\n| <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n She had saved his eyes for last. A glimpse of their emptiness before inverting the skin, filling his insides, and stitching together the open gap between his legs. As if confused about why Sally insisted on poking a needle through his hollow head, the incomplete stuffed bear twisted in her hands.\u00a0 Aren\u2019t you finished with me yet?<\/em> Sunlight from the morning sky beamed through the blinds in parallel rays; dancing life reflected on its button eyes.<\/p>\nSally hated making the toy bears, but it was her punishment for pushing her sister. She had pushed her hard this time. Megan had backpedalled over a toy on the floor and fallen against the coffee table, breaking her collar bone. \u201cShe could have hit her head,\u201d her mother had said. \u201cYou could have paralyzed your sister, or worse!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMake me a teddy bear. Make me another one, a better one,\u201d her sister insisted every few months. It had become a problem, this bear making. Megan had found a way to exploit Sally\u2019s punishments with requests. \u201cI want a big, blue one this time. With a big smile and button eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n Megan was only six–half Sally\u2019s age–but couldn\u2019t care less about the little bears Sally crafted for her. Sometimes she\u2019d play with them and then toss them on the floor out of spite. The stuffed creatures were usually small, no bigger than her hand; but this one would stand just over a foot tall, as requested.<\/p>\n Megan could be so demanding. \u201cI want it to have droopy arms and floppy legs. It has to have silver eyes, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier that morning, Sally had stolen a pair of Megan\u2019s pants, a pair of tattered jeans. After cutting the pant legs along their seams, Sally had salvaged two ideal pieces of material. With a black felt pen she drew the outline of a bear with droopy arms and floppy legs, and a round head with semi-circular bumps for ears. There wasn\u2019t a body to the bear. He was mainly arms and legs connected to a head. Skinny appendages belled for hands and feet; all four met at the neck. She had looked it over once, pleased, and cut out the design using her mother\u2019s scissors. Then she had set the first section of material onto the second, traced it with the pen, and cut out a nearly identical, two-dimensional figure.<\/p>\n That\u2019s when Megan came barging into the room. Sometimes Sally had to remind herself that Megan was only six. Still, she could at least be courteous.<\/p>\n \u201cMom says not to use any more of my pants if you\u2019re making another bear.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, it\u2019s a little late to tell me now.\u201d Sally held up the ruined jeans. \u201cBut they\u2019re your old pants, so Mom won\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m still telling,\u201d Megan said. She slammed the door as she left the room.<\/p>\n Sally sighed.<\/p>\n Stupid sister. Stupid parents. Stupid bear.<\/em><\/p>\nShe tossed the two cutouts aside. One of the pieces came to rest on a mess of Megan\u2019s toys and seemed to stand upright on its own.<\/p>\n Rummaging through her junk drawers, Sally found a spool of gray string and pulled a sewing needle from the kit she kept there. She retrieved the two bear halves and went back to work, sitting Indian style on the carpeted floor. With the knot where the legs connected done, she began the repetitious act of sewing the two flat pieces of bear together with little crosshatch stitches. She still said \u201ccross-thatch\u201d, like she had when she was little.<\/p>\n She had just finished with the first leg and moved onto the side of the bear\u2019s head when Megan came banging through the bedroom door again with a beguiling smile. Startled, Sally jabbed the point of the needle into her finger, deep enough to draw blood.<\/p>\n \u201cOuch, you little brat. Don\u2019t you know how to knock, or at least open the door like a normal person?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re in trouble,\u201d Megan said, stretching the four-syllable phrase.<\/p>\n \u201cFor what? What did I<\/em> do?\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cYou cut up my pants,\u201d Megan said. \u201cMy favorite<\/em> pair of pants.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cYou never wear these anymore.\u201d She held up the remains. \u201cThat\u2019s why I chose this pair to begin with. You\u2019re such a snitch.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m trying to make<\/em> your precious little bear, remember? And look, you made me bleed all over it.\u201d<\/p>\nSure enough, a little red splotch of blood had seeped onto the material near the bear\u2019s neck. Sally turned it inside out. \u201cAt least it didn\u2019t go all the way through. It won\u2019t show. Now go get me a Band-Aid, or you\u2019ll<\/em> need one.\u201d<\/p>\nMegan fled. At first, Sally thought she would tattle again but she came back with a handful of plasters, dropped them on the floor and left the room without another word. Sally fixed one Band-Aid to her finger, and set another aside for the bear, just for fun.