Chapter 1: A New World

Being a lonely child, I longed to have a friend with whom I can play with. My wish was granted when I discovered a new world and a bear called Pooh.

- Alycia

On a calm tranquil sunny day in a rural area in Australia, stood a ranch, where a little girl lives with her mother. This little girl is called Alycia, she is eight years old and loves to play all day. Alycia is very lonely and doesn't have any close friends, mainly because she lives miles away from any city or any other ranch. Nonetheless, Alycia passes the time by keeping herself entertained and occupied: finding lizards, flying a kite, singing, playing with dolls or collecting feathers.

Every time Alycia would go out to play, she always told her mother, and her mother told her how far she could go and when she needed to be back.

On this particular sunny day, Alycia decided to fly her kite, which she made herself.

While out in the big grass area, where the sun shone so brightly and the wind was light, she attempted to get her kite high in air. The kite did eventually go airborne, and Alycia gazed how the sun radiated on the kite, and turned it into bright pink. Then all of a sudden, the wind got strong and blew the kite deep into the woods.

Alycia huffed with frustration, and decided to go fetch her kite, stepping into the shadows and under the trees. Following the string from her kite, she eventually located her kite and saw it was stuck in a tall large oaktree, which towered above her. With one simple yank of the line, her kite crashed to the ground.

When Alycia went to pick up her kite, she noticed a dark hole at the base of the tree stump, in between thick roots that burrowed in the ground. She looked into the hole and wondered what lived in there, but all she could find was a sliver of light in the dark tunnel.

The hole being big enough for Alycia, she decided to investigate by crawling into the dry hole, hoping the tunnel wouldn't cave in. The soil was damp and the tunnel was humid, but light being at the end of the tunnel was what determined Alycia to keep crawling to the other side.

After a short crawl through the tunnel, Alycia reached the end and found herself in another area. She was still in a forest, but this one looked more different to the one she came from. The trees were covered in bright fresh green leaves, and moss grew on the tree trunks. The atmosphere wasn't hot, but rather a gentle breeze, making it a more pleasant and a more comforting environment to be in.

Alycia could see a big open field ahead of her, and decided to run into the open field and frolic in its big open grassy area. Running towards the open and feeling the cool breeze, she danced and sung loudly, improvising the lyrics as she went along.

After feeling a little tired from aimlessly running around the field, she then noticed something in the distance, which looked like a big tree. Being the curious girl she was, she moved closer to the tree, and saw something move at the stump. Getting closer and closer, it was obvious that this moving spectacle was an animal of some sort, but it was wearing an article of clothing. It wore a red shirt over its plump yellow furry body. Upon closer examination, it was obvious this small creature was a bear, resembling a teddy bear.

This realisation made Alycia smitten and found the little yellow bear's endeavor to climb up the tree, which only resulted him sliding down the big round stub, making adorable little grunts.

„Hello there," greeted Alycia, looking at the little yellow bear with its back turned.

The bear turned around and revealed its black beady eyes, which looked startled as if he has never seen a human before in his life. „Oh hello there," responded the bear, with a soft delicate voice, kind of like the sound of an owl hooting.

„Sorry if I scared you, you look like you need help," said Alycia, as she walked closer towards the harmless looking bear.

„Oh yes I do, a bear like me always has trouble getting up a tree," responded the bear.

„Did you lose something in the tree?" asked Alycia.

„No, nothing like that. Up in the tree is something for me," answered the bear.

„What's in the tree?" asked Alycia with a curious frown.

„Honey," responded the bear.

„Honey," said Alycia, not sounding surprised that a bear wanted honey.

„Yes honey, my favourite snack, but unfortunately I'm too small to get up that tree," said the bear.

„Maybe I can help you," offered Alycia.

„Oh that's very kind of you, someone of your size could sure help me," elated the bear, jumping up and down and clapping, „What's your name may I ask?"

„I'm Alycia," introduced Alycia with a warm smile.

„I'm Pooh," introduced the bear.

