Leave It To Rest

• Mariam Khasro, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2016

Fredrick was irreplaceable, no matter what anyone said. He wasn’t just any old teddy bear; he was my best friend. A friend that watched over me and always helped me out in times of trouble. It doesn’t matter that he is degrading because of age, he will always be my friend and I will never let him go.
The bear in question, Fredrick, was torn apart, stuffing spread across the room. His head meters away from the fluffy mess that was his former body. I stared tearfully at the body of my best friend, mutilated beyond repair.
I grabbed the head and pile of fluff and tried to find a way to put him back together. Even if it meant to wrap him up in duct tape to save him, I’d do it. It hurt so much to see my friend in such a state, covering up agony of the painful scratches and prodding of the needle as I tried to stitch up the arm back to the torso. It seemed so fruitless to continue such a futile task. Fredrick was broken. And no amount of duct tape was going to fix that.
But it doesn’t mean I won’t love him any less.
He’ll just be a little different than usual. He’ll still smile at me with that sewed on smile and give me the warmest hugs with his fluffy arms. Just because giant thick grey tapes covered most of his body, doesn’t mean he won’t be the same Fredrick I hug every night. He’ll get better soon and I’ll wait as long as it takes until Fredrick is as good as new.
But I waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And he wasn’t changing for the better. Maybe he changed for the worse. I can’t take him on grand adventures anymore or it would cause a limb to fall off. I can’t wash off the smell because the tape will loosen and he’ll fall apart. His stitches have fallen out, so now his smile is cut off, broken, uneven, unhappy. The colour of his fur and eyes have dulled and faded. He wasn’t the same.
I told them to fix him. I told them he wasn’t getting better.
They told me to let him go.
I yelled at them. I would never let him go! I would never let my best friend go! He was mine!
And Fredrick remained lifeless in my bed. I still treated him the same. I still hugged him every night but he kept losing a limb. The duct tape was drying up, loosening their grip on his parts.
I left him alone in my room one day. I returned to find him gone. He was missing. Not a trace of his faded brown fur. I screamed for days and rampaged through the house to find him.
I found him in the dumpster two days later.
I didn’t like how he looked so natural in there, like he belonged there all this time. The duct tape failed to hold his body and now it was just a jumbled, dirty mess of fur and fluff. The head was the only thing left intact. And it looked content.
So I left him to finally rest.