<\/p>\n By noon, she had finished sewing the bear–all but the neck, through which she would eventually turn the bear right side out. She studied her work.<\/p>\n All this for my brat of a sister.<\/em><\/p>\nThis would be the last bear, she decided. Screw the punishment. Hadn\u2019t she suffered enough for something as stupid as pushing Megan? It wasn\u2019t like anything really bad had happened to her. Like her dad said, kids broke bones all the time. It was all part of growing up.<\/p>\n I should have pushed her harder.<\/em><\/p>\nSally opened Megan\u2019s dresser drawers and rummaged through the sweaters. Not all of them had buttons, but one did: Megan\u2019s favorite, a white knitted one with a chaotic silver pattern. It had eight shiny silver buttons with white trim that would suit beautifully as eyes. Sally worked the buttons free and folded the sweater back into the dresser.<\/p>\n Sally stitched the two buttons onto the bear, crisscrossing through the holes in their centers. She pricked her finger again as she fed the needle blindly through from the other side.<\/p>\n It took a while for the strange creature to look less spidery. She had left such a miniscule hole to feed the heavy material through in order to turn the bear inside-out. The arms and legs proved most difficult, but with the help of an unsharpened pencil, she was able to feed everything through the open gap between the legs–head, buttons, and all four appendages–inverting the bear. The bear was droopy and floppy, as requested.<\/p>\n Sally\u2019s mother brought in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and apple slices for lunch. She told Sally not to worry about Megan\u2019s jeans, but added, \u201cYou need to be more responsible, Sally. You can\u2019t just go around cutting up good jeans whenever you feel like it. I was hoping these bears would help you and your sister bond. And keep you from possibly hur… Remember what we talked about? About how fragile Megan is? You were that fragile once. Remember what the doctor said about your mind wandering, and your temper? Will you tell me if something\u2019s bothering you? I need you to talk to me, Sally.\u201d But Sally had stopped listening.<\/p>\n \u201cCan this be the last one?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure, Sally.\u201d<\/p>\n She snuck downstairs later and snagged a bag of dried beans from the kitchen. She funneled the beans into the ends of the bear\u2019s legs and then the arms. From her closet she pulled some scraps of material and filled the interior of the bear in a loose manner to keep it droopy and floppy. When she was finished, Sally sewed shut the magic portal.<\/p>\n She spent the next hour with the fine details. She stitched pink thread in multi-parallel lines to help the half-circle ears stand out. Using a coarser thread, she added thick crosshatched \u201cX\u201d marks for a crooked smile. Actually, she thought afterwards, it looked like the bear\u2019s lips had been stitched shut.<\/p>\n At least he\u2019ll be quiet.<\/em><\/p>\nSally played with the bear, moving its limbs back and forth.<\/p>\n She was happy with the results, although she had to admit the bear was ever so creepy if you stared at him long enough. It could almost stand on its own. The weight of the bean-filled legs kept it in place, legs upright, with its head and arms hunched forward. The arms were as heavy as the legs, and likewise touched the ground, giving the toy an apelike stance. The bear kept falling forward when Sally tried to prop it upright.<\/p>\n The bear stared blankly at Sally. Aren\u2019t you finished with me yet?<\/em> A tiny red flower of blood had seeped through the material after all, right below the neck.<\/p>\n\u201cNot done yet,\u201d she told the bear, looking at its wound. A smaller crimson flower bloomed next to the first. The two red dots reminded Sally of old vampire movies. She picked up the Band-Aid she had set aside and covered the marks on the neck.<\/p>\n \u201cNow you\u2019re finished.\u201d<\/p>\n She stabbed the sewing needle into the bear\u2019s sad face. The bear stayed upright a moment before plopping to the ground, head tilted, mouth mute, eyes gleaming in the early evening sun. Gray string, still looped through the needle, lay coiled at its heavy feet.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/somethingwicked.co.za\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/divider.jpg\" "\\"divider\\"") <\/p>\n
The bright bulb of the moon turned everything gray.<\/p>\n The bear lay at the foot of Sally\u2019s bed, the needle and string still protruding from its cheek. Sally had deemed it a boy bear before going to bed, and named him Thatch, for his \u201ccrossthatch\u201d stitching. He faced the window, head tilted away from the rest of his body, smiling with his crooked mouth.<\/p>\n If only Megan were so quiet.<\/em><\/p>\nThatch stared at the perfect circle of moon. A black bird fluttered by the window, and the light flickered in the bear\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At twelve past two in the morning, Sally was woken by a scream. It was Megan. The room was black, the moonlight gone. Sally could barely make out the silhouette of her sister sitting upright in her bed. Megan shrieked a second time, and the sounds of Mom and Dad racing up the hall followed. Sally tried the lamp on the nightstand but knocked it over. It crashed onto the floor.