“It was ten feet tall!” your brother says.

You try to ignore him as you pull the trash bang out of the kitchen can and tie it.

“With claws this long.” He holds his hands a foot apart as you stand at the door.

“Yeah, right.” You grab a flashlight and push past him out the front door.

The heavy wood slams shut behind you. It’s so dark you can’t see trash bag at your side. No stars. No moon. Just you. All alone with your brother’s story ringing in your ear.

Was that a shadow you saw or the thing?

You stumbled out the door, gripping your flashlight tighter to your chest.

“Nothing there. Nothing there.” Your heartbeat is louder than your foot falls. “Nothing there.”

Logically you know your brother was pranking you. He’s been a jerk since the day you were born. But, there is nothing logical about the way your hand shakes and your breath comes out in speedy gasps that fog up your glasses.

“Nothing there.”

You scan the flashlight around the edge of the forest.

“Nothing there.”

A branch breaks.

“Nothing there.”

You whip the beam of light to point at the broken branch.

“No-“

The bear rises up out of the trash can, he’d been raiding.

“Bear!” you scream, throwing the trash bag at the scruffy brown ball of lethal fur.

The bag splits open with a hard thump. Both you and the bear take off in opposite directions.

“Told you,” your brother says, when your back behind the safety of the locked door describing tgrveight foot tall nightmare with claws as long as your arm.