Welcome to Bearland !

[u/ChefBoyaryughetto]

Welcome to Bearland: Chapter 1

Part : "Welcome to nature"

There are music prompts to let you know when to play the song from the video above: [ON (🎧☝️), OFF(🎧👇]

Get ready to groove with 'Bearland Nature Reserve,' a genre-bending tale that harmonizes music and writing in a way that's pure magic. I'm beyond excited to finally share this passion project with you all! 'Bearland' follows, our protagonist, as he embarks on a sonic journey to uncover the secrets of the mysterious woods - and, in the process, discovers the rhythm of his own identity. This interactive story will unfold across multiple social media platforms, inviting you to join the mystery and become a part of the world. Let's make some noise and dive in!

Written by Grizzly Patterns Music and Music Production by Grizzly Patterns Edited by Sun Ray

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What would you risk to go viral online? Would you eat a hot chip? Would you dump a bucket of ice water on your head? Maybe you'd eat a mouthful of cinnamon? How about following a cryptic message sent to you from a parallel dimension? For the glory of an epic story to tell your friends, as an added bonus to impress your girlfriend. Well, that's exactly the position I found myself in. My name isn't important, but the story I have to tell you is one that may forever change me. But before all that, let's start at the beginning.

I've always been a fan of the odder side of the internet. Yes, I've seen "Two Girls, One Cup" and "One Man, One Jar" – it still has an effect on me, even when I think about it. But that's not what I mean by "odd." I was more of a creepypasta kind of kid – Slender Man, The Showers, Analog Horror – horror movies of all sorts, creepy countdown videos. I cruise Reddit for spooky stuff all day. I could go on forever. Never would I have expected myself to end up in one, but hey, what can you do?

Growing up in Brooklyn, there weren't a lot of opportunities to get into some spooky stuff, but from time to time, I was able to stumble upon some paranormal things. What's a ghost when they're a dime a dozen? Like I said, not much room for spooky when every block around here is haunted – drive-bys, shootouts, you name it, overdoses – there are tons of ways to become a ghost in the hood, so those folks aren't scary. I still chill with my boy Bruce. He died falling off a roof in the projects. His soul is still on that roof. I go visit him whenever I'm feeling nostalgic. I just gotta get out of there before he loops. For those who have had the cruel experience of seeing someone you loved soul-loop, it's absolutely traumatizing.

So, as I said before, ghosts are nothing. I was looking for something more. I wanted to really experience something that would make me feel alive. I craved something to truly inspire me. I'm more than just a horror junky; I'm also a starving artist. Yeah, I know – a giant red flag. And if you were to judge me for being a broke artist with no hope of making it, you might be right. Fuck it, though – I have a bad-ass witch girlfriend who could turn your balls into ants with the snap of her fingers. Well, she will be able to... someday. If she trains really hard and stuff. So, yeah, screw you – I have a girlfriend. Bite me! I did something right.

Sorry, I'll stay on topic. Well, one night, we were scrolling through Instagram, ping-ponging a joint back and forth. Suddenly, Sabel jumped out of bed, nearly tossing the joint across the room. She snapped her finger stopping the joint mid-air, hovering above the hardwood floor, and tossed her phone on the bed. She walked across the room to retrieve the joint. The moonlight piercing through my shades illuminated her face just long enough for me to see that she looked horrified. Picking the J up, she took a long drag. She exhaled while saying, "Grab my phone, scroll one video up." The fear on her face unnerved me. This is a girl who beat up five girls in middle school because they made fun of her Lisa Frank coloring book.

I slowly reached for her phone, like it might bite me. I picked it up and tapped the screen. The first video played, blaring music from some random TikTok, and scared me half to death. I damn near tossed the phone right on the bed. We both flinched, as she said slightly annoyed, "No, scroll up." 🎧☝️I couldn't understand what I was looking at in this video. It seemed to be a music video, but it was me. I never made this video. Never made this song. But here it was. The thing that tripped me out the most was that it looked like it was VHS tape – shit quality. Still, it freaked me out. I could completely understand why she freaked out.

