It was the dawn of a chilly new day that was to be the first one of a predicted record-breaking cold winter. And this was also to be the tenth winter in a certain lazy polar bear’s long, mundane life. For nine years without fail, this bear had made the arduous trek across the arctic, from where he was supposed to mate in the warmer months, to where he was to migrate for the colder ones. He viewed this upcoming winter as no different from any other, he had always managed to survive, however lazy he may be, and this year he would do the same. Whatever it was making this winter so much worse than all of the others, this bear was not going to let it get to him, he was too stubborn for that. But either way, it was the first day of a long journey that lay ahead of him, so the bear gathered his strength, raised himself from where he had been sleeping the night before, and began walking along the path laid out before him by his intuition and instincts alone.
He had not been on the path for an hour yet, when the all-encompassing clouds overhead gave way to a moderately heavy snow. This troubled the bear not, as he did not even notice the snowfall at first. It was not until he began feeling the all too familiar sensation of wet, cold melting snow on his back, that the polar bear looked up towards the sky and made this discovery. Upon seeing this, the bear reluctantly stopped in his tracks and gave his whole body a strong, vigorous shake. This violent motion caused the snow that had slowly collected on his back to be thrown off in one giant move. Pleased with the feeling of warmth that was now returning to his back, the bear once again began on his journey, this time taking extra care to give his back a half-hearted wiggle in order to keep the freezing elements from building up on his back.
The annual trip the polar bear was forced to traverse, was not a particularly exciting one. This time of year, most everything was already laden with a premature layer of snow, which began falling around the month of October. The little shrubbery that managed to hold its own in this harsh climate was nowhere to be found, hidden well under a veil of snowy, white blankets. And the sky was all the same. It was that time of the year when the days grew shorter and shorter, and even when there was a time for sunlight, it was not there. It lay behind the uniform and continuous expanse of dense, grey clouds. As for other animals, aside from himself, the polar bear did not even have a shadow to keep him company. All combined into one drab frame, these parts made for one, extremely boring walk.
But it was not the dull and vacant scenery that made the bear shiver; it was the bitter cold temperatures. He was a very well built animal, very toned and trimmed. He possessed a great body mass which worked to keep him warm in most all environments. The bear also had a fur coat as thick as the snow already on the ground, and just as white. Although, despite these defensive measures he was armored with, the cold found a way to creep in. There was not a coat thick enough, a body large enough, or muscles fit enough to keep out the freezing temperatures the bear faced ahead. Water did not exist here, only ice. The only food warm enough to eat was already inside of his stomach when he first started this expedition. The falling snow stuck to anything and everything that it fell upon, and the polar bear had to be careful he didn’t allow too much to gather on his backside or the top of his snout. To do so would surely result in frostbite and hypothermia, neither of which the bear wanted to experience.
But he was a polar bear. Polar bears were made for this kind of brutal weather. Like his mother before him, and hers before that, he would make this journey, and reach his destination in due time, completely healthy and unscathed by the winter’s clutch. In fact, just thinking about his odds made the bear walk a little bit lighter. Everything would be fine, and worrying would only slow him down in the process. Happy with his reasoning skills, the bear decided to reward himself with a nice, small nap. Finding a safe place to rest against a large rock, protected on one side from the snow, he let his entire weight drop down to the ground with a loud thump, and made his way into a deep sleep.
Filled with dreams of tropical locations, the bear’s slumber was ended rather abruptly when he felt a piercing wind go right through his very core. Opening his eyes, the bear was unsettled by how much snow had fallen while he was napping. The layer already on the ground appeared to have double in thickness, and the temperature felt like it had done the same. That was when the bear noticed an even more unsettling feeling. But this feeling was different. Rather than coming from the outside, this feeling was internal. It was the same sense that told the bear which direction to walk and when winter was approaching. Fortunately for him, this bear had nine years of experience working for him, and he knew what the meaning of this sensation was: there was a blizzard approaching. Blizzards are fairly terrifying forces in nature. As one of Mother Nature’s greatest weapons, blizzards sneak up on their targets and unleash a fury of whirling winds, penetrating snow, and unbelievably frigid temperatures. The bear knew that this was a feeling he should acknowledge and prepare for, but the current conditions were to pressing for his mind to push aside, even if it meant later trouble. He finally made the decision to worry about his instincts later, and focus on the present danger for now.
Since the start of his trek, the bear had made very little progress. This was not out of the ordinary for him, considering his undeniable laziness, but it was still not a good fact. With the temperatures continuing to drop, and the weather ever worsening, things were not looking very well for the polar bear. Although he continued on at his slow, steady rate, until finally the sky had reached a very dark point, and there was simply no more walking to be done that day. Any other animal in this situation would have panicked at the idea of stopping in the middle of such an icy tundra, but all this polar bear could think of was rest. He could not think of anything more that he wanted at the moment than to get a long night’s sleep. He even wanted this more than he desired to be warm again. Having to squint his frosted eyelids almost shut, just to discern his surroundings in the blank darkness, the bear at once gave up the search for a large rock, and collapsed right on top of a noticeably thick patch of snow. Pleased at the rest his body was now receiving, the polar bear let out a sigh of relief, which immediately froze in the air in front of his nose. On the cusp of sleep, the bear felt a slight bit of uneasiness in the pit of his stomach; it was the blizzard. Once again, pushing that unwanted thought out of his sleepy mind and telling himself he would awake early enough to get a head start, the bear relaxed his large mass and allowed his dreams to take over control of his head.