„Pooh?" repeated Alycia, looking confused at the weird sounding name.

„Yes, Winnie the Pooh, just call me Pooh; everyone does," insisted Pooh.

„Okay Pooh, what do you need me to do?" asked Alycia.

„Just need to get up on that branch," said Pooh, pointing up at the branch above.

„Okay, I'll help you up," obliged Alycia.

Alycia picked up Pooh from behind from under the arms, who felt just like a teddy bear and was light as a bag of feathers. With Alycia's assistance, Pooh reached the branch, and balanced on the branch while walking towards the tree trunk.

Alycia watched Pooh slowly walk towards the trunk while maintaining his balance, and was ready to catch him if he fell. Pooh reached the trunk and poked his head into a hole in the trunk, then removed his head and looked down at Alycia.

„Yep this is it, I found honey… do you see a pot near your feet?" asked Pooh, pointing down to where it was.

Alycia looked below her feet, and saw a big round clay pot with the misspelling „Hunny" inscribed on it. „Yeah I see it," confirmed Alycia.

„I need you to hold up the pot and help me fill it with honey," instructed Pooh.

„Sure," said Alycia, as she grabbed the open pot and held it up, trying to aim it directly below the branch.

Pooh then begun to grab handfuls of thick sticky honey from the hole in the tree, and let it slowly drip from his hands, and leak down directly into the pot. Alycia's arms were getting tired from keeping the pot steady in her hands, and the fact the pot was getting heavy as it was filling up with honey. Almost unable to hold the pot anymore, because the heavy pot was hurting her arms and making them tired, Alycia put down the pot and could see it was full to the brim with thick yellow honey.

„Pooh, I think the pot is full," announced Alycia.

„Oh I sure hope so, need enough honey to last me the whole week I hope," speculated Pooh, „Better eat some while I still can,"

Pooh continuously sticks his hands in the tree, and scoops up big handfuls of honey and stuffing it ravenously into his mouth. It gets out of control until Pooh sticks half his body into the hole with only his legs sticking out.

„O bother," echoed Pooh's voice in the tree. He kicked his legs franticly and pulled himself out of the tree, and a swarm of vicious bees buzzed around the scared looking bear. „O bother bother," panicked Pooh, while trying to escape the swarm of bees by hopping on the branch. Unable to keep his balance, Pooh fell off the branch and Alycia caught him, preventing him hitting the ground.

„Silly old bear," tutted Alycia, placing Pooh gently on the ground.

„You know, you're not the only one who has called me that," said Pooh.

„No," reacted Alycia.

„My friend Christopher Robin says that to me, don't suppose you know him do you?" wondered Pooh.

„No I don't, I'm guessing he's not a bear," said Alycia.

„No he's a human like you, but he's a boy," clarified Pooh.

Alycia and Pooh walked together with Alycia carrying the pot full of honey with her. On the way they passed a farm, which Pooh told Alycia that a farmer called „Rabbit" lives there, who is one of his friends. They walked past Six Pine Trees, which were six large pine trees close together forming a small forest.

When Alycia asked Pooh where they were going, Pooh told her they were going to see one of his friends called „Piglet", who was a rather timid and shy little critter. Pooh assured Alycia that Piglet despite his timidness and shyness is a gentle and friendly fellow, but asked that she approach him in a calm manner, so she doesn't scare him.

When they finally got to Piglet's house, which was a tree with its roots burrowing in the ground. There was a tiny little arched pink door, with a small window above and a small balcony above. On the right side, there stood a sign shaped like a pointing hand, with the inscription „Trespassers will".

Pooh knocked on the door, hoping that Piglet would be in. Knowing that Piglet prefers the safety of indoors and doing housework, Pooh was expecting the door to open, and Piglet would be pleased to see his close friend has come to visit.

The door subsequently opened, and there stood a small pink looking creature. Just what Alycia expected, Piglet looked just like a piglet, with big stuck up ears and a snout. Like Pooh he was like a stuffed cuddly toy, he also had cute beady eyes, but was much smaller than Pooh. The only article he wore what looked like a magenta striped bathing suit.

