Little Bear and the Big Red Book

I don’t know how to start this… but I’ll try.

My brother was in film club when we were in high school, and, after lots of begging from him, I became a member.

We were assigned once to make an animation.

When we came home that day, my brother was acting strange, and said, in a low voice, that he needed to start on his animation immediately. He went upstairs to his room without any further conversation. He stayed

in his room almost the entire week, leaving only to use the bathroom, eat, and go to school. I was worried, and so were our parents, but we decided to leave him alone.

I still wonder to this day why we decided to do that.

About three or four days before the animation was due, he was finished. I asked to see it, but he said no, even when I offered to let him see mine. He said that it was a surprise for everyone in film club. He then smiled at me. It was the creepiest smile I have ever seen.

The day that the animations were due eventually came.

There were about 6 kids in the film club. (Including my brother and me)  Since we were asked by the club director to do so, each of us brought one friend. My brother asked to go last, saying that his was too long to show at the beginning. A lot of the animations were funny, and a few were abstract.

My brother's animation was finally presented, and I was quivering with excitement and anticipation.

The animation started with some static which cleared to a while screen. Everyone inched closer, seeing that the best was, obviously, saved for last.

Boy, were they wrong.

The white faded to something I faintly recognized; a screenshot of an opening title card from Little Bear. Little Bear was a show we used to watch when we were kids. The title appeared which read, in very crude handwriting, Little Bear and the Big Red Book.

The animation started like a normal Little Bear episode. Little Bear was out in the yard playing fisherman. Then he stopped and said that he wondered if Father Bear would like to go fishing the next day. He ran inside to ask.

Father Bear was sitting at the table, with a big red book open before him. Father Bear looked very sad and somewhat angry. Little Bear did not notice and asked Father Bear if they could go fishing tomorrow. Father Bear gave no response, but stood up and walked out of the house without a word.

Little Bear looked disappointed for a second. He climbed into Father Bear’s chair and began to read the red book. A voice that wasn’t Little Bear’s, or anyone in the show’s for that matter, started to read the disturbing poems. As the voice read on, Little Bear got more and more depressed looking, everything except the book slowly faded to grayscale, and the voice got more and more high pitched.

The club director tried to turn off the projector, but it wouldn’t turn off.

Suddenly, everything stopped, and it cut to Mother Bear tucking Little Bear into bed. Little Bear looked extremely shocked with a blank expression. He was staring at the screen, as if he knew we were watching him.

His eyes were extremely bloodshot, and his fur was all mangled. The whole scene, except Mother Bear and Little Bear, was drawn in great detail, like an oil painting.

Mother Bear turned off the light and left the room. Little Bear started to sing slowly as the room increased in darkness.

''My Bonnie lies over the ocean, My Bonnie lies over the sea, My Bonnie lies over the ocean,'' Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me.

A pair of red eyes appeared above Little Bear, and a terrifying laugh played. What looked like some monstrosity of a creature jumped onto Little Bear.

The entire screen cut to white. A montage of different scenes of running water appeared.

A little boy’s voice, joined by my brother’s, was singing the same song Little Bear was singing, but with the added lyrics:

''Bring back my Bonnie, Bring back my Bonnie, Bring back my Bonnie to me, to me. Bring back my Bonnie,'' Bring back my Bonnie, Bring back my Bonnie to me.

Then it faded to a picture of me when I was a child, standing next to a grave with my mother’s name on it. A picture of her was attached to the gravestone. Just so you know, my mother is still very much alive today.

The screen then cut to black.

The projector finally turned off, and that was the end of it.

Everyone was shocked. The club director asked everyone to leave except my brother. My best friend and I went to my house to discuss the movie.

“I don’t know how or where he got that picture of me standing next to my mom’s grave.” I had told him. He looked at me, confused.

“No,” He said. “That picture was of ME standing next to MY mom’s grave.”

We were both freaked out. We asked my friend’s parents if he could spend the night. (To which they said yes.) We spent the rest of the night talking about the movie.

The next day was Saturday, and my mother told us that my brother was arrested.

The Monday we came back to school, we found out at an assembly that the other 4 kids in the film club, and the other 5 kids that were visiting, committed suicide after killing their mothers. The film director quit his job and never returned to class.

When I came home that day, I found that my brother was put in prison with a life sentence for 18 accounts of murder and 1 account of public disturbance. He will never be released, as there is no possibility of parole.

I decided to keep this a secret for so long, but now, I'm afraid. I just needed to tell someone.

Somebody, somehow, found my brother's animation and put it on the Internet on a file-sharing website under the title: Little Bear and the Big Red Book: **NEVER BEFORE SEEN EPISODE**, in some sick hope that it will traumatize little children.

I have contacted the website and asked the administrators to take it down. I am currently waiting for their reply.

Thank you for taking your time to read this.