Bernard's stomach growled as he trudged through the undergrowth. With each step he took, his injuries sent waves of pain through his limbs. Dried blood matted his fur where he had torn open scabs during a restless night's sleep.

Visions of vengeful grizzlies with voices that alternated between sounding monstrous and childlike had haunted him all night long. The phantom bears had chased him through a forest full of gnarled branches that had torn at his fur before surrounding him and attacking him all at once. He had awoken seconds before a paw the size of a dinner plate could slam into his face.

A shudder raced down Bernard's spine at the memory of the nightmare. For once, he hadn't been ashamed of himself for screaming so loudly that he woke himself up. His fur had exploded outward until he looked like a giant brown cloud, and his claws had created muddy gashes in the moist ground next to the pond. There was no shame in being scared after such a rough day.

What did shame Bernard was what his first impulse had been after waking up. He had not shaken off his fear. Instead, he had searched for comfort, calling out for his father until his voice grew hoarse.

Bernard's lips curved into a smile as he noticed the irony of his situation. He used to run straight to anyone or anything that seemed braver than he was whenever he got scared. Now he was one of the many monsters that lurked in the depths of the woods.

His father had always told him that the monsters that lived under his bed and in his closet were deathly afraid of those who ignored them. He had been right about those monsters. It was the stronger monsters that dared to venture out in broad daylight that everyone feared. Bernard knew he had found one of the strongest monsters out there the day before. The sickly smell of dozens of dead animals had curled from its mouth like a snake, and the leaf-littered ground beneath its feet had trembled in awe of its might.

As he continued his search for food, Bernard inhaled deeply every few minutes to make sure that he stayed far away from other bears. Thankfully, only the ever-present scent of pine trees greeted his nose for the time being. That didn't mean he could avoid running into other bears forever though. Hopefully, he would be big enough to make them think twice about attacking him next time he ran into one.

Spotting a few clusters of pinecones dangling overhead, Bernard paused. He reared up on his hind legs and reached for the pinecones. His claws barely brushed against the tips of the only food he had seen all morning.

Falling back onto his haunches, Bernard grimaced as his sore muscles renewed their complaining. Why was he always the wrong size to do anything the right way? As a human, he had never been able to reach the cookie jar that his mother had kept on the highest shelf in the kitchen. A month ago, he had finally managed to devour its contents after knocking it onto the ground with one lucky swipe of his paw. The stale sugar cookies hadn't been worth the humiliation of being smacked with a rolled up newspaper afterward. Even though being a bear had finally made him tall enough to reach all the high shelves in the house, Bernard's size still bothered him. He was so big that he had broken countless things at home just by bumping into them, yet he was still too small to stand up to other bears.

At least Bernard had occasionally gotten some help from his parents when he had lived at home. His own size hadn't mattered too much back when his dad had been willing to reward him with a normally out of reach cookie whenever he did all of his chores. His mother hadn't adapted to his new size well, yet she had tried her best to help Bernard adjust. She had spent thousands of dollars to make her home more bear friendly. After keeping her son outside where the workmen wouldn't find him while they renovated the house, his mother had smiled when she was able to allow her son to return home and stop worrying about getting stuck in the newly enlarged doorways.

With his father dead and his mother most likely enjoying her new bear free life, Bernard had to deal with his problems on his own. He would start with these tantalizing pinecones that hung just out of his reach, taunting his inability to reach a little farther. Bernard backed up a few feet. Glancing at the tree, he stepped back another inch. Satisfied with the distance between himself and the tree, Bernard dashed forward. Some of his scabs broke as he lunged at the tree. Ignoring the fresh pain in his battered shoulders, Bernard tried to climb the tree after leaping at it with all of the strength he had left in his legs, only to slide down it moments later when his claws failed to get a good grip on the bark.

As if to add insult to injury, a pinecone dropped straight onto Bernard's head after he fell. Bernard furrowed his brow and scowled at the insurmountable tree. He took a moment to eat the pinecone, relishing the satisfying crunch it made as he ground it between his teeth. The fragments of this tiny snack scraped Bernard's throat slightly as he swallowed. "Stupid tree," he said with a snarl before slapping the pine tree.

To his surprise, a shower of slightly green pinecones and pine needles fell to the ground. They tasted the same as the other ones Bernard had munched on, so he guessed they were just a little behind schedule. That didn't matter to him. All he cared about was getting an easy meal.

Not wanting to venture too far from the pond since his legs protested against every step he took, Bernard decided to get as much food off of the tree as possible. He thrashed it with his paws until his they ached and began swelling. Bernard practically inhaled the small feast that had landed around him before limping back to the pond.

Bernard dipped his sore paws into the water after drinking a few mouthfuls and examined his reflection. It seemed bulkier than it had been the day before, almost as if he had grown overnight. Judging from how that bear had treated him yesterday, size and strength mattered more than anything else out here. The small and weak suffered; the large and strong thrived. The only way Bernard could deal with the monsters in the woods was to become a bigger monster than any of them. Then, he could have all of the food he needed without being stuck with nothing but pinecones for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

A trickle of blood dripped from Bernard's shoulder into the water, spreading out into thin red tendrils as it landed. Bernard had a long way to go before he would be big enough to pose a serious threat to other bears. For the time being, surviving the winter was his top priority. The only way he could do that was to prepare for hibernation by eating as much as he could and staying healthy. For starters, he would need to let his wounds heal.

Without his mother around to put a bandage on the open cut, Bernard had to improvise. He pressed his shoulder into the mud before lying on his side, hoping the mud would stick and give the cut some protection against germs. This wasn't the cleanest way to cover the cut. Even Bernard knew that. Unless he wanted to use sap to stick leaves onto it and pray that he wouldn't peel off his skin when he had to remove the improvised bandage, then this would have to do.

He would rest by the pond and make do with what he could find nearby until he felt strong enough to explore the area further. Soon, he would need to begin searching for a suitable place to hibernate. If he was lucky, he might be large enough to claim a territory of his own once winter was over.