Written on 17 February 2019
“Forget about him. He's a monster.”
Helena had been crying for some time now, almost hysterically, unable to say anything intelligible, much to the chagrin of her flatmate, Ruth.
“There there.” She said, half-heartedly patting Helena on the back. She'd only moved in a couple of weeks ago. The boy, however, sounded like a disgusting human being.
Helena cried for another hour. Ruth was getting hungry by this point, but didn't feel like she should leave her at this point.
“Takeaway?” she asked, pulling out her phone.
“Sure.” Helena said, breathing heavily, sniffing.
After they had murdered a pizza, Helena seemed to calm down.
“Thanks Ruth. It's just been a hard day.”
“That's alright.” Ruth said. She felt a lot more sympathetic now she'd eaten. “He sounds like a real piece of shit.”
“He ate a dog.” Helena stared at the empty pizza box. Silence permeated. Ruth guessed she'd misheard her, and ploughed on.
“Asshole. Who doesn't like dogs?”
“He also ate, like 14 cats. That I know of. Sick bastard probably ate dozens. But I loved him, you know?”
Ruth didn't really know what to say.
“Last time I ever date a bear. Can't commit to anything. Violent as well. He never raised his paws to me, but you could tell he was close a couple of times.”
Ruth got up and left the lounge. She went to examine the wall in the hallway. What she thought must have been shoddy plaster work was now, quite clearly, the swipe of a bear's enormous paw. She ran her fingers along the inch thick scars, and wondered how Helena and the bear had met.