About three years ago I moved to a small rural town in the Appalachian mountains. I packed up my clothes, put my cat, Lenny, in his carrying cage, grabbed my old Alvarez guitar and headed to the mountains in my beat up Buick.
A five hour drive winding through the oak and pine clustered woods of rural Appalachia led me to my new life. My rusty Buick pulled down a dark and dusty drive littered with pine needles and empty beer cans. The first home on the street was a tiny brick house that appeared to be abandoned except for the black smoke coming out of the chimney. Beer bottles were scattered all over the unkempt yard, overgrown with weeds and ancient elms. A tall, grizzled looking man in a greasy white tank waved at me with a cigarette in one hand and a Busch Light in the other. I nodded back.
The next house was about two acres past the first. It was an enormous white mansion with a perfectly manicured lawn. I noticed a short, broad chested man with a black suit and slicked back blonde hair sauntering toward a silver Cadillac Escalade. He put two fingers to his forehead and saluted me as I passed.
My house was a few more acres past his. I pulled into the gravel driveway and took in my surroundings. The house was beautiful. It was situated comfortably between a slight cliff with low hanging pines and a clearwater brook running off into the forest. I got out of my car, stretched my legs, and picked up Lenny’s carrier. The porch was wide and cozy with a little rocking chair in the western corner. As I reached for my keys, I heard a gruff voice boom behind me.
“Hey, there! Are you the new neighbor?”
“Uhh, yea,” I said, holding myself back from being a sarcastic asshole and telling him, “No shit.”
“Nice to meet ya!” the man bellowed at me from down the drive. It was the burly man with the beer bottles covering his yard. He put his head down and walked right up to Lenny and me. Lenny was never fond of strange men approaching him and hissed. “Aww, what a cute little girl. What’s her name?”
“His name’s Lenny.”
“I got a cat too!” he responded, ignoring my correction. “Her name is Ester! Maybe they can meet and have a cat play date sometime.”
“Sure,” I agreed, trying to end the conversation.
“But, whatever you do, don’t let your cat out at night,” he warned. “There’s been bears in this area. I heard one rootin’ through my trash the other night. I opened up my door to yell at him and scare him away. Bastard let out a terrible growl and I… well, I slammed the door shut and didn’t make a peep till morning.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said, trying to edge myself further away from my new neighbor. “Anyway, I got a lot to unpack”
“Oh, don’t worry about me,” the man smiled. “People always said I talked too much for my own good. I’ll be on my way. Name’s Kenny. Kinda like Lenny.” He laughed. “Just let me know if you need anything and I’ll be glad to help.”
“Thanks,” I said, forcing a smile. “See ya later, Kenny.”
“You never told me your name,” he shouted as I slammed the door in his face.
I sat Lenny’s carrier on the floor and opened it up for him to pounce out. He started purring and I collapsed to the wood floor. “Some people have no idea how to respect personal space,” I said as Lenny crawled onto my lap.
After a few hours of unpacking, I heard a knock at my door. “Is that Kenny again? He really is going to be a nuisance, isn’t he?”
I pulled the door open and saw the man that lived in the mansion with the Escalade. “Hello,” he said in a soothing voice. “I’m Clarence. Sorry to bother you, just wanted to say a quick hello and be on my way.”
“Oh, no problem at all,” I said and stepped out onto the porch. “Nice to meet you.”
“You as well,” he said extending a hand to shake. “I saw Kenny come over to your house earlier and just wanted to make sure you weren’t so annoyed by his presence that you decided to move out.”
I laughed and extended my hand to shake his. “Ah, he wasn’t too bad. A little intrusive, but no harm so far.”
“Oh, but he really is the worst,” said Clarence with a smirk. “He’s always going on about his cats.”
“He literally already tried to get me to bring my cat on a playdate with his cat,” I chuckled. “But at least he seems nice.”
“He may seem nice,” Clarence responded, “but I wouldn’t bring your cat over there.”
“Why not?” I asked with a hint of concern.