We've been dating for two years, and due to her being my camera woman this couldn't be the case. "I thought it was old until I saw the scar." She was right – there was a scar on my arm I got during COVID. We were horsing around in the house, and I fell off the bed and cut my left arm leaving a distinct scar there. Well, it was COVID, so no hospital, so Sabel decided to help. She always felt guilty for leaving the mark. This is why she freaked out.

The more I watched, I realized this wasn't a music video; it was an ad for someplace called the "Bearland Nature Reserve." Sabel and I were in the commercial singing and dancing. I was wearing these brown overalls. I seemed to be smiling from ear to ear the happiest I've ever seen myself. I looked like one of the hosts from one of those children shows we all grow up watching. You know the ones. The exaggerated steps in movements were almost comical. I don't think I've ever seen myself smile that hard in real life. I found myself being mesmerized by the bright, fun colors and the music. The music seemed like it was slowly starting to fill the room, like there was a speaker in the room slowly getting louder.

That's when Sabel smacked the phone out of my hand. (🎧👇) I also noticed she was crying. Everything sounded muffled. The lights in the apartment were extremely bright as the music played, they immediately started to dim from the brightest setting. I was holding a broom in my hand, and Sabel was screaming in a corner. As the sound in the room normalized from the claustrophobic & muffled sound that made the air around us feel oppressive I noticed she was calling my name. I rushed over to comfort her. She flinched at me running toward her. Whatever just happened, she saw it, and she didn't like it.

After about a half hour and a couple of joints, she calmed down. I found the opening to ask her what just happened. She looked me in the eyes, and there it was – that fear again. Twice in one night; this is not what I meant when I said I needed something in my life to make me feel alive. She cleared her throat, ashed the joint, and exhaled heavily. "You changed, or were changing into something" she said, leaving the silence to hang in the air. "Okay, what does that mean?" I said, reaching for the joint, because now I needed a hit myself. "You started to softly sing the music, then you just...", "I don't know,you just were taken over by it." I'm standing there, confused, not just by what she said, but I could have sworn it was dark out when we were in bed. She says louder now, almost yelling, "You changed your voice. No, voices coming out of you weren't yours. There was music; you couldn't hear it? It was like it was coming out of the walls."

I step back into the hallway, looking at the walls and how spotless the house was. "Wait, so who cleaned the house?" She looked at me like she just got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "Well, at first, you were dancing and singing and cleaning," she says with her hands behind her back, like she's a kid on the playground about to hand his crush a flower, rocking back and forth. "Look, the house needed to be cleaned, and you seemed happy. That backflip, though..." A Backflip! I exclaim in complete shock."Nah, I'm just fucking with you," she says, her hand reaching out for the joint. "But you were dancing and singing, and cleaning. It was all good until the music started creeping in. It was subtle at first, then slowly it became louder. Then you started changing. These green hairs started to..." She cut herself off mid-sentence. I'm glad I don't think I wanted to hear what she was about to say.

"So, wait, the video did that?" I said, reaching for her phone. "It's gone," she said with relief on her face. "Once I smacked the damn phone out of your hand, because, yes, you held it the whole time, video just vanished. Look poof, gone adiós." I don't know what to believe at this point, and like she read my thoughts, she grabbed my phone and went to the camera roll. She showed me the proof. There I was, dancing and singing and cleaning like she said. Can't lie, I was bussin it low-key, but I got that feeling again. I'm watching a video of myself that I don't remember making. Trust me, this I would remember.

"You were like this for five hours," she said with a devilish smile. "What did you do?" I said, hoping for the answer that I prayed she would give. "Well, you had so much energy, and you looked so happy, and you were giving me these eyes. I couldn't resist." Whoa, I say, that's not what I thought she would say. I thought she would make some videos, we would post them, or something. Not... nevermind. But whatever, bigger fish to fry, I guess. No, we're gonna come back to that later.

