Page 17 of Bears Not Included

“Where are you?” I ask softly, not trusting my ears. Not trusting anything about myself right now. Did I even make it up here? What if I died falling off a cliff and I’m just experiencing some out-of-life thing? I could always trust myself and my perception, but now I’m not so sure. The real question is, would it be better for me if I were dead instead of here?

“Where are you?” I shout this time, panic turning my stomach. I’m clutching the bars behind me that are keeping me trapped as if they were my lifeline. My gaze darts around furiously, looking for a hidden figure in the shadows. I see nothing but more shadows.

“Right here.”

The tone of the voice is soft, seductive, and dangerous, despite the voice modulation software used to disguise it. Still, goosebumps spring from my frosted skin. And that’s when I feel it.

Eyes on me. The weight of being watched sucks me further and further into a black hole. Instead of someone in the basement with me, I’m frantically looking around for a camera, but I still haven’t left my spot from the bars blocking my exit.

“Let me out right now,” I say, telling myself to stand firm and forceful before fear and panic turn me into a groveling mess where I beg to be released.

“You trespassed on private property. You don’t get to make demands, pretty girl.”

There’s a pause before the voice sparks up again.

“What do you think happens to sweet little girls who trespass on private property?”

An unearthly chill seeps under my skin. “Show your face,” I demand.

“Gladly, but in due course, pretty girl.”

My mouth is dry, and my lips can’t stop quivering, but I stand tall. I don’t know enough about what’s happening to gauge the extent of the peril. I don’t know how dangerous this faceless man is.

“There are people who know I’m here. They’re expecting me back soon, and when I don’t show up, they’re going to come looking for me.”

“No one is going to find you. Not now.”

There’s a finality in the voice, and the words drain the blood from my soul. The hope at the back of my mind, despite not knowing the full scale of horrors ahead for me, disintegrates. If I thought this was a scare tactic for trespassers, I’m quickly reassured that it’s real.

“This was a mistake. I… I have this fascination with fairy tales, and I may have told myself that this was a house from a fairytale, but I think I’m wrong. Fairytales don’t exist. I apologize for entering your property uninvited. It was a stupid mistake. Just let me leave, and we can go our separate ways. I made a mistake.”

“What fairytale did you think this house belonged to?”

“It’s a silly mistake—”

“Answer the question.”

“Goldilocks and Three Bears.”

The silence is more deafening than anything.

“So you’re familiar with the story.”

I nod.

“How does Goldilocks escape?”

She doesn’t, I say in my mind. She falls in love and lives happily ever after, even if that price of bliss and contentment came about with blood and sorrow. The same is not going to be true for me. At the end of the darkness, there might not be any light. I am possibly going to die here, and no one will find me.

“She’s given a chance to run away,” I say quietly, praying I would be awarded the chance to do the same.

“Wrong answer.”

I bite my lip, and I want to cry.

“She gets set alight and—”

“Wrong answer.”

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