Bear
It was twilight; the sun had set and the mountains were bathed in an ominous blue glow. I was walking my dogs - a German shepherd and a short haired Chihuahua – we were walking the normal route to the beach; through a ravine and a small field. I have never walked to the lake this late before, truth be told I was scared. Every now and again Sparky (the German shepherd) would run off barking, I didn’t think nothing of it because she is a strange dog and she often runs off barking. I was coming out of the ravine, and sparky ran off again. I called her back but she didn’t come. I looked at Ruuqo (the short haired Chihuahua) and regrettably I started talking to him. I asked him what that silly dog was chasing and he looked behind me and cowered, the kind of cowered dogs do when they are being submissive. I was confused; I thought it was something I said. I didn’t realize at the time he was staring at something behind me. He started whimpering, my first thought was that he was cold. So I picked him up and put him inside my jacket and carried on walking. I shouldn’t of walked with my head down, it’s just a habit that I have but what I saw when I straightened my neck and looked in front of me was the most frightening thing I have ever seen. I will never forget the size of this beast; it stood on its hind legs and looked right into my eyes; staring down into my soul. It was panting – clearly out of breath – my thoughts race back to sparky, she had stopped barking. Little did I know at the time she was chasing a herd of deer but I assumed the worse and presumed she was eaten. I was young at the time, around 12 or 13 and about 4’7, very small for my age. But I’m sure if the bear was hungry he wouldn’t have cared. After creating gruesome scenarios of the fate of my beloved dog, I realized I had a bigger problem. The bear was still standing in front of me. I forgot everything the schools taught us about bear encounters, I tried talking to it. After what felt like forever convincing it I was a friend, the bear looked at me and I could swear he smiled at me before he turned and ran off. I can honestly say that I have never walked down to the beach at that time alone again.