The Truth About Meepits: Part Two

     ***

     It was getting darker and darker. Molly whimpered and Jeanie felt her heart thudding wildly in her chest.

     "B... Bear... w-where are we...?" Koda asked quietly.

     Jeanie clutched her teddy bear with the green ribbon and looked at Bear with fear in her sapphire blue eyes. "Are we lost?"

     Bear shook her head no and tried to be brave. "Of course not! The fair is just over..." She turned this way and that way. "Over... over... over there!" She pointed, unsure if even that was the way. Yes, she told herself. It looks like the way. "Come on." She beckoned her sisters, holding on to Molly's little wing.

     Koda and Jeanie followed quietly.

     Bear forced a cheery smile on her face. "Don't worry, girls. We'll be back at the fair in no time."

     ***

     Koda looked around her at the creepy trees with branches that seemed to be grabbing for an unexpected suspect to take away. She felt Jeanie huddle closer to her in fear. The face of the moon was not the happy, jolly face she was used to. The glowing face looked angry and frightening. Besides the haunting moon, the sky was void and starless.

     Bear kept trudging on, trying to find a familiar tree, flower, rock, anything!

     Molly yawned and Koda whined, "Bear! We've gone past this rock already." She kicked at the rock shaped like an egg. "And that tree." The same tree that had the grabbing branches.

     "D-don't worry," Bear coaxed, a nervous edge to her voice. "We'll find a way out of here... we're not lost... are we, Molly Boo?" Little Molly said nothing, but the fear flickered in her eyes. Bear sighed. "Okay, we're lost. We'll be fine... We will. We just have to stick together..."

     "Bear... what if we never find our way home?" Jeanie whispered. Her eyes were wide. "What if we never get to go to the fair again? Never get to sleep in our nice warm beds! Never get to-"

     "Alright already!" Koda cried. "We get it, we're lost... and..." She gulped a knot of fear. Everywhere she looked, she saw the frightening faces of Meepits; teeth gleaming and eyes blazing with evil. "We're lost..." She squeaked.

     "Don't panic, sisters," Bear said. "We'll be fine... don't worry... we just need to- AHHH!" Suddenly Bear was being dragged away by darkened shapes with huge glowing eyes and the three little sisters stood frozen still.

     "BEAR!!!!!!!!"

     ***

     "Ow..." Bear's paw flew to her forehead and she winced. Where am I? she wondered. What happened? She was lying in a dark cabin room on the hard wood floor. She looked around, but her head ached with the effort. She fell back down. "Jeanie..." she whispered. "Koda, Molly..." Suddenly she remembered. "Jeanie! Koda! Molly! Oh, no! Where are they?" She got up now, her head feeling like a heavy weight. She looked around her. The room was empty and bare. She padded on in the dark, scared and silent. Suddenly she bumped into something, or someone, and screamed. The dark figure in the shadows screamed too.

     Bear's screams were muffled when someone put their paw over her mouth and hissed and a harsh shhhh into her ear. She screamed harder and bit her suspect, square in the middle of its paw, who flew back in shock. Suddenly a candle light flickered on and Bear saw a blue Lupe standing in front of her, holding his paw in defense.

     "Gee, wiz!" he said. "You sure are a tough little thing, aren'tcha?" The Lupe licked his hurting paw. "Name's Copper."

     Bear was still shocked by the Lupe's friendly appearance. "Um, I'm Bear..." she stammered. What else could she say? "Sorry I bit you..."

     "Oh, it's nothing. I shouldn't have frightened you." He took a moment to look at Bear. "Did you say your name was Bear?"

     Bear nodded.

     Suddenly the Lupe's lips crinkled up in laughter and soon he was on the ground bellowing with tears of humor streaming down his face.

     Bear, annoyed and not finding anything so funny, turned and stalked away.

     The Lupe stopped and yelled, "Hey, I was only kidding... uh... Bear. But you sure did put a laugh into my mouth. A big one, too. Where'd ya get your name?"

     Bear rolled her eyes. This Lupe was a nuisance and a waste of her time. "That's not your business, Copper," she said, finding the dumbfounded look on the Lupe's face quite vexing. "Now, are you going to show me out of here or what?"

     The Lupe shrugged. "There is no way out."

     Bear raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean? I have to find my sisters!" She lashed her no longer glossy brown tail back and forth.

     "Look, little Bear, if you want to know the way out... just follow me."

     Bear shook her head. "First you have to tell me where I am."

     "Do you want to get out of here or what?"

     Bear sighed and followed, not noticing a satisfied evil smirk on the Lupe's face...

     ***

     "BEAR!!!!!"

     Jeanie's scream echoed through the forest and sent a chilling fear up Koda's spine. "Bear!!!!!!" Tears came to her eyes. "She's gone, Koda! What took her away?"

     Koda couldn't speak. Gleaming teeth... evil red eyes... little shapes in the darkness... that could only mean one thing...

     "K-koda?" Jeanie whispered. "Were they...." She couldn't bring herself to say it. "M... Meepits?"

     Molly squeaked in fear and looked at Koda with huge eyes. Koda was the oldest, she knew. Koda would know if it was really a Meepit.

     Koda gulped. "I think so..."

     There were many, many moments of the sisters standing in silence, scared of what to do next.

     Suddenly Molly started crying and Jeanie wanted to cry to. The Meepits had Bear!

     Koda tried to be brave. She was the oldest at six years old in this situation and tried not to let her sisters see her fear. "D... don't cry, guys... we'll be fine. We'll find Bear... don't worry..."

     There was silence again. There were only the three sisters huddling in fear in the penetrating darkness.

     ***

     "Bear!" Jeanie cried. "Beary! Where are you?"

