Chapter 2
(Harry POV)
When Harry awoke, he felt very peculiar. A second cover seemed to have nestled its way between his skin and his blanket. Speaking of his blanket, the once tiny thing that only covered about half of him now fit him comfortably, with more to spare. Confused, Harry rose from his cot, only to find that the fuzzy covering did not leave with the old quilt.
In fact, it seemed that the fuzzy blanket had covered much more of him than he first thought. He ran his covered fingers through the strange substance. When that did nothing, he pulled at it. He nearly yelped when his skin got tugged right along with it. Harry went into a frenzy as he tried pulling at it from different angles. Each yank only seemed to painfully pull one or two hairs each time.
He jolted up, only to realize that his head hadn’t hit the roof, even though he was now standing up. The panic in his heart only got worse as Harry patted down his body, finding things wrong all over. His eyes were too big, his ears were on the top of his now-furry head, and his entire mouth and nose were now a snout! The cherry on top of the horrible sundae was discovered when Harry finally felt a small tail on his rump.
The entire world seemed to have collapsed in on itself as Harry curled into a fetal position. His hands-no-hispaws held his head tightly, folding his ears. Tears flowed freely. Harry no longer hid his crying, and his uncle was about to punish that transgression.
He was dead to the world when his uncle finally got his keys.
(Grumpy POV)
The blue bear panted, out of breath, when he finally finally reached the door. It seemed like every kid in the whole world had a issue right now! He was just hoping that this one was easy.
It was not.
The second he looked around the house, something seemed off. The report said that there were two kids here, but only one seemed to be in the pictures that lined the walls. A blond, round boy seemed present in every photo.
He crept quietly through the house, careful not to disturb the family. He was about to go upstairs, when he suddenly heard a strange sound coming from underneath the stairs. Sniffling? he thought. He quickly made his way to the closet door, and knocked.
“Hello?” He said. No response. He pulled with his body weight, and twisted the knob, only to find it was locked.
Leaving the closet door for a moment, he looked around. His eyes finally landed on a shiny piece of metal on the living room table after a few seconds. He picked them up, and slid them into the lock, before twisting it. Hearing a satisfying click, he pulled open the door.
The sight in front of him was completely baffling. A small brown bear cub sat quivering in front of him. The kid’s paws were pulling his ears down, and his eyes were squeezed shut, sitting curled up on a pile of what seemed to be bedding, but on closer inspection was actually a set of oversized clothes.
So that’s where the sniffling is coming from he thought.
He reached out to him slowly, trying to be as sweet and non-threatening as possible.
“Heyyy kid” he spoke gently. He only got more shaking in response.
Grumpy was about the touch him, but thought better of it when he saw the cub tense up. He backed away from the closet, giving the cub some space to get out. He didn’t budge.
After a few minutes of talking to the kid, he was still unresponsive. Grumpy was getting frustrated, but didn’t let it show. Something isn’t right here he thought. Seeing no other choice, Grumpy reached out to grab the young bear, before shifting him around to hold him when his legs simply clenched to keep off the ground.
He held him to his chest for only a moment, before he quickly sat the boy on a couch. The sniffling and shaking had ceased, but he was still completely catatonic.
Grumpy sighed, before heading upstairs to check the house.
After searching the whole house, Grumpy came up empty pawed. Nothing on the second kid they had. Nothing on the cub in the closet. Nada. Zilch. Zero.
Frustrated, but desperately attempting to hold it in, he carried the cub to his cloud car, leaving the closet door open, finally stopping to take a look at it.
His frustration turned to rage when he saw the state of it.
The cot, the blanket, the broken toys, the lock, and most of all, the little paper sign in it that read “Hary’s room” in a child’s handwriting. All of it made his blood boil. He had half a mind to march up there right then and there, and blast those bastards sky high! The weight in his arms reminded him that he had something to do before that, however.
He marched out of that house, and into his car before anyone got suspicious.
The cloud-car ride to Care-A-Lot was quiet. The cub was buckled into the backseat, still curled up, and Grumpy made no more effort to talk with him. With nothing but the wind to hear, Grumpy let his mind wander.
The cub didn’t look familiar at all. Sure, there were other Care Bears outside of Care-A-Lot, but what would they be doing in the home of a neglected kid? And why would they leave a cub? Perhaps he was a runaway, who the family put in the closet after finding. Or perhaps they had kidnapped him.
While he was lost in thought, the cub had finally woken up.
(Harry POV)
When Harry awoke atop a strange, soft bed, he was extremely confused. The sunlight practically scorched his retinas, and a whistling noise seemed to be everywhere. He looked around at the strange white, fluffy material that surrounded him, only to find a seatbelt buckle strapping him in.
Still, he was able to move his hands around the seat, and found that little bits of it clung to him as he lifted his hand back up. At least, it like his hand. But it wasn’t! It clearly wasn’t! His hand didn’t have fur!
When he panicked, Harry suddenly felt very lightheaded. The world swirled around him, and suddenly went dark.