“Kenny doesn’t have too good of a track record with cats. Every one he gets dies within a month of him adopting them. It’s a sad cycle really. One of his cats is killed in the night and he wakes up the neighborhood, sobbing violently. Then he adopts a new one from the shelter next day.”
“Well that certainly is strange. I definitely won’t be letting my cat out. Are there really that many bears out here?”
“None that I’ve ever seen,” Clarence replied. “I haven’t seen anything but deer in these woods. In my honest opinion, I think Kenny’s just a terrible pet owner. His lawn is covered in trash and he’s got broken down farming equipment everywhere. The dude is a slob. He shouldn’t be allowed to take care of an animal, let alone himself. Anyway, I better get going. Nice to meet you!”
“You too,” I waved and Clarence sauntered down the driveway.
That night, I drank pretty heavily. I had no furniture except a half futon with a thin fold-able mattress and I was pretty uncomfortable being alone in the mountains, so I got drunk. Lenny and I sat on the floor for much of the night listening to rap music.
After eleven beers, I got up to take a piss. The bathroom was a sliver of a room with one window high up next to the shower. Before opening the lid to the toilet, I peered out the window to see the view. It gave way to my front yard. The cliff with the low hanging pines sat to the left and the brook gleaming in the moon light to the right. Between the two was a large figure on all fours. It slowly crept to the edge of the yard. It wasn’t a deer. The shape was wrong. It looked like a bear with broad shoulders. I quietly watched as it slinked off into the woods toward Clarence’s house. I shrugged my shoulders and went back out to Lenny. “Guess you’re never going outside again, buddy. There really are bears in these woods.”
The next morning, I awoke to the sounds of Kenny screaming. I rubbed my eyes and put on some gym shorts before stepping out onto my porch.
“Ester’s dead!” he yelled. “Another got damn bear killed my beloved cat! Curse this God forsaken wood!”
Clarence, clad in a fuzzy brown cashmere robe, ran out of his mansion toward Kenny and put his arm around the inconsolable brute. “It’s alright, buddy. Shhh, calm down. You can go to the shelter and pick yourself up another one today.”
“I don’t want another cat! I want Ester!” Kenny threw his hairy arms up into the sky and cursed. “What kind of cruel joke is this? My cats always die.”
Not wanting to join this meeting of neighbors, I slid my door shut without making a sound. “Yeah, you’re never going outside, Lenny,” I said petting my grey tabby. He curled up by my side on our futon on the wooden floor.
Later in the day, I heard another unwarranted knock at the front door. I sighed and opened it up to discover Clarence. He had a bottle of bourbon in one hand and a couple cigars in the other. “It’s been a pretty stressful day trying to console Kenny,” he said with an eye roll. “Between him and his cat problem and my anxiety getting ready to start the new school year, I just need someone to talk to. Do you mind if I come in?”
“Not at all,” I obliged. It had been two full days since I’d left my home city and I was lonely and in need of good conversation. “Where do you teach?”
“At the community college a few blocks away. I’m the biology professor there.”
“No shit!” I said in amusement. “I just got hired there. I’m the new Environmental Science professor.”
“Really?” he said before taking a seat, legs crossed on the wooden floor. “That’s awesome, man. It’s a really tight knit community. I think you’ll love it there.”
The two of us chatted for hours about our college days, the shitty minimum wage jobs we had in our twenties, and why we decided to become college professors. It was the most comfortable I had been since moving to the Appalachian Mountains. I finally felt like I had a friend besides Lenny.
“So what is the deal with Kenny and his cats?” I eventually asked. “It’s really starting to creep me out. Like if he’s that irresponsible, why does he keep adopting more cats? He should be banned from the shelter and never allowed to adopt again.”
“He’s a moron, if truth be told,” Clarence answered. “I feel bad for him. He’s constantly drunk and cooped up in that shit hole all day. He’s most definitely a neglectful pet owner and that’s probably why his cats keep dying. They’re malnourished. I’ve been in his house before. It’s disgusting. Fleas all over the place. You can’t even see the floor. It’s covered in beer cans. The kitchen is a rotten mess of piled up dishes and overflowing garbage cans. I think he just forgets to keep his cats fed, honestly.”
