The castle
Chapter five
I had already made the decision that I would not return home, so in the evening, Sylvie and I started looking for some shelter, which was not so difficult considering that it was summer and the nights were warm. We spent the next few days wandering over the mountains and enjoying ourselves until we came to a large river bank, from where I could see a castle in the distance. The road to it was destroyed and eroded in many places, and the coast was mostly steep and impassable, so we returned to the forest and approached it from the other side. From close range, it seemed even more imposing, even though it was neglected. High towers rose from the slopes of the mountain and descended all the way to the water, while the smallest of them protruded from the river itself, like an elongated limb. The whole place exuded the atmosphere of an abandoned tourist attraction, and entering the interior of the tower confirmed my suspicions, considering that garbage from various snacks, bottles, tickets, and more was scattered everywhere. Regardless, the towers were equally imposing and interesting from the inside, so I happily threw myself into discovering their mysteries. That spontaneously turned into playing hide-and-seek with Sylvie. She was much better at hiding than I was, but I wasn’t giving up. Some noise from behind the wall caught my attention. While thinking how lucky I was that Sylvie made such a careless mistake, I jumped through the opening into the room where the noise came from with a triumphant smile on my face, only to be greeted by one of the sweetest scenes I had ever seen. Sylvie was playfully rolling over the floor with two baby bears, completely engrossed in the game. I almost joined them right away, but I restrained myself because I knew that if there were babies, then a mother wouldn’t be too far away, and a mother bear would be a serious threat. As if she heard my thoughts, a mama bear appeared around the corner, pushing the fourth member of the family in front of herself. I'm not sure which one of us was more surprised, but as always, before either one of us managed to react, Sylvie materialized herself next to me and almost completely engulfed me with her figure. This was enough for the bear to lower its guard in front of me and settle down so that all three baby bears were in front of her eyes. I have already suspected several times that Sylvie's presence influences the animals not to be afraid of me and that that is why I had the opportunity to attend their hidden lives, but as we have only encountered small animals before this, I could not confirm this theory. Until now. I felt extremely privileged to be allowed to join this extraordinary family in an afternoon that seemed reserved for relaxing. Time flew by in the game, the bears seemed tireless, and because of their clumsiness, they were even cuter. This time, the little rogue, who got lost the first time, managed to get his head stuck in a plastic jar while trying to reach the crumbs from the bottom. The whole scene was bizarre and pretty funny. He shook his head left and right and staggered backward while the other two babies were tripping him over and teasing him. After a few minutes of this hilarious scene, I decided to help him take the jar off his head because it seemed that he was starting to get scared and tired of the hopeless situation in which he found himself. It turned out that getting it off his head was not such a simple task at all. I just don't know how he managed to get inside it so easily. No matter how much I pulled and twisted, I couldn't take it off. I decided to try to cut it with a penknife. I was afraid that I would accidentally hurt him, but he had calmed down a lot, I think he was exhausted from throwing himself around. With a deep breath, I placed the blade between the fur and the plastic, then cut the opening of the jar with one quick motion enough to loosen it. By the time the bear realized what had happened to him, I managed to completely get the whole thing off his head. The fear of hurting that young creature and the responsibility that was in my hands was one of the scariest things I had to do so far. I had no idea that many more similar situations were waiting for me in the future. I felt the real weight of the entire event only after the mama bear took the little ones away, and Sylvie and I stayed to find a suitable place in the castle to spend the night. In the next tower, I came across the skeleton of an animal mixed with waste in a corner. That made me a little uncomfortable, but I knew that death is an integral part of life, especially in the wilderness. However, that did not prepare me for what I saw in the next room. The skeleton of an animal lay on the floor. I could not determine which species it was, since its head was stuck in a jar identical to the one I had previously removed from the little bear. I felt bile rising in my throat. I knew how much that animal was suffering while dying, and then realized that the same fate would have awaited the little one if I hadn't been there. I bit my lip and turned my head away from the horrible sight, only to be greeted by similar scenes scattered here and there around the room. I rushed out of there and started looking anxiously for a way out. As soon as I found myself outside on the grass again, I stumbled and found myself on my knees. Not far from me, in the grass, was an unnaturally lying small red squirrel. My heart clenched while I was reaching for her. Then I saw that the unnaturalness of her movement was caused not only by lifeless stiffness, but also by the twisted position of a body that was stuck in a small jar. I could no longer control my emotions and tears began to flow down my face. Sylvie clung to me, and I hugged her tightly. I don’t know how long I had spent sitting like that on the grass with Sylvie in my arms before I stopped crying and numbly began to walk away as far as possible from that awful place. There was no reason for the pain and suffering that these creatures had to go through. Their deaths were completely unnecessary and cruel. The resentment I felt towards the people of my city began to spread to all the people. The decision to stay with Sylvie in nature without returning to civilization seemed like the right one. I was restless for the whole night. I began to feel stings of guilt for laughing at the bear as it tried to free itself from the deadly trap it found itself in, as well as the fact that I might have been able to help that squirrel if only I had come across it earlier, if I hadn't been playing for the whole day in that castle...
The morning greeted me with dark thoughts and an even worse mood. I absently followed Sylvie through the woods, without a shred of joy or enthusiasm that had been an integral part of all our activities until then. I was unpleasantly surprised when I found myself again in front of the walls that hid the source of my sadness and resentment. Sylvie went inside without stopping, but this time I couldn't bring myself to follow her. I just stood there confused. She soon returned carrying a plastic cup in her mouth, which she dropped in front of my feet, and then returned inside. This was repeated until a larger pile of waste was created in front of me. It was only then that I realized what Sylvie was doing. She was taking the matters into her own hands. I joined her at once. I may not be able to get rid of my guilt, but at least I can prevent future tragedies. We combed the whole castle until I found some big empty barrels. They would serve instead of dumpsters, since they could be tightly closed. It wasn't exactly the ideal solution, but I didn't have a better one. We spent the next few days collecting garbage from the castle and its surroundings into those barrels, carefully avoiding the room whose contents I still could not face. When we no longer had anything else to clean, I knew there was no more delaying it. While I was mentally preparing to go inside, Sylvie brought that squirrel, now free of its plastic shackles, and started digging the soft ground. When she had made a hole of satisfactory size, she lowered it inside and buried it. I looked up to her, found some thick branch, and made a bigger hole right next to it. With a heavy heart, I set out to do what I knew was right, but what terrified me. The encounter with the scene of a small skeleton with a plastic jar instead of the head did not come any easier than the first time, although I knew what awaited me. I bit my lip again, but this time I approached the skeleton, and cut the jar in front of me, not daring to look directly at what was hiding in it. I gathered all the bones into a canvas I had previously found, then got up and repeated the same process until I was sure there was nothing left. While doing so, I had noticed that Sylvie picked up all the garbage from this room as well, thus sparing me from having to go back inside. After burying all the bones in the hole, putting the jar in the last barrel and closing it, we left without turning back.
