Within the barrier of a chain-link fence, shrouded by lofty trees whose leaves allowed the sun little entrance, lived beasts of enormous girth. These fantastic and terrifying creatures roamed their habitat with a lethargic slowness, crawling upon rocks and between trees under the scrutiny of curious human eyes. The American black bears lived within the parameters of the fence, a home unnaturally created by man. Within this same barrier of a chain-link fence lived a being of a different kind: a teenaged girl. As puzzled passersby watched her, she stood awkwardly on the other side of the fence, the wrong side of the fence for humans, wearing a strange and slightly scary furry mask that was meant to imitate the likeness of a bear’s face. Riotous boys her age and younger heckled and shouted threats, forcefully imploring her to show her true visage, to end the facade of a girl living among bears. She stood awkwardly still while bears prowled behind her, contemplating her slight frame and, deciding she was too weak to be worth attacking, left her alone. Insults hurtled her way and she remained silent, speaking no words and making no bear-like growl. This remained the same day by day until visitors began trickling down to smaller numbers until there were none at all.

Winter struck cruel and harsh that year and, because her feral comrades had slipped into a season-long sleep, people had lost interest in visiting the exhibit. She had tried hibernation as well, but even wearing a bear mask could not change her natural biological clock. Frustration mounting, she lay within a small cave, staring at the rock ceiling above her. Living amongst the bears had been easy enough during the summer months; she merely walked about the man-made habitat, sipping from the small stream that flowed throughout the exhibit and munching on berries and leaves. The mask she wore brought discomfort at first, but having not taken it off for months, she no longer noticed how it itched and scratched at her skin. It was practically melded to her face.

Lost in her thoughts, a sudden disturbance alerted her. She shot upright, hitting her head on the rock that was barely a foot above her head. She yelped for a split-second before quieting herself, afraid to wake the bears that were currently in torpor. After making sure her fierce friends were still asleep, she emerged from her makeshift den. Still in a daze from her head-to-boulder collision, her eyes unfocused and swimming with tears, she stumbled to the center of the exhibit, searching for the cause of the disturbance. Once more, she heard fervent rattling and she sensed the direction from whence the sound came. She turned towards the fence, her sight finally coming into focus, and found a lone stranger on the other side of the fence. Frozen in fear, she stood completely still, her skinny knees knocking together in both unbridled fear of this unknown and probably mean-spirited visitor and the bitter cold. She waited for the insults and heckles, but none came. The visitor, a crooked-nosed boy wearing a green wool cap and matching scarf, simply waved. Standing shock-still, she stared in his direction. The rattling sound came once more. She took a few timid, clumsy steps forward and realized what the sound was. His fingers were wrapped around the chain-link fence, shaking the fence to grab her attention. Afraid that his noisy actions would wake the bears, she shook her head in earnest, staring ardently at his hands and jerking her head in the direction of the sleeping bears. He got the point: He quickly removed his hands, but remained close to the fence, his nose nearly penetrated a hole in the chain-link. Going against her better judgement, she ambled towards the fence; she had never been this close to the edge of the habitat before. Soon enough, she was standing barely six inches away from the boy, who smiled kindly down at her.

“Hello,” he whispered, searching behind her to make sure his soft voice had not somehow disturbed the bears’ sleep.

“Hi,” she answered in a voice equally as low, her voice cracking from minimal use. To his surprise, this word was said in perfect human english, with not even a hint of a growl or roar beneath it. Knowing that she was a human girl, he still thought that she would have become bearlike in some slight sense.

“How are you?” he continued as if they were old acquaintances, despite the fact that he was speaking to a girl who lived among bears.

“Fine. How are you?” she played along with the small talk, a social skill at which she had been considerably inept, even when she lived in the human world.

“Quite well, if not a bit puzzled.”

She stared quizzically at him. “How so?”

“I just can’t understand why a girl like you would choose to live with bears in a state park.”

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes, a rather un-bearlike move. She was tired of the questions that got thrown at her. The why’s and the how’s had gotten old months ago. She chose to partially ignore his statement.

“A girl like me? You don’t know me,” her tone, which had been warmly civil before, had now turned cold.

His eyes widened. “So, you don’t remember me?”

Her glare softened into a look of confusion. He read this look as an affirmative to what he said.

“We sat next to each other in english before you, y’know, left to go live among the bears,” he explained, suddenly embarrassed that he had visited her hoping for a happy reunion, but instead finding that she did not even remember him on sight.

Her lips parted, mouth agape, as she stared incredulously at this suddenly familiar boy. She had hidden all facets of her old life in the recesses of her mind, never giving them a thought. Whether she should have recognized other visitors to her habitat, she did not know; she never stared passersby in the face, always choosing to look at her feet, just as the boy in front of her was doing. Her shaky hands gripped the chain-link fence; her eyes riveted upon his, which were downcast. This first instance of human contact in months ignited her senses. For the first time, she doubted her decision to live among bears.

“So, um, the park rangers let you do this?” he said, wishing to break the silence that had befallen them.

“Every now and then, someone alerts them to a girl living in the black bear exhibit, but I usually hide by the time they come around,” she explained.

Another silence fell comfortably around them, like the snow that had begun falling around them, dusting the ground with white powder. White specks caught on the faux fur of her bear mask, which became dampened and matted as the snow melted upon contact. Breaking the silence once more, he spared a look at his watch and announced in a low whisper that he had to go back home.

“You should do the same,” he spoke his parting words before turning away and walking up the path. She watched his retreating back and contemplated his words. Where was home?

Within the barrier of the chain-link fence, the sun shone mightily, the spring weather warming the black bears as they meandered in their man-made home. Humans gathered around, talking not of the creatures, but of the lone bear mask sitting upon a great boulder. They spoke of the Beargirl, who had mysteriously disappeared during the wintry hibernation months. Some claimed she had been eaten, while others alleged that she had turned into an actual bear. Only two people at the exhibit, a boy with a crooked nose and the girl by his side, knew what had happened to the Beargirl of Maymont Park. She had gone home.