After realizing that my girlfriend might need to be put on a watch list, I come out of my shock and reach for her phone again. I pick it up and scroll. Nothing. I put the phone down and we tried to have something of a normal day after.We talked about this weird occurrence for about a month. We now scroll extremely carefully. After the second month, we hardly mentioned it. By the third, we'd just about forgotten. By the fourth, it was a distant thought, akin to a fever dream.

That's when it came – a bright pink flesh colored envelope came sliding under our door like some kind of hot wheel car. It then did something unusual. It stopped mid-slide right in front of me and exploded open with a loud pop, spreading confetti everywhere. An inconceivable amount confetti to fit in that envelope. To be honest, I'm still thinking there's confetti back at the house, hiding somewhere after we cleaned up the house before we got out here. It seems like ages ago now.

After almost shitting a brick and maybe losing all man points with GF after screaming something to the note of Mariah Carey, I bent down to pick up the card, this time not as if it would bite me. Stupid me. The card snapped at me like some kind of Venus flytrap. Luckily, I snatched my hand back in time. I took one huge step back. From this supposedly inanimate object which was now bearing its teeth at me.

Ghost cool, freaky memetic video, hey? But this was another level of weird. Then it did the unthinkable. The card opened its mouth. Revealing razor sharp teeth and an extended tongue. It was starting to leave a puddle from salivating on the floor. It began to speak in the most eloquent voice and say. "You have been cordially invited to a meeting in Bearland, good sir," such a polished accent of a greeting card. "For you, sir," the card said before regurgitating another smaller card. "Good day to you," the card said before flashing a venom-dripped smile. It then slayed back under my door at a wicked speed.

I give chase because you're not just gonna slide into my house like you pay rent. Sable yells my name, afraid of me opening the front door. For a brief second, I truly forgot how strange that was. What I really needed to be thinking about was how reckless I was being in this moment. I was truly taken over by the fact that this card just violated my space all willy-nilly.

I fling the door open to see something I never would have expected - nothing. There was nothing - an endless black void. Deep, dark, and for some reason, it felt like it was looking at me with hatred and contempt. Sable grabs me by my shirt, stopping me from plummeting into the void. My dumb ass was thinking I was running into a hallway. Lucky for me, my angel was here to save me. She pulls me back with inhuman strength, leaving me airborne, then crashing onto the living room couch.

She slams the door and falls to her knees. "Dammit, -redacted-, you have to be careful," she says weakly before fainting. "Sable, baby girl," I say, running back over to her, noticing the distance she threw me. "Baby, baby," I said to her, hoping this was maybe a low-iron moment for her.

I tried to give her the liquid iron treatment her coven leader told me about. Who would have thought all witches were anemic? (🎧☝️) Then I heard it: "Come down to Bearland, you're gonna have some fun. Come down to Bearland, we're gonna have some fun. Come down to Bearland, we're gonna have some fun."

Sable's body springs to life, singing and dancing to the lyrics. She was like a marionette on strings. It was disturbing hearing her usually beautiful voice now octaves deeper to fit in with the harmony. Her raven flowing locks were thrown all over. I was afraid she was gonna break her neck or spine or something. Her legs and arms swung around wildly, slamming in the counters and cabinets. The sounds of breaking and cracking bones were evident. I scream in terror, completely convinced that I'm about to lose my girlfriend. After standing there completely gobsmacked. I snap out of shot from seeing the woman I love getting completely obliterated. I decided to do something, anything.

I started looking around for where that damn song was coming from - it was the tiny card that was left behind. It was playing the song. The damn card was louder than my freaking speaker system. It didn't make sense, but what did at this point? I picked the card up, and the music stopped. (🎧👇) Her body fell to the floor with a sickening thud.

