It was a day too beautiful to stay indoors. The forest was roaring with summer, every leaf of every tree seemed to be positively dripping with sunlight that beamed from a cloudless sky. Aurora sung to herself as she meandered through the trees, a basket of apples at her hip. Over across the path, she eyed the most beautiful apple she had ever seen; a fat, juicy, gala apple that she simply had to have.
Her eyes fixed on the waiting apple tree, Aurora stepped to cross the well-worn path through the woods. Before she even had time to look, something crashed into her side and sent her careening downward. She saw a flash of red hair and all of her precious apples tumbling out of the basket as she hit the ground.
“Oh no! I am so sorry!” said a woman with masses of red hair as she scrambled to pick up the fallen apples.
“No,” said Aurora, pulling herself up, “No, I should’ve been looking where I was going. I’m sorry.”
“Oh don’t be silly,” said the woman, depositing the apples back into the basket. “Sometimes when I’m out for a jog, I just get so caught up in the running that I don’t react fast enough. Not so smart, I know.” One of her iPod earbuds swung freely on its cord while the other remained ensconced in her left ear.
“I’m Aurora.”
“Ariel,” she smiled and shook Aurora’s hand, “I’m really sorry about those apples though, I’m afraid they’ll be bruised.”
“Hey, don’t feel bad, there’s plenty more. Just look around,” said Aurora motioning to all the apple trees around them.
“I suppose there are,” said Ariel, finishing depositing the spilt apples into the basket and standing up again.
“Just look at that beauty over there,” Aurora pointed at the delicious gala, hanging on a high branch.
“Oh that is beautiful,” Ariel agreed.
They made their way over to the tree together, both entranced by the way the apple was twisting with the wind currents.
“Will you help me reach it? I’m afraid it’s a bit too high for me,” said Aurora craning her neck to get a better look.
“Absolutely,” said Ariel as she laced her fingers together. “Here, step on my hands and I’ll give you a boost.”
“Alright, are you sure I won’t hurt you?” she asked.
“Positive.”
A low, guttural growl came from behind them. Their hearts racing both women whipped around to find a snarling face staring right at them.
“A bear!” Aurora whispered, her face frozen with fright.
“What do we do? What do we do!” Ariel whispered as well, but her voice was still edged with panic.
The wind was starting to pick up, a steady stream played with their locks of red and golden hair.
Aurora gulped, “Just stay still and don’t make eye contact.”
Ariel dropped her gaze, the bear started to growl louder and inch forward.
“It’s not working!” Ariel’s voice was low and frantic.
“Okay, if he charges we run,” said Aurora.
“Uhh,” the word shook as she trembled, “How about we run now?”
Aurora watched the bear start to sniff the air and advance even closer still. The wind was whistling in her ears.
“Alright, okay, let’s run in five… four… three…” There was a clunk on the ground, something had fallen at their feet.
“The apple! The gala apple!” exclaimed Ariel.
Before she knew what she was doing, Aurora scooped up that apple so fast and threw it with all her might into the forest behind the bear.
An agonizing three seconds commenced before the bear turned around and slinked away after the apple.
“Run!” whispered Aurora adamantly.
They took off running through the trees in the opposite direction of the bear.
Aurora’s breaths began to come in heaves after a little while, “I, need, to, stop,” she called out to Ariel.
They came to a halt at the edge of a large clearing.
“I think we’re safe,” rejoiced Ariel, her face alight with a smile.
“Yeah,” said Aurora between ragged breaths, “Safe from the bear, from overexhaustion, not so much.”
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