Heat Of The North

• Henri King, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2009

Moon shadows cast themselves in ripples across the ice, barely noticeable in the surrounding gloom. In the first hours of the ever night nothing was heard but for the ocean gently lapping against the sea ice. Nothing moved except the snowflakes gently tumbling down in the soft breeze.

A seal broke the service.

It quickly scanned the area before snorting loudly and ungracefully rolling onto the ice.

My heart pounded. This was my chance.

It slipped on the ice and rolled onto its side, exposing its soft underbelly.

Perfect.

Slowly, ever slowly, I inched myself above the small ridge behind which I had been huddled. Whenever the seal moved, I moved, so as not to let it hear my sound. I began to gently raise my arm into the air with spear aloft. I was set, poised for the kill. If only the seal would come just that bit clos-…

Clack!

My whale tooth pendant fell to the ground, creating a noise that shattered the eyrie silence of the North. The seal immediately looked up then turned to head back down through the ice hole.
This was it. Now or never.
I sent my spear spinning into the darkness.
***
My spear flew true and hit the seals skull. Before long I was kneeling over the carcass with my knife in hand. As I carved the meat however, I noticed something. It started first as a tingle at the base of my spine which soon ran all the way up to my neck like a school of fish. I spun around instantly, knife in one hand and spear raised in the other. But there was nothing there. I did a complete turn in utter confusion… Until I noticed them.

Two black dots in the ice boring into me.
***
Swiftly yet gracefully, the giant polar bear raised itself off the ground. It’s perfectly white fur completely melted into the background so all I could see were the black dots of its eyes and its hazy outline as it moved towards me. I was petrified to the extreme. I couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything, I could barely even think. My heart beat sounded like a thousand drummers pounding away as fast as they could. And all the while the bear neared while I stood hapless in its piercing gaze. Prey in the eyes of the predator.
***
I retreated as far as I could. But something about the bear made me stay. It was just the way it acted. It didn’t just eat the seal at its own leisure, it devoured it in huge mouthfuls as if it hadn’t eaten in months. As I studied it closer though, I realized that it probably hadn’t. Its coat that had looked so perfectly white before no seemed slightly bedraggled and dirty. I almost thought that I could see the outlines of its ribs.
I didn’t understand. How could such a large and powerful beast be struggling to survive?