I LOVE YOU TEDDY

He ran sobbing down the dirty hallway. He slammed the door to his bedroom, watching his pictures fall from the wall. “Why? Why do they always have to scream and yell at each other? I promise you Teddy! Wherever I go, I will always bring you with me. You are the only person who can understand my feelings, I mean . . . my parents never worry about what I think! I love you Teddy.” He hugged his stuffed bear, and his tears ran down on the soft brown fur.

As Charlie got older, he actually became closer and closer to his Teddy. Finally, Charlie’s parents got a divorce, and they could not support him, so he had to move in with his grandma. At last Charlie was someplace where he felt loved and secure.

Charlie grew older, and went to college at UCLA. He planned to become a doctor and hoped soon enough to have a wife, but Teddy was still with Charlie. They went everywhere together.

He graduated from medical school, a year passed, and Charlie finally got married. But his new wife did not want him to bring his Teddy on their honeymoon. “Don’t you think you are overdoing this thing, by bringing Teddy with us?” said Melissa, his wife now, as she sat down with a furious look on her face.

“But I promised him I would take him everywhere I went.”

“On our honeymoon? Can’t you just leave him home this once?” she stood and walked across the room with tears in her eyes.

“No! Ever since I was a little boy, Teddy has been there for me. I was always able to express my feelings, and he would understand. There is no reason to be jealous,” he tried to calm her down.

“Me! Jealous! Do you really think I am jealous of some stupid old stuffed animal!”

Charlie ended up taking Teddy anyway, but he packed him away under a couple of sweaters in his suitcase. He’d be around if Charlie needed him.

The first night they had romantic room service with dinner and champagne in their hotel suite. After dinner they walked along the beach to see the smiling sunset.

The next morning Charlie woke up to a strange disturbing odor. First he thought nothing of it, but as he turned over to give his new lovely bride a kiss good morning, her right eye lay protruding from its bloody socket, and her mouth was open in a silent scream. Charlie jumped up, a cry of horror rising in his throat.

“Oh my God! No!” Then he looked at the end of the bed. There was his Teddy with blood all over its worn brown fur. A knife lay dripping in its lap. As he watched in mute terror the bear’s stitched lips slowly tore open. “I love you too, Charlie,” it said.

* Rory, 15, is a junior at Bellflower High School.