„Hello Pooh," greeted Piglet with a big cheery smile.

„Hello Piglet," greeted Pooh. After a small friendly conversation, Pooh announced, „I know you are not so fond of strangers, but I got someone I'd like you to meet."

„Oh d-d-d-dear," stuttered Piglet, „I hope it's not a heffalump, I can't stand those things, they are so noisy."

„Don't worry Piglet, it's just another human like Christopher Robin," soothed Pooh.

„Oh I like Christopher Robin, he's so kind and helpful," smiled Piglet.

„Then you'll love our new friend," assured Pooh, as he turned his head around in Alycia's direction, „You can come out now."

Alycia came out from around the corner of Piglet's house, and slowly approached Piglet, casting her shadow over him. Piglet begun to shake with fear and tap his paws together, showing how anxious he was.

„Piglet, I'd like you to meet Alycia," introduced Pooh.

„Nice to meet you Piglet," greeted Alycia with a smitten smile, admiring Piglet's adorableness with how shy and small he is.

„Oh nice to m-m-m-meet you Alycia, please excuse my stuttering, I'm not used to meeting new people," apologised Piglet.

„Oh no it's okay, I understand," said Alycia.

„But one day I will be brave… I hope," gulped Piglet.

„Do you have an empty jar we could borrow Piglet?" asked Pooh.

„Why yes of course I do, you can never have enough," enlivened Piglet, running back to his house. He returned in less than a minute with a big jar in his hand, which was half his size. Pooh poured some honey into the empty jar until it was full, screwed the top on and handed it to Alycia.

„Normally I don't share honey, but I want you to have this as a token of gratitude for helping me get my honey," offered Pooh, gladly offering the jar to Alycia.

„Thank you Pooh, that's very generous of you, but it was nothing really," thanked Alycia, taking the jar of honey.

„Oh no really, it was you who got me up in the tree, which reminds me… do you think you could help my friend Piglet get haycorns?" wondered Pooh.

„Haycorns, oh you mean acorns," said Alycia.

„That's what I said, haycorns, Piglet loves them," said Pooh.

„Sure I'll happily do that, but I think I should be getting home now," disclosed Alycia.

„Oh I see, well maybe come tomorrow and help Piglet get his acorns, he would really appreciate that," said Pooh.

„Why yes, I would really appreciate that. Normally I have to wait until they fall to the ground, but with someone your height, I'm sure you can help me get a whole bushel of them," smiled Piglet.

Pooh helped Alycia find her way back where she came from, by leading her to the honey tree, where she could recall her steps and find her way back home. When they reached the honey tree, Pooh and Alycia waved each other „bye" and went their own separate ways.

Alycia retraced her steps in the woods, and found the same tree she crawled out from, and was relieved to see the hole was still there. She crawled through the dark hole and after a short crawl through the tunnel, she reached the other side and was back in her world. She saw her kite was still there lying on the ground, as she picked it up and carried it home with her.

Alycia arrived home to find her mum doing housework in the kitchen, as Alycia's mum turned round to see her daughter had just arrived back home.

„Look mum… I got some honey," bubbled Alycia holding the jar of honey high for her mother to see.

„Alycia where have you been?" worried Alycia's mum.

„Just out… look mum, honey," repeated Alycia, holding the jar of honey close to her mum's face.

„I can see that, your clothes are sticky in it, and you look like you've been rolling around in the dirt," revealed Alycia's mum.

„Sorry mum, I just got too excited," apologised Alycia.

Without asking Alycia anything about where she got the honey from, Alycia's mum took the jar of honey from her and ordered, „Why don't you go and have a bath, I'm about to start dinner."

„Sure mum," chirped Alycia, marveling at the thought of having a bath, as she skipped to the bathroom.

For the remainder of the day, Alycia dreamt about her next meeting with Pooh, the many fun adventures they will have together and the thought of a beautiful friendship.

To be continued…