Teddy Bear Secrets

• Daniel Zhang, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2012

It all started that day I got sent down to the basement for pouring bright orange paint on my brother’s artwork. I was only 8 but I was rebellious. I just sat there on an old, rusted chair in basement waiting and waiting for my ticket out of the dark and mysterious basement. After a while of sitting I became really bored so I decided to go and search around the basement. I wanted to find something interesting that would make my time fly. There was a dark green box in the corner of the basement, covered by thick dust. Inside was a pile of old books about space but at the bottom there was something special, a teddy bear. The teddy was green with a black and white, dotted vest and a bowler hat. It had small blue eyes and a wide beaming smile. Just then my mother told me to come out.

That night I slept with it. I didn’t mind the dust, I just wanted to find what it was doing there. That night I stared at the drawer in the top right corner of the wall next to me. It had a tiny keyhole right in the middle but I never found a key. The next day I brought the teddy bear to school but everyone laughed at me and I was bullied. They said I was a baby and that I cry everyday. That night I went over to sleep in my grandma’s house. I showed her the teddy bear and asked if she knew anything about it, but she didn’t answer. I slept with it again but the next morning it disappeared. I looked everywhere for it and asked my grandma but it was no where to be seen. I needed to go back home to get ready for school but I doubted my grandma knew nothing about it.

When I entered the front gate of my home I saw the teddy bear on a gnome. The gnome scared me. It had huge and empty eyes that stared into mine. It also had a wicked grin that gave me the creeps. I went over but the teddy bear was stuck on and I couldn’t get it off. I pulled and pulled until the whole gnome came out. Then I saw pictures underneath it. I looked through them and noticed a man that looked my granddad. He was holding the same teddy bear I found. Another picture showed something shiny coming out of the teddy bear. I used a magnifying glass which I found in my dad’s fishing kit. I studied the picture and noticed that it was a key. I decided to open the teddy bear up and I found a tiny key smaller than my pinkie finger. I tried the key in the drawer in my room and it opened. Inside I found $200 and a gun.