<\/p>\n The bedroom door swung open, the light was switched on. Megan screamed a third time.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s going on in here?\u201d Mom asked. \u201cIs everyone all right?\u201d<\/p>\n Dad was rubbing his eyes behind her.<\/p>\n \u201cI broke my lamp by accident,\u201d Sally said. \u201cMegan just started screaming.\u201d<\/p>\n Megan cried, her chest bobbing up and down. She was scared. Mom sat at her side and held her tight.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all right. Everything\u2019s okay now, sweetie. You just had a bad dream.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNeuh-neuh-neuh.\u201d Megan couldn\u2019t get words out.<\/p>\n \u201cSally, clean up that mess and get back to bed, unless your father wants to do it for you.\u201d She turned to Dad, but he was already gone from the room.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sally tidied up the pieces of her lamp while Megan mumbled.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just a bad dream,\u201d her mother said, easing up on the hug.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a dream,\u201d Megan said through a face of tears. She pointed to the base of Sally\u2019s bed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bear?\u201d Mom asked. \u201cDid the bear scare you?\u201d<\/p>\n Sally returned to her bed and leaned over, lifting the toy from the floor. \u201cThatch is just a stuffed animal, Meg. See, he\u2019s just a dumb toy.\u201d<\/p>\n She made it dance. The bear\u2019s heavy arms and legs moved like a string-less marionette, the head slumped over, almost grinning.<\/p>\n \u201cStop it! Stop it!\u201d her sister yelled, her eyes filling with tears. Something about the bear clearly scared her.<\/p>\n \u201cPut that thing away,\u201d Mom said, holding Megan against her. \u201cIt\u2019s okay, sweetie. Sally is just teasing you. It\u2019s only a toy.\u201d<\/p>\n Sally dropped it back to the floor. It fell in a clump, face flat on the carpet.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t there before,\u201d Megan said, each word separated by a sob. \u201cIt was on my bed.\u201d<\/p>\n Mom looked in Sally\u2019s direction, suspecting foul play.<\/p>\n \u201cI was asleep. I swear,\u201d Sally said. \u201cUntil she started screaming, anyway. That\u2019s when I tried to turn on the light and knocked it over. Thatch was there all along… that\u2019s where I left him.\u201d She pointed to the lump on the floor.<\/p>\n \u201cNuh-uh,\u201d said her sister. \u201cI woke up and he was sitting on my stomach, staring at me.\u201d She started a series of forced sobs. \u201cHis eyes were glowing, and his neck was bleeding, and he had a needle sticking out of his head, and then…\u201d The rest was unintelligible.<\/p>\n \u201cCan you put this thing away for the night?\u201d her mother asked, swiping the bear from the floor. She gave it a quick inspection. \u201cI don\u2019t know what I\u2019m going to do with you. Megan\u2019s your sister. You need to start treating her like one.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t do anything!\u201d Sally yelled.<\/p>\n \u201cEnough.<\/em> I don\u2019t want to hear another word.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cBut\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot another word!\u201d<\/p>\n Mom took Thatch under an arm, poking herself with the needle. She swore under her breath and tossed the bear back to the floor. In a softer voice she said, \u201cI want you to put that thing away and go to bed. If I hear another peep from this room…\u201d<\/p>\n Sally chose not to say anything.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thatch was alive in Sally\u2019s dream. He sat on Megan\u2019s chest as she lay in bed, screaming desperate, bloody cries. His tilted head stared into her soul. His silver button eyes reflected the terrified expression on Megan\u2019s face. The needle in Thatch\u2019s face glinted, trailing its gray string. Megan\u2019s screams were constant, and soon became dried-out, wheezy, almost maddening to tolerate. Thatch\u2019s droopy arms played in the red mess around Megan\u2019s neck. A pair of scissors skewered her left shoulder. Sally cried out for Mom, for Dad, but no parental footsteps raced down the hall. Thatch got to them first<\/em>, Sally thought. Megan reached a weak, blood-streaked arm out to her sister. Two fingers and a thumb curled upward, as her skinny wrist shook. Her pinky and ring fingers stayed behind on the pillow. Megan pleaded for her sister to help, but there were no words, only a strained, choking gibberish. Her eyes met Sally\u2019s, but Sally\u2019s gaze drifted to the stuffed bear. As she watched, the bear\u2019s head slowly turned in her direction. This bear she had crafted using pants and buttons and whatnot. The bear she had named Thatch. As he turned to face her, Sally saw that the Band-Aid she had placed on his neck was gone. The two holes of red oozed blood. It was Sally\u2019s blood in the bear, Sally\u2019s blood that gave it life. Glowing eyes bore down, hypnotizing her, and she screamed, just like her sister.