Part 1 of 2
Here we go again, part three to this Care Bear's Trilogy. Shout out again to niccuningham for suggesting this and shout out to both them and the people in their life who are reading this, thank you for your patience.
I own nothing. Care Bears belong to their rightful owners and idea for this story goes to Niccunningham. The cover image of this story is called "Raccoon Month Day 30 Bright Heart Raccoonlowres " and is done by Bryan Francis on the website "The Art of Bryan Francis".
Enjoy the story!
The sun was shining down gloriously upon the Kingdom of Care-A-Lot. The sky was devoid of any rain clouds, a slight breeze kept the temperature just comfortably warm, and overall the weather was just perfect for outdoor activities. And no denizen of the Kingdom of Care-A-Lot knew this k more then the kingdom's founders' child, Bright Heart Raccoon.
Now a spirited, young three year-old, the purple raccoon giggled along with two of his closest playmates, twin Care Bears, Hugs and Tugs. The three of them swung their arms together as they skipped, approaching the lacy, heart-shaped building where a certain Care Bear elder resided. Sure enough, the old, yet very sweet, amethyst-colored bear was waiting for them outside the fence, her pink, lacy shawl flapping behind her as she rushed up to embrace them.
"Gram Bear," the three chorused, eagerly nestling against her old, yet warm and soft body.
"My darlings," she cooed, before gently breaking away. She smiled at each of them, before turning towards Bright Heart. "My, my, my dearie, you've certainly grown. Today is an important day for you. For all of you."
"Yep, today is my last diaper change," Bright Heart chirped proudly back.
"And we can finally become students at Care-A-Lot Elementary," Hugs exclaimed.
"And finally be taught about the importance of caring and sharing our feelings," Tugs added. Grams nodded, her paws rising to her mouth as she cooed at them.
"You've all grown up so much over the past few months, and today you'll finally be entering the new stage of your lives. Now c'mon now, let me teach you about potty training and then we'll head over to the school for your first lessons."
The trio cheered merrily as they followed in after Grams. sure enough, when they left the house later, they had all been successfully potty-trained and excitedly began chattering as they went with Grams to the school.
The school itself was a building in the shape of a heart with an open book opened above it, forming the roof. The entire pathway towards the school had smiley faces and other happy pictures engraved into the sidewalk, obviously done by some artistic, chalk-wielding star and heart buddies. The fence was purposely painted to look like rulers stacked together, even going so far as to also list other important things such as numbers, the alphabet, and , of course, drawing of the Care Bears holding hands and standing strongly together. The three of them 'ooh'd' and 'ahh'd' at the sights, yet still made sure to stay by Grams' side.
The three of them huddled closer as they approached the door where two of the older Care Bears stood, one of them practically beaming with happiness, the other looking moody as ever. Cheer Bear and Grumpy Bear. Now they had been well-acquainted with the other members of the Care Bear family, both being one of the first to be introduced to them. Now while Cheer Bear was definitely someone nice and could definitely be seen as another playmate, Grumpy Bear not so much. His constant frown and even grumpy attitude made him seem a bit unapproachable and mean, even if they had been told he was rather caring. Still he was still pretty smart abut stuff, as was Cheer Bear. Being older then them by a couple years, they knew a lot more about the world and were good teachers overall.
However, now was not the time to complain as the two stood beside the doorway, opening the doors for them into the school. Instantly, the fear and worry melted away as the three broke forward, rushing into the school, their excitement renewed once more.
A month later, the three of them giggled and cheered as they jumped rope in the school's playground. So far, school had been an alright experience for them. While sitting a classroom being taught about the importance of being kind to others and spreading the message of caring wasn't always fun, especially when much of the stuff taught was already known by now, school was, for the most part, an okay experience. Besides, if they got some time off each day to go out and play, who could really complain?
"Bright Heart! Hugs! Watch what I can do," Tugs cried out. He suddenly jumped into the air, his jump-rope following as he jumped it several times in one go, smiling proudly as he landed. His sister and Bright Heart cheered in unison.
"That's really cool Tugs, now watch this," Hugs said, before hopping up and doing her own jump-rope maneuver, just as he had done. He grinned and cheered s his sister landed, her head looking up proudly.
"Nice one sis," Tugs replied.
"Yeah, nice one. Now watch this," Bright Heart said, taking a step back and preparing to jump. The twins gasped as Bright Heart jumped, yet flipped while he was in the air, before landing once the rope had gone behind him. As the young raccoon landed, his legs shook under the sudden weight and he let out a startled yelp as he unfortunately landed on his bottom. The twins winced before rushing over to help him up.
"Are you ok, Bright Heart," Tugs asked. The raccoon nodded, rubbing his sore back.
