-Chapter 2-

Part 5

He was right...I had seen the little girl...at the gas station. Gone.

He set the picture back in it's place. "Well....no....we aren't all dead. You are still alive", he said. He stared at me, "You keep living...as if there is something still left for you. I've lost everything. Now all I have left to lose is myself", he said pausing.

He pointed at me, "But you fight", he said.

"You have something left. You are still alive. Might I know what keeps you going?", he asked.

I swallowed, "Because, I still have everything else to loose like you. I've lost things. Objects....just things....I lost that thirteen years ago....", I replied quietly.

"Might be selfish...but I've still got everything else to lose that matters", I said.

He nodded standing and set his mug in the sink turning it on with his single finger as he washed it out. He set it out to dry.

"It's not selfish.....it's just you know what you have. Me....I'm just too blind to accept that I still have things here for me. Guess that happens when you get old...you go blind", he said chuckling.

He turned looking at me, "But you are the spirit of the bear", he said.

I raised my eyebrows, "P...pardon?", I asked.

"You protect those you love", said the man wagging his finger at me.

"Well sh** man but...I'm not...a bear", I said.

He shook his head, "No, no, soul. Soul. You fight to protect something. To get it back. Him over there. He's the spirit of a falcon. It's not hard to see. I may be old but I know what I see, I've done it for many years now. And you may not like our ways. But, I know what I see", he said.

He placed a bowl in front of me. "And if you want to live you need to eat", he said.