Lily Zeidler - Bad Day or Greenway Forest - STEP ONE

Willow Forest

Written by: Lily

I left home on a Sunday
morning after church. It was a
little hot for a spring day, but
with the nice breeze, it felt nice.
My mom told me to enjoy the
nice weather while it lasted
because it would soon turn into
rain and mud. But as they say,
April showers bring May
flowers. So with a sigh, I said,
“I’ll go take a walk.” And walked
out the door.

As I walked I decided to go to the
Willow Forest and sat down on a tree
stump. The Willow Forest was all
green with a creek surrounded by
flowers and willow trees along with
some other types.

As I thought and sat, I
soon fell asleep
daydreaming. Suddenly I
jumped awake and realized
that the sun was setting and
it was getting cold. I stood
up, stretched, and started for
home.

As I started walking, that's when I heard
it. First I heard the rustle in the bushes…
Then I heard the sound of loud breathing,
then I saw the black eyes in the setting
sun. I held my breath and stood still. After a
few minutes of standing completely still, I
let out a sigh of relief, but the relief was
short-lived when I suddenly heard an
animal's nails scratching against the bark
of the tree.

The sound of the mystery
animal came closer and closer
and closer… Then BAM! The
animal suddenly came
charging out of the bushes and
trees on its hind legs. It was
the most feared animal in Lake
Villa…

The Ursula Sun Bear. Ursula means she-bear
in Latin. It was said that she had rabies, was
savage, and was very dangerous. So every
Winter the hunters would try to find and kill
her. This has been done for over fifty years!
Children were told not to go into the woods
after night but I LOVED the Willow Forest
during sunsets.

Before I could scream for help,
Ursula, held out her hands and
shook them in a motion that
seemed to say, “please be quiet.”
As if Ursula read my thoughts she
did something that could only
happen in your head or in a
fantasy book...

She said, “Please be quiet. I won’t hurt
you.” My eyes widened and I froze. Was
this really happening? Did the she-bear
just… Talk? I opened my mouth to say
something then closed it, kinda
expecting someone to take off the head
and jump out of the bear and yell
“Gotcha!” and start laughing. But that
never happened.

“ I know you must be scared of me
but I really don’t have rabies. I just
want to stay alive and safe and live
the rest of my life without being
hunted every single year,” Ursula
said quietly but sadly. “I looked at
Ursula my eyes wide and my body
stiff.

“I…It’s…You…You just…Talked?” My
mouth seemed to have a mind of its own
because I know my brain wasn’t telling me
to talk.

Working

“Of course, I just talked, how
else would you be hearing me
right now?” Ursula said with a
little sarcasm. After Ursula
said that my brain started
getting curious about her, and
without my consult, my mouth
started talking and asking
questions.

“Why are you here? How did you get here?
Where is your family? Do you have a
family? Do you have any siblings? How can
you talk? How come whenever people want
to hunt you you are not there and when
they don’t want to hunt you you are there?
Can all bears talk? What’s your real name?”
The questions poured out of my mouth like
liquid and I couldn’t stop it.

Life Ursula asked, “Do humans usually ask Ursula’s
book this many questions?... But… Since you story
asked I’ll tell you my story. When I was
just a bear cub it was just my mother and
my two brothers and my one sister we did
everything together, and since my father
wasn't in the picture my mother had a lot
to do. She took really good care of us.
But one day my mother never came back
to our cave home.

So I decided to be brave and go looking for
her. I went looking for DAYS and I never did
find her all I did was get lost. After I got lost
I realized that I hadn’t eaten since my
mother left. I soon found some delicious
berries and ate the whole bush! After I ate I
went to sleep and when I woke up I could
suddenly speak! I didn’t know how I just
could. So
I tested out my speaking abilities. It wasn’t
the best, but anyway…

After a few more days it was getting So I got in a fight. I said to my
colder and I heard voices and they were enemy “I’ll fight you with my
human voices! They got closer and closer bear hands!” I once got hurt and
until they were right in front of me. “ Hey, said to my animal friends “the
guys whatcha up to? I was just about to pain is unbearable!” After I told
eat my lunch wanna join me? Hey, do you them That the men all ran away
want to hear a joke? What’s a bear's screaming, I just looked after
favorite type of pie? Blue-bear-y pie! Can I them and shrugged my
tell you a beary funny story? My teacher shoulders laughing at my funny
once told me to bear in mind the jokes.
important details.

So then after that, I never did find my mother and spent
most of my time running from the hunters. And what's
with giving me the name Ursula that's soo original. Don’t
people ever ask for each other's names? By the way, my
name is Nala.”

After Ursula told her story I told her
mine, how my father died and it was just
me and my mother and my soon-to-be
baby sister. How my mother had a
stay-at-home job and got good money for
it. How She worked really hard and how
kind she was to everyone.

After Nala and I exchanged stories we
became best friends and I would visit
her every day and after a month I took
my mother to meet her and we all
became one big happy family along
with my baby sister which my mother
named after Nala.

The End