"That was a cool move, but maybe it could use some more work," Hugs offered. Bright "Heart sighed, but nodded in agreement. He had just learned how to flip and he had really hoped that he would be able to show to off during their playground time. Still, he swallowed his initial embarrassment and tried to put on a smile.
"You're right. Let's keep jump-roping," he stated, much to their renewed excitement. For the next few minutes, the three of them skipped rope together, thankfully without any more incidents, until Bright Heart suddenly stopped, threw down his rope and came over to the bench, his hand around his throat. The twins initially didn't notice, as they were in the midst of a contest where the one with the most consecutive jumps won, but after a few seconds they noticed their friends and came over to check on him.
"What's wrong, Bright Heart," Hugs asked, noticing his pained expression.
"Yeah, are you just tired or does your back still hurt from earlier," Tugs asked. Bright Heart shook his head, and when he looked up, the two could see that he was holding back tears.
"No, but my throat hurts," he rasped, the two of them wincing at how painful and rough it sounded.
"I'll go get the teachers," Hugs said, instantly rushing into the building where the two bears were preparing for the next lessons. Tugs came closer to sit beside his friend.
"It's going to be alright," he offered. Bright Heart closed his eyes, but nodded, his hand still enclosed around his throat.
"This has to be the third time this month my throat's been hurting," he rasped, dissolving into a fit of coughs. Tugs pat his friend's back carefully, trying his best to calm him down. "Mommy said that if my throat starts hurting again I'll need to have to go to the hospital."
"The hospital? Grams says that kids only need to go to the hospital if they're sick," Tugs said. Bright Heart nodded, his entire body seeming o shrink with fear. Tugs noticed this and quickly tried to lengthen the mood. "Grams also says that the doctors and nurses at the hospital are really nice. They make you feel better and they let you have lollipops afterwards."
"Lollipops," Bright Heart asked. Tugs nodded.
"Mmm hmm. Now me and Hugs have never needed to go to the hospital, but we have seen the doctor for a checkup. They're super nice and they just were making sure that we weren't getting sick and we each got a lollipop and a sticker afterwards." Bright Heart nodded, his pained expression lessening a bit.
Hugs then came out of the building, tugging along Grumpy and Cheer Bear behind her before stopping and pointing to the two of them. The two teachers nodded before approaching them.
"Bright Heart, sweetie. Are you alright?" Cheer knelt down next to him and reached out to press her palm against his head. He closed his eyes and shook, his paws coming up to his throat and gently covering it.
"Your throat hurts," he heard her ask and he nodded in reply.
"Has it hurt before anytime recently?" Another nod.
Do you think you need to go to the hospital?" A moment's pause, then he shook his head. "Are you sure?" He nodded.
"Mm, well I'd better call his parents anyways. Better have them go pick him up so they can check on him," Grumpy stated, before walking back into the classroom.
"I'll help you go gather his things," Cheer said, following after him, leaving the three outside.
"Why didn't you tell them you needed to go to the hospital," Hugs then asked, turning back to Bright Heart, who was gently massaging his throat.
"I'm sure it's just a fluke. My throat is probably just dry from all the playing I've done today Some water and a good night sleep should probably fix it by tomorrow," Bright Heart replied, though judging by the rasp in his voice, the twins did not feel so sure about it.
To Bright Heart's dismay, the next morning did not prove to be an improvement for his aching throat. If anything, his throat seemed to feel even more painful, having changed from a soreness to feeling like it was on fire every time he swallowed. His limbs and head also felt heavy as he forced himself out of bed at the sound of his mother calling his name for breakfast.
At the kitchen table, his favorite meal was set out right before him: two sunny side-up eggs, a piece of toast with jelly on it, and sippy cup full of orange juice. As he sat in his chair, he took one glance at his meal and felt a wave of nausea come across him. still, he forced himself to take a bite of his eggs. Tears almost sprang to his eyes as his throat burned while swallowing. He tried to avoid choking by taking a swig of his juice, only to find that the burning feeling didn't change. Feeling sick at the sight of the rest of his food, he slowly pushed away his plate, hoping that his parents wouldn't see. Unfortunately for him, his father, who was sitting right across from him, did notice.
"What's wrong son," he asked.
"Nothing," Bright Heart replied, or at least he meant to reply. His word came out strained and hushed. Noble Heart twisted his head curiously at him before getting up and walking over to him.
"Are you sure," he asked, teaching out a hoof to press against his son's forehead.
Unfortunately for Noble Heart though, just before he could feel his son's temperature, the sound of the bus came from outside and the young kit sprung up and away from his father, heading over to the counter where his backpack lay, grabbed it, and began heading towards the door.
