The Bear

(Author's Notes: This is a prelude on an Azure Dreams plot I am going to begin shortly. It is in Diary entry form. As you read this put yourself in the place of a young prince, family torn…the only place he new shattered and destroyed…)

Dear Diary,

1 I do not have much time to write today…. Mom suggested I get you to write about my feelings. It is just that…ever since we lost them… I feel empty. No one feels it's proper for a prince and all… I wish they'd all haul up in a fort and never bother to come out again.. Well…I suppose this is it… now or never.. Who knows… maybe this will help.

The calls of war rang true through the land. I was so young, only six at the time…. the same as my brother. We shared many things, among them a love that could not be described.

(Author's Note: Sorry to bother you, BUT MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER FOR ALL OF YOU WHO THINK THAT WAY!) For our birthday one year, we received a red velvet bear… this was to be our first toy… and we shared it happily. As we played… it was forever between us… like a strange bond.. The bear… was like a symbol…. Of our innocence… our hopes… our dreams… that day our hopes and dreams were shattered by war… a retched evil thing I will hate until my bitter end.. This envious creature tore at our family… and destroyed the unity that our land once held so dear. I remember the faithful day when we were to make our escape. My mother …father… brother…and I departed on horseback in the early morn. We had stopped in a clearing for a good rest….I played… as did my brother blissfully unaware of our fate.. We played with the bear... The bushes and trees around us began to rustle violently.

Mother grabbed me… and father him… and we galloped off. Upon our second stop….that infamous moment…. Our parents whispered quickly, kissed…then uttered that dreadful word…Goodbye. I held my sibling close as each of us held a velveteen bear arm…. We embraced (OUT OF THE GUTTER!!!) and were pulled apart.. We fought with all our might to stay together…but my brother soon smiled warmly…

He gave me a sign….that in our language, meant forever…Then he let go of me…of the bear. I cried ages after holding the bear close…and now…here I sit. I'm 13 now… writing in this journal…. Waiting…hoping…that I will someday se my brother again. Until then…I wait…and forever keep close to me… the bear.