“Well that’s terrible,” I said. “But I did see a pretty large figure out of my window last night. It wasn’t a deer. Too big. Maybe there really is something out there.”
“Perhaps,” Clarence said, standing up a little wobbly. “Well, I’d better be off. Wouldn’t want a bear to catch me off guard in this drunken state.”
“Yeah,” I laughed. “Clarence… have you ever seen one of his cats after they died?”
“Of course,” he answered. “I mean, I really would rather not talk about it, though. It’s a disturbing thing to see a dead animal.”
“Right,” I peered off into the corner. “Do they look emaciated when they die, though? Like they starved to death? Or are they mangled like something ate them?”
“I’d honestly rather not talk about dead cats right now. I’m too drunk.” Clarence hobbled to the front door and turned the knob. When it squeaked open, Lenny bolted out.
“Holy shit!” I stammered. “My cat!”
“Sorry,” Clarence said, clasping his hands to his face. “I’m so sorry. I’ll help you find him.”
The two of us ran out into the night. “I’ll go toward the cliff. You look by the brookside.”
“You got it,” Clarence said and ran to the brook.
I searched the cliffside for a thorough fifteen minutes. It was no use. Lenny wasn’t anywhere around me. I headed back to the brook and called out for Clarence. At first, I heard no sound. I shouted again. Clarence walked out of the woodland beyond the brook. His face looked solemn.
“What?” I cried. “Did you find him? Did you find Lenny?”
Clarence nodded. “I’m so sorry, man. I really didn’t mean to let him out.”
“Where is he?”
Clarence pointed to his left. Lenny’s body lay lifeless in the glade beside him. His entrails leaked out of his backend. I ran to his side and cried aloud. “What the fuck? Lenny… no…”
“Maybe there really is something other than deer out in this wood,” Clarence said with a shudder.
“Half of Lenny’s body is missing!” I yelled. “There’s clearly something sinister in this wood. What the fuck would do this to a cat?”
“I hate to admit it, but Kenny has to be right. We are in the mountains. There are bears in Appalachia. I’ve never seen one, but they are elusive creatures.” Clarence walked up and put his hand on my shoulder. “I really am sorry. I had no idea your cat would bolt out of the door like that. I would never have come over had I known the fate that would happen tonight.” He slumped his head down and walked off toward his house. I picked myself up and staggered back inside. It would have been a sleepless night had it not been for the copious amounts of bourbon I drank with Clarence.
I woke up to the sounds of screaming again. I looked at my phone. It was 3 am. I’d slept for an hour. The scream was close. It couldn’t have been more than an acre away from my property. I put on my gym shorts and shirt and grabbed my acoustic guitar. If there really was a bear, I’d need something to defend myself. I dashed out the door and headed toward the screaming sound ready to avenge my poor Lenny.
The sounds of screaming were still active and coming from the direction of Kenny’s and Clarence’s houses. I sprinted down the dark drive and saw two figures in the meadow between Kenny’s and Clarence’s properties. It appeared as if a large brown creature with fuzzy fur was on top of a man screaming in agony.
“Get out of here, you bastard bear!” I yelled at the beast, picking up my guitar as if it were an axe. The creature looked ate me and let out a hideous growl. “Oh shit,” I said suddenly realizing the danger I was in. It glared at me and I saw a shadow of liquid drip off the beast’s teeth. It had to be blood from the man I could only think was Clarence being viciously attacked by an Appalachian brown bear.
The creature sprung toward me in a bound. It’s hurtling footsteps dashed forward. I backed up slowly, eyes widening. It’s broad shoulders moved violently in the light of the moon and I noticed the texture of its fur. Where had I seen that fuzzy brown before? Just as I began to remember, I saw Clarence’s fuzzy, brown robe and slobering jowls right in front of me. I cocked back my Alvarez and swung right at his face.
My brand new co-worker, with the Escalade, fell to the cold grass. I stood up and ran toward whatever creature he had been attacking before I shouted at him. As I approached, I looked upon a weeping figure in the shrubs. It was Kenny bent over in the fetal position. He was sporting a few human sized bites out of his right calf and lower left abdomen.