Story Contest 2017 #1 - Outstanding Stories » I Bear-Ely Escaped!!

“I Bear-Ely Escaped!!” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2017 written by Samantha Medema, USA.

I Bear-Ely Escaped!!

I ducked under some bushes, gasping for air. It was coming. Tramping through the forest, the bear sniffed the air. He stopped in his tracks. Oh no! He caught my scent! I sucked in my breath. Watching, and waiting. He sniffed the air again and turned in my direction. And right then, the worst thing that could’ve happened, happened. He stared right into my eyes. I scrambled to my feet and took off running, the bear lumbering behind me. Then as fast as I could I slid off the path and made a U-turn. I drifted farther into the woods to cover my scent and not be so loud. I ran as fast as I could towards the end of the woods. Thankfully, the bear hadn’t noticed my racket compared to his own crunching of twigs and leaves. When I finally got to the end of the woods, I stopped. I put my hands on my knees and stood there, panting like a dog. Then, when I finally got my breath back, I ran toward my house. I opened the screen door and let it slam to alert the others of my arrival. And it worked.

“Sadie Jane Taylor! Don’t slam the door. I’ve told you so many times that…”

“What if I was being chased by a bear?” I interrupted, trying to sound like I hadn’t just been chased by a bear.

“Then you could slam the door but on a normal occasion like this…”

“But Mom. I was being chased by a bear. In the woods,” I interrupted again. I couldn’t help but blurt it all out.

“Yeah b…” she stopped. Her eyes grew wider.

“Proof,” I said as I pulled up my sleeves where I had been wounded by thorny branches.

“Sadie. There are no bears in New York,” she said, her eyes shrinking to their normal size.

“Well maybe there’s one and that one almost killed me,” I said.

My mom didn’t know what to say. I could tell by her facial expression that she was contemplating whether to get me in trouble for lying, or to believe me and be scared. She stared at me for what seemed like forever.

“Sadie. I’m sorry I jumped to a conclusion. I believe you. I just can’t imagine being chased by a bear in New York. We need to wash up those wounds and then you tell me about it,” my mom said, giving my arms a pitying look.

“Okay!” I said. We went into the guest bathroom. My mom put my wounds under water to wash them out. I winced in pain. Then she finally finished and opened the medicine cabinet. She took out the Band-Aids and opened the lid. She put a weird liquid thing on them and put them on my many wounds.

When she was all finished, I started my story. I told her the whole story from ducking under bushes and making U-turns to the fierceness of the bears eyes. I concluded by telling her up to when I opened the door.

“Wow,” my mom said, my brother had just walked out of his room to see what the commotion was about. So again, I explained the whole story.

“Cool!” he said when I finished.

“Not cool!” I said back, mocking him.

Then, later that day, when my dad got home from work, I told the whole story to him. Again. And of course, as you could probably guess, I told my whole story to practically all my friends.

It was a tradition for our family to watch the evening news each evening. Once we all settled down into our seats, my dad turned the TV on. A reporter was standing right outside of Bronx Zoo. Everything behind him was blurred out. “A bear has escaped his cage from Bronx Zoo! This zoo’s bear could be anywhere in New York doing anything!” Then everything behind him came back into focus. The reporter stood in front of a large, empty cage. “As you can see, this was the cage. We need to find this bear; and fast! Over to you, Claudia.”

“Thanks, Sam. We haven’t got any reports yet about any sightings. If any of you watching this live has had a sighting a bear, please contact right away!” Claudia said.

“We’ve seen that bear!” my mom said. “Carter, would you hand me my laptop?”

The next day my mom got an email from the Evening News asking if they could interview me. My mom looked on the website and found their number. She called them and arranged a time and place.

A week later…

“This is Sam Smith reporting from Bronx Zoo. We have a fine young lady here today. Please tell us your name,” Sam said, holding the microphone to me.

“I’m Sadie Taylor,” I said.

“That’s a nice name. Now, tell us your story,” Sam said, holding the mic up to me again. I told them the whole bear story.

“That is quite the story,” Sam said, shocked. “How did you feel?”

“Scared. I thought he would eat me for sure,” I said.

“I would think! I can’t imagine, Sadie!” Sam said. “Well, that’s all from this pretty little lady.”

I was free. The cameraman turned off the camera.

“Sadie! You did it!” my mom said, hugging me. When we got home, my dad and brother were waiting for me.

“We watched you on TV!” my brother, Carter, said.

All was good in my life.