over things as if I’m a damn ninja! I grab onto tree branches and swing myself over the treetops, admiring the view of the sun over the sea for a moment. But then I remember. I have a race to win. I bullet back down to the earth and, thankfully stop myself from plummeting six feet into it again by grabbing onto another branch to slow my momentum.

I can hear Jenny behind me and I knew she’s really trying to pass me up. There no way she can though. I’m much faster than her!

“Did I say bee line? Bees fly very erratically, you know.” Jenny giggles, then flashes to my left, diverting from the path she’d pointed out. I gasp.

“You cheater!” I can’t help but laugh as she speeds up and enters a clearing with a small lake in the middle. I stop behind her and playfully glare.

“I did not cheat. You simply assumed that a bee line was a straight one. What bee you know fly straight, huh?” I playfully shove her and she look at the lake, a frown suddenly on her lips. She stares into the lake.

“Well... the line leads down there. What would a bear be doing in a lake? Do you think she’s hurt? Drowning maybe?” Before Jenny can say anything else, I launch myself into the water. There’s no way I’m letting this bear die the day after I’d saved it! The water seems crystal clear, but maybe I’m hallucinating. What looks like a boy swimming to the bottom of the deep lake comes into view, and I don’t see any bear.

“Hey!” I scream, although I doubt he can hear me, us being underwater and all. Bubbles come out of my mouth as I try to get the boy’s attention. He just continues to swim down, as if looking for something. And then I see what he’s doing. It looks like he’s chasing a fish! And he look’s really good at it, almost catching the fish’s tail with his mouth. I frown at the thought of him catching a fish in his mouth. That’s impossible. People can’t do that. Fish definitely swim faster than humans. Unless the boy isn’t human. Oh gosh, duh!