It may have taken him some time to realize, but the overly lethargic polar bear- stuck under a freshly fallen four feet of snow- had not woken up in time to beat out the approaching snow storm. The night before he had sensed the blizzard coming as he chose his ground for a night’s stay, and he had noted that he must arise early the next day in order to avoid being caught under a thick layer of snow, which might be impossible to recover from. He had not succeeded in doing this, for the bear was indeed stuck under that thick snow. But with a mind full determination to make up for his laziness, the bear began to wiggle every muscle under his thick, white, fur coat. At first this seemed to be a menial task as he was getting nowhere, but after much persistence the trapped bear began making a little progress. Up until now, the bear had been so dazed by his newly fallen surroundings that nothing else was in his mind. But as he vigorously pressed his large frame to and fro against the confines of his icy prison, the bear began to feel very intense pangs of pain all around. It took him no time at all to put this sensation in order, as he attributed this severe discomfort to the frigid cold completely surrounding him. This connection made the bear work that much harder towards loosing himself free of this trap Mother Nature had sprung upon him in the night.
By now, the bear had worked to clear about six inches of clearing on either side of him, including above. But he had also worked to clear out most of his energy. This plagued the bear’s mind as he struggled, but he was intent on freeing himself, no matter how fatigued he became. Having given himself a little clearance, the bear was now able to move his limbs at the ice and snow, which gave him the advantage of also digging his claws into his chilly hold. Making more and more progress by the minute, the polar bear was putting himself against the odds of nature’s game, and for a time, was winning.
The bear had been working for the better part of an hour when finally, having achieved a sitting position from which to work, his fierce swipe at snow broke through to the biting air above. Had he been stuck inside a warmer place, the bear would have resented the temperature outside his hole, but under his present circumstances, this advancement gave him just the boost he needed to pull himself out of the hole. Surprising even himself at the work he had done to obtain freedom, which was in sharp contrast with his normal lazy manner, the bear trotted a few paces away from his former prison and slumped all his muscular weight on to a patch of snow just close enough to a tree for him to lean against its firm trunk. Still catching his breath, which was extremely evident in the harsh air around him, showing up as little clouds of white breathe, the bear began to grow sleepy, accompanying his already over-worked tiredness. After a few minutes had passed, the little white clouds coming from the bear’s frosted snout started to slow down to a steady and even pace. The wind blew against his side, instantly nipping at his nerve ends with its extreme sub-zero temperatures. But more than the pain he felt from this, the bear noticed something else in the wind, something troubling. Although hardly even awake at this point, the overly lethargic polar bear pushed this feeling from his mind, and began his journey into sleep. At about the same time, several large snowflakes landed on top of the sleeping animal.
Waking up before the body is fully rested is never enjoyable, especially when it is covered in snow. And that could only be made worse when the very situation you find yourself in, is the very situation you spent the previous day working to get out of. Such is the state the poor polar bear found himself in as he woke up the next morning. Completely covered and surrounded by the arctic snow that covered and surrounded everything, the bear’s spirit plunged. He has done this to himself. He was the master of his own fate, and he had chosen his path poorly. But his instincts had never failed him before. In fact, he knew for sure that it was his instincts which hinted at the imminence of a blizzard two days in a row. So if it wasn’t his instincts that betrayed him, what could it have been? No matter what it was, he had to pull everything he could muster out of his cold, worn body, into one final effort towards survival.
Thinking of nothing other than the continuance of his own life, the polar bear struck at the ice and snow around him with more ferocity than he had ever exerted before in his ten years of existence. But unlike the day before, the walls were not giving in this time. Somehow this newly fallen prison was stronger and seemed chiller than the previous one. It can’t be possible. In all the years of his life, the bear had never seen anything like this before. He had never been pitted against this Mother Nature. Suddenly his nonchalant, lazy mindset was overridden by a rushed sense of utter fear and panic. If he didn’t act quickly and wisely, he would soon be another lifeless patch of frozen white, lost in the miles of endless snow.
But is it really possible to act quickly once the first stages of hypothermia have set in? Little known to the polar bear, but even as he slept, the cold was penetrating his thick coat and layers of fat, going all the way into his very core. His body was now seizing up, and it was all he could do to lay there and watch. He watched the white around him. There had always been white around him, but now it was over, and this was the image that he would take with him into death. What had gone so wrong, leaving him in this helpless position, awaiting his inevitable icy death? That was when the bear finally figured it out. He had finally realized what led him down his path of destruction: his laziness and stubbornness. He had been too languid to realize the danger at hand, and his pride would not let him dwell upon it. Every time he noticed his innate feelings telling him when danger was coming, he had simply given way to his stubborn nature and allowed his sluggish urges to consume him. But now the cold was all that consumed him.
