Snuggles

A young boy stumbled along in the woods. There’d been a bunny there, sitting in the cool, dark shade, and he wanted to see the cute thing closer, with its puffy tail and soft fur. He had toddled into the woods with a smile on his face, laughing at the prospect of seeing the bunny again. One hand had been reached out towards the animal, and the other was dragging a brown teddy bear, worn with love, behind him. It had been dusk then, and it was now night. Strange noises came from the darkness, and every tree seemed to be trying to catch him, to snag his light green top or Snuggles, his teddy. Eventually the boy came to a stop. He had been wandering for ages, trying to find his way back home. He sat down and said to the teddy, now torn in several places, in a sad, soft voice, “We’re lost, aren’t we?” He held Snuggles tighter and pressed his back against the trunk of an old tree, dozing off.
When he woke up, he heard voices, and light shone between the trees only a little ways away. But the boy pressed his back further against the trunk, afraid of the strange voices he had never heard before. Then, a beam of light fell on the boy. “Hey, you!” came a rough voice. The little boy looked up into a strange face. “We’re here to take you back home.” Reluctantly, the boy followed, his green shirt dirty and Snuggles faithfully under one of his arms.
The boy’s parents never saw him again. A few weeks later, the search crew found Snuggles lying in the woods, his black eyes staring up into the sky and his arm worn where the little boy had always tugged him along.

Word Count: 300