Beneath

One cannot imagine the harsh obstacles that a stuffed animal could face in their long and unexpected lifetime. Their lives just must be exquisite, right? Being cuddled up by the people who love them? No, I'm afraid not. Only the very lucky ones end up in the brightest parts of the world, where they are, in fact, loved by their precious owners.

Unfortunately, these stuffed animals can only grasp onto their own reality; not the humane reality that we have, where there are ultimately reasons why we do (or don't do) so many things in our life. These animals can only think selflessly, like they were the reason why their owner left them; which, I'm sad to say, is the growing popular case in the world.

I am here to reveal the unhappy story of a certain stuffed teddy bear's life, which may show you that not all their lives are full of love and happiness.

As this particular teddy bear sat on the ground, he wondered how much time he had been in these dreadful, mysterious woods. It was impossible to tell, and even more impossible to ever know. It could have been days, weeks, even years. He wished, when his owner had dropped him, that he had been placed by laying on the ground instead of slumped over.

Let me give you further insight; you see, these stuffed animals can never move unless a human does it. So, their entire lives are controlled by what humans make of them, which--if in the wrong hands--can be quite miserable.

So he wished, as he stared intently at the ground like he had been doing all this time, that he could be laying over and looking at the moon and stars, or the clouds and blue skies. Something to take his mind off of the heavy sadness he felt in his chest.

Why his owner dropped him, I don't know. Why any owners leave their precious stuffed animals behind, well...I do know. But he wouldn't understand. He can't understand the precise world of humans, where get old, where we stop being silly. They just never let go of their young hearts, while so many humans are in the process.

His fur was clouded with astray weeds and dirt, but the quietness of the forest calmed him. Every so often, a bug would fall onto his face, or his arm, or his leg, and would buzz for a while before leaving him be. This peace was nothing like sitting in the storage closet of the toy store, on the dusty shelves, where people would come in unexpectedly and restock every day.

No, it was nothing like that. The dewdrop-ridden patches of grass that surrounded him seemed to sense his worry, his sadness. But no. It was all wrong, you see. The grass wasn't calling out to him. The bugs weren't there for any particular reason. Even so, we have to let him think all this, because he such a young soul and needs to have something more in his life than just the heavy weight in his heart.

So, you see, this teddy bear felt unloved, uncared for. He felt no hope in his heart that someone would find him and bring him back to cuddle him and love him forever; even those chances were displayed quite indiscreetly to him. The closest he got to human reality was the single tear that dripped from his soft, black eyes and rolled down his cheek, onto the dry soil.

Oh, did he wish he could cry some more! Just a few more tears; something to let out all the sadness he kept in his heart. Did nobody ever love him? Was he alone the whole time, and didn't realize it until now? Why didn't he understand? These mysteries were ones that weren't supposed to be solved for a teddy bear, and I know that he won't be the first.

I wish I could say that he should have had hope in his heart, because someone did come back to look for him, but no. Nobody came back for years. He had been dropped in the darkest part of the woods, where not even the adults walked, and the children were influenced to stay on the path.

I'm sorry to end this tale of sorrow, but this teddy bear lived on and on with this complete and utter sadness that he was alone...completely alone.