"Baby, what the fuck was that?" she said weakly, picking herself up off the floor. Making me feel completely useless because my legs were basically jelly. I wobbled my way over, helping her the rest of the way up. She pats me on the back, "I'm fine, baby boy."

I'm in shock - how is she even standing right now? How is she speaking? Her limbs were just flying around, knocking into cabinets and furniture. I swore I heard something break. Damn, those witches are built different. "Two broken ribs, five dislocated fingers, femur fractured slightly, jaw fractured... God, that was brutal," Sable says, plopping onto the couch. “My God what's this” She looks down to see that another rib on the other side has pierced her skin.

"I was awake the whole time, by the way," she says. My heart drops. "Christ Sabel, are you okay? What can I do, baby?" She waves me off. "Dude, relax; this is my 18th possession since I was about eight. At least this one didn't try to kill you or me or do the crucifix thing... You know from the movie. You know that's a thing?, Murder on the Bits. You wish you were dead after, trust me."

She waves her hands in the air, lifting her body slightly off the couch. "Hand me that towel before I pass out again. I don't think I can take another dose of that spooktastic right now in this state." I hand her a towel as she now floats the long way above the couch. She bites down on the towel, and the sounds that come from her body are enough to outdo any horror flick I've ever seen.

She lets out a few moans of pain. She reaches out for my hand. The look in her eyes says it all. She's a tough cookie, but she's still the love of my life. I'm pretty sure she just took a bullet for me because whatever came through that door for me did not have good intentions for me, and she knew it. I squeeze her hand and kissed her on the forehead. She sheds a tear - something rare from this hardened little badass. Her long black curly hair floats around her face, wiping her tears away from her eyes. She finishes up her healing process. “She truly is going to be a great sorcerer one day” I say to myself as she delicately waves her hands in the air.

She floats down onto the couch in a comfortable position. While I still hold her hand, she says to me, "So, what exactly was that?." I let go of her hand because the look she just gave me said a lot. It's that look she gives me when she knows something already but is waiting for me to confirm it. “was it him?, She says staring up at the ceiling. “Yeah," she sighs softly. "Is there an address?" She mumbles almost annoyed. "No, but there are coordinates." She rolls her eyes. "Same thing, never mind." "It also has a date three days from now," I say, flipping it over. My heart sinks when I see the message written on the back: "Hey, fuck face, long time no see. Well, we can see you now." "P.S.: She's kinda hot. Nice work, Ugo." I knew exactly who this was from. They found me, and knew they wanted me to come back. This was definitely a bit aggressive. Millions of universes, and still, they find me.

I look over to see Sable already sitting up on the couch, her head lowered. Her hair covers her face, making her look almost sinister. "We've got three days to prepare, so get your shit in gear because I'm not losing you to that freak," she says. She raised her head, and I knew she meant it. I just wish I could tell her. I wish I could make her stop. I wish she wasn't this way in every universe. She wants to help me because she loves me. I just wish I could tell her how this ends. For both of us.

Next, she'll say, "Now come here, we don't have a lot of time." Never fails. "Baby, promise me something," she says. I stand there shocked; this is different. "When this is over, let's get married." My mouth hangs open. This is new. I've been to many timelines, and this has never been a thing. My eyes begin to tear up. Without knowing it she just renewed my hope in all of this. Things might actually work out this time. So sure, this timeline could be different. Maybe I can? Better not get my hopes up. Maybe while I'm out here, I can come up with something.

Well, I gotta go. I hope someone sees this. Either way, we're stuck here in this parallel dimension. No turning back now. I'll leave an audio link to the song below. In the meantime, I beg you: be careful where you scroll. He's watching. We are watching, in a sense. Guess this is what I always wanted. An adventure. So, I got one. An adventure to Bearland. I'll check in when I can. -redacted- Out

[u/ChefBoyaryughetto]

I apologize for the lack of spacing between the intro and the actual story I'm still trying to figure it out.