     The three sisters started their hunt for their sister.

     "Bear!" Koda called. She held Molly's little wing as they took little steps of fear in the dark forest. "Bear!"

     "Oh, we have to find her, Koda! We have to!" Jeanie sobbed. She clutched her teddy bear and buried her face into the fuzziness.

     "W-we will..." Koda stammered. "All we have to do is look for clues... like in those movies where-"

     Suddenly there was scream cut short and Koda whipped around and saw a blur of blue and a little flurry of yellow disappearing into the bushes. Her heart nearly stopped.

     "J-jeanie..."

     Jeanie was gone.

     ***

     Bear followed Copper out of the dark room. The Lupe led her to a smaller hallway and they proceeded down it.

     "Copper, do you believe in Meepits? I mean... evil Meepits?" Bear couldn't help asking that question, and now seemed like a good time to ask it.

     "Evil Meepits?" The Lupe's mouth crinkled up again but he remained calm. "What makes you ask that?"

     Bear hesitated. "Well... I don't know... but do you?"

     "Do you?"

     Bear stopped. "No, I... I guess not."

     The Lupe grinned mischievously. "Well then, what are you worried about?"

     Bear shook her head. "Nothing! I'm not worried... not at all!"

     "Well, good." Copper led her to a huge room, a dark room. There were lots of glowing buttons and TV monitors with moving shapes on it. Bear was confused, and looked harder at those shapes. Suddenly her heart started pounding wildly.

     "Uh... Copper... where are we?" Bear's eyes grew big. The moving shapes on the screens were of her! And her sisters! Right now she saw a screen with Koda and Molly on it, huddled in fear and trembling lips. Bear wanted to leave, now. Her heart was racing and her paws were trembling and she tore from the room, stopped immediately by a maniacal cackle.

     Bear turned around, and suddenly a light shone down on a big red chair. The chair spun around and the small pink shape spoke. "So, Bear... I heard you don't believe in us." The Meepit flashed his gleaming white teeth and waited for an answer...

     ***

     "Jeanie!" Koda shook her head. NO! NO! NO! Koda knew it was Meepits! And now she would be next! She looked down at Molly, who had tears streaming down her face. Koda bent down and wiped them away. "Don't cry, Molly Boo. We'll be o-k-kay. You'll see." Koda suddenly couldn't take it. Her fear of Meepits and what lay ahead of them was so strong and unbearably horrifying that she couldn't think straight. She buried her face in her paws.

     "Koda." Molly's little voice interrupted her horrible trance and she looked up. Molly pointed to a small shape in the darkness with her wing. The shape then stepped out into the moonlight and Koda's heart wailed in fear.

     "M-meepit!"

     The Meepit laughed and gleamed its evil red eyes. Koda covered her face and tried to make the horrible image of Meepits go away. But they wouldn't; they were real. Hundreds of them crept out of the bushes and chanted her name like zombies. "Koda... come with us... we're your friends..."

     Koda went to grab Molly's little wing, but Molly was gone and Koda tore from the scene, running until she was out of breath. "I'm dreaming! I'm dreaming!" she wailed, running faster then she had ever run before. The horrible cackle of Meepits filled her ears and Meepits blocked her path and formed at her feet. Suddenly Koda tripped and screamed as Meepits gobbled her up.

     But then all was still.

     Koda looked up. The forest was empty; not a Meepit in sight. She panted and looked wildly around. Nothing. But something wasn't right.

     She got up and, with her heart pounding like drums in her chest, turned around. There in front of her, was a lone Meepit.

     Koda froze, and the Meepit took another step forward. Koda still didn't move, she only watched the Meepit with huge eyes, and soon the Meepit was so close she could peer at his face.

     The Meepit's eyes were a soft brown and his fur was a delicate pink. Koda was stunned. This Meepit wasn't evil. In fact, neither were the other Meepits. It was all in her head. Koda then gained enough trust to reach out her paw and patted the Meepit on the head.

     The Meepit smiled, and Koda smiled back. She was no longer afraid.

     ***

     Koda's eyes fluttered open and she shot up in her bed. She had been dreaming, but she was no longer afraid. No longer afraid of the things she had been scared about before she had fallen asleep. She got up went to her closet, opening it. It was empty. She knelled down to look under her bed. It too, was empty. Koda sighed. She had conquered her fear.

      ***

     "NO!" Bear cried. "I don't believe in you! I don't!"

     The Meepit cackled. "But you do, Bear... you do..."

     Suddenly hundreds of Meepits appeared before her eyes and she screamed. "NOOOO!" The Meepits reached for her and grinned evilly. "C-copper! We have have to get out of here! We have to-" She went to reach for the Lupe's paw, but only to find that the Lupe was a Meepit, too. Bear gasped. She screamed as many of them crept towards her and soon she was being swept away in a sea of Meepits.

     ***

     Bear's eyes flashed open as she shot up in bed. Sweat trickled down her back and her heart was thudding wildly. "Meepits... they are real," she whispered. "Koda!" She jumped out of bed and tiptoed fearfully into her sisters' room. All three of them were sleeping softly, and Bear crept over to the bed and peered under it. It was empty.

     But they could be hiding in the closest! she thought.

     She threw open the closet door, saying, "Gotcha!" just as a voice sounded behind her. "Bear... what are you doing?"

     Koda blinked sleep from her eyes and looked up at her sister, standing in front of her closet in a ready position.

     Bear was suddenly embarrassed, but took one last glance into the closet. "Oh, just... looking for Meepits..."

     Koda laughed sleepily and sank into her covers. "Silly, Bear. There's no such thing."

     Bear raised her eyebrows. "What, Koda?"

     Koda drifted back into sleepiness. "There's no such thing as evil Meepits."

The End