\u00a0 But her sister wasn\u2019t screaming. Not anymore. Megan was dead, like their parents down the hall. Sally\u2019s family was gone.<\/p>\nThatch no longer had a mouth. The silver eyes were there, and the semi-circle ears, but the thick stitching of his mouth was gone, and in its place only tiny holes remained where thread had crisscrossed in a crooked smile. On his face was a connect-the-dots constellation of grin. Thatch was alive, and he held Sally\u2019s stare. She forced herself awake.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Her heart raced in her chest, her entire body shaking and sweaty as she eased out of the nightmare. She buried herself in the covers and made sure to tuck her feet and hands underneath, feeling that if she was covered, she was safe.<\/p>\n The bed soon became an oven, though, as body heat filled her makeshift safety blanket. Soon she would have to spring for fresh air. What if Thatch was out there in the darkness, ready to pounce at the first glimpse of exposed flesh? She\u2019d poke her toe out, and he\u2019d grab it and pull her out. And what if her sister was out there, not waiting, but dead? Sally anxiously tried to shrug off the nightmare. It was only a dream. Megan was alive. So were her parents. And Thatch was just a handmade toy.<\/p>\n Clenching her teeth, she poked out that toe, ready to feel a soft denim paw wrap around it. A breeze greeted the toe, and nothing else. Sally slipped the rest of the foot out, and then the other. Her fingers crept out next. One by one they curled back the edges of the comforter and found the cold air. Sally pulled her head free, keeping her eyes sealed. Then she forced open a pair of persistent eyelids that would rather have stayed closed.<\/p>\n Sitting upright, Sally let her eyes adjust to the dark room.<\/p>\n Megan\u2019s chest rose and fell. There was no stuffed bear in sight.<\/p>\n Only a bad dream.<\/em><\/p>\nShe had to check the base of her bed. Thatch would be there for sure, plopped on his side, staring at nothing. She leaned over the edge.<\/p>\n Thatch stared at the carpet, his face flat against the floor, his legs and arms sprawled like the compass on a map. One arm pointed to Megan, the other to Sally; one leg pointed to the door, the other to the window.<\/p>\n Outside, dead leaves floated across the yard. Looking to her sister, she sighed.<\/p>\n Megan\u2019s your sister. You need to start treating her like one.<\/em><\/p>\nMaybe Mom was right. Maybe she needed to step up and be a better sister. She was her kid sister after all. Sally remembered how proud she had felt the first time Mom let her hold her baby sister. If Thatch was scaring Megan, maybe she should get rid of him, destroy him even. She wouldn\u2019t have to make the bears anymore, that much was certain. She could tell Megan in the morning that Thatch would never scare her again because she took care of him. \u201cSee, he\u2019s just cut-up pieces of material,\u201d she could say.<\/p>\n Sally headed to the dresser to get the scissors. Moonlight shimmered on the sharp blades. Sally\u2019s smile widened to a grin as she approached to the edge of the bed.<\/p>\n Megan would never have to be scared again.<\/p>\n She sat next to Thatch and propped him up to face her. He did nothing to stop her, just looked back confused, head tilted to the side. She stabbed the scissors into his neck until they tore through. Everything had to come out. She pulled and pulled. She\u2019d save the eyes for last–those lifeless silver discs. She\u2019d rip them right out.<\/p>\n Thatch started to struggle. Along with the stuffing, blood erupted from the wounds she created.<\/p>\n But isn\u2019t this <\/em>my blood?<\/em><\/p>\nThatch offered a blank, hopeless expression as Sally tore his insides out. Still he bled, and soon she sat in sticky red.<\/p>\n She held out her hands, covered in red.<\/p>\n I\u2019m dreaming<\/em>.<\/p>\nShe checked her fingers, palms and wrists to see if it was she who was bleeding; nowhere could she find a cut on herself. She grabbed the creature\u2019s paw, clipped off the tip. Blood poured out.<\/p>\n I am dreaming. <\/em><\/p>\nThe creature\u2019s shiny eyes bored into hers. It struggled to break free. Sally tried to hold on, to let it bleed out. It writhed, and squirmed, and would speak to Sally if not for the stitching that was now inexplicably back, sealing its mouth. She sobbed in silence as she stabbed and ripped and pulled.<\/p>\n Wake up!<\/em><\/p>\nShe waited for her parents to come running down the hall.<\/p>\n Wake up!<\/em><\/p>\nFor once, she wanted her sister.<\/p>\n Please… wake up.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Sally snapped out of it. She was blanketed in sweat, sitting upright, shaking uncontrollably, sobbing aloud to no one. The house was dead. Megan lay beside her in a pool of blood, scissor handles protruding from her neck. The tips of a few fingers lay nearby. She wore a Band-Aid with two dots of red underneath. Her mouth was sewn shut with crosshatch stitches; scraps of material poked randomly from the gaps. Her head was tilted at a curious angle. And those eyes…<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/somethingwicked.co.za\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/caticon-stalking.jpg\" "\\"caticon-stalking\\"") <\/p>\n
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