"Sweetie wait," True Heart called, heading over to him with his lunchbox in one hand and the his plate plush sippy cup in the other. "Don't forget to take your lunch dear," she said as she placed it in his backpack, "and do try to eat some of your breakfast dear. Breakfast is the more important meal of the day." She placed the backpack on his back, fastened the baseball cap on his head, and placed his cup and toast in either one of his hands, before blowing him a kiss and sending him out the door where bus driver Braveheart Lion was waiting for him.
"Have a good day at school dear," she called out to him, waving with her free hand while holding the plate still full of eggs in the other. Bright Heart waved back before quickly getting on the bus. As he sat down, he looked at the food his mother had given him. Feeling still sick at the sight of it, he set his sippy cup down and opened his backpack and took out his lunchbox before wrapping his toast carefully inside a napkin and putting it beside his sandwich. The sippy cup he decided to still leave out, thinking he could try to drink form it again later.
He only hoped that school wouldn't be too hard today with his sore throat and sick feeling.
"Okay class. Today we're going to be continuing our lesson on addition and subtraction," teacher Grumpy said, while Cheer Bear stood beside him, holding up a smaller whiteboard with some equations of it.
"So yesterday, we learned that when you put two or more numbers together, you get a larger question. And we also started to learn that subtraction is when you take away some numbers form a number. Now let's see if you remembered what he taught yesterday.
"Hugs" he asked, the pink cub straightening up at full attention. "Can you tell me what 1+1 equals?"
"1+1 equals 2," she said proudly, beaming as Grumpy nodded and wrote he answer on the board.
"Correct. Now Tugs," he called out, the blue cub immediately straightening up and staring straight at him. "What is 2-1?"
The young cub's face scrunched up and he scratched his chin for a moment before clearing his throat. "2-1 is 1, sir."
"Correct," Grumpy said, once again writing it down on the board. "Bright Heart," he called out, frowning as his raccoon student looked up at him with a bleary, tired expression, his face in his hands. "Uh, what does 2+1 equal to," he asked.
The poor raccoon whimpered, wiping his eyes as another wave of dizziness swept across his mind. "2-1, no 2+1 equals to.. equals to t-two," he stammered, no longer able to hold his face up, his face landed on the desk with a loud smack. Blearily he could hear the cries of concern from his teachers and classmates, but could not recognize them. He could barely register anything as Grumpy Bear immediately picked him up after feeling how hot his forehead felt and held him close.
"Cheer Bear, go call the star and heart buddy doctors. Tell them something is definitely wrong with Bright Heart, that he's burning up and collapsed dizzily, and that they need to come over and get him immediately. Then call his parents. I'm going to see if I can get him in a comfortable place," Grumpy ordered.
Cheer nodded and went towards the phone. Before he turned towards the corner where some pillows and stuffed animals were stored, he then turned towards the twins, who were huddled together, scared for their friend.
"Don't you two worry, Bright Heart's going to be just fine., He's just not feeling well right now," Grumpy reassured as he came over to get the kit comfortable. The cubs quickly followed after him, even rushing ahead to get out the pillows and mats ready for him.
"It's all my fault, sir," Tugs confessed. "He was feeling sick yesterday, his throat was hurting, but I didn't say anything because I thought he'd be fine today."
Grumpy paused for a moment before sighing, reaching out to pat Tugs' head softly before setting to work swaddling Bright Heart in the spare blankets. "It's not your fault Tugs, you couldn't have known he'd get sick. Though in the future, if you or anyone else you know gets sick and refuses to tell anyone, it's best you tell someone about it, like an adult you know and trust."
"Even if it means telling someone even though that person told you not to say anything," Tugs asked.
"Yeah, because Secret Bear told us that telling secrets about someone to someone else when they told you not to tell is not nice," Hugs added. Grumpy paused for another moment, making sure Bright Heart was properly set before turning towards the twins and setting a paw on either of their shoulders.
"Cubs, if someone you know or love is holding a secret that is not only hurting them, but you feel someone should know and help them with it, it's okay to tell someone that secret. If you had told someone about Bright Heart's throat earlier, maybe he wouldn't be in so much pain right now." At the two's sadden expressions, he quickly added on, "hey, don't feel too bad about it. You're both still learning about what it means to be a good friend, and you're going to make mistakes in the future. However, as long as you learn form your mistakes, then hopefully this won't ever happen again. Okay?"
The two kids nodded solemnly, looking a bit better as they stared at their friend. Bright Heart had calmed down now and was now fast asleep.
Part 1 of 2. Aww, Poor Bright Heart. Get well soon. And stay tuned for the exciting conclusion. -v.t.7