Trapped The stream was alive with noise. The bears, soaking wet, were catching fish, the small waterfall roaring as it piled into the river below, the salmon, desperately attempting to leap up the waterfall, and an unlucky few flying into the huge jaws of a bear. Food would be difficult to get today. I could eat my last few nuts, or scavenge, but I hadn’t had fresh meat in days. This normally happened during hunting season. It didn’t ever prepare me for the grasping weakness that came without a steady supply of meat. I always felt this after winter, as I was in a deep sleep the whole time. I always, without fail, woke up to a biting pain in my stomach, and of course, that was when the humans chose to come into my forest. Steal my prey. Threaten me with those long things, with a hole in the middle. The things that sound like thunder. We called them Thundersticks, and they could end our life with a bang. I shivered even thinking of them. I quickly caught a dumb salmon trying to leap up the busy part of the waterfall, and slowly made my way to my dark, damp cave. I settled down, and began ripping small bits off my salmon, savoring the smooth, wet, meat. In my hunger, I finished off my last few nuts. Finally full, I drifted contentedly into sleep. I abruptly woke to the sounds of gruff voices and heavy footfalls. “Humans” I growled quietly. Not wanting to be seen, I huddled back into the far corner of my cave, hoping they wouldn’t notice me. It didn’t work. Shadows flashed through the entrance as the humans marched passed. Unluckily for me, they noticed my cave, and charged in. When they saw me, they started yelling, and then one of them pointed a Thunderstick at me, and everything went dark. I woke up in a forest filled with trees, sunshine, food, and other bears. I wandered around, and then came to tall brown walls. Atop them were hundreds of humans, pointing at us and laughing. I stayed next to the walls and walked around, hoping for an exit, with some convenient salmon next to it. But I never did find it. And then it hit me. I was trapped. Trapped forever. _____________________________________________ I made the cover on Picsart, and all the writing was by me. (At the end, the bear is trapped in a zoo, if you can't tell)
