Sam and Katie Forever

1105 words


Brian was waiting for me when I returned to my dorm room. "What's that?" he gestured to the ball of fur tucked under my arm.

I sighed, "Sam's birthday present to me."

He let out a low whistle, "Wow that's cold. You still accepted a gift from him after you broke his heart?"

"I tried to give the damn thing back, but he insisted I keep it." I threw the plush panda bear at Brian and unlocked the door to my room.

Brian examined the panda as I flung the door open and collapsed onto my bed. "Hey, its pretty cute, that's so unlike Sam. I would have expected him to get you a big candle shaped like an eyeball or something."

"I know, he even told me he named it Sammy. Look at the inscription on the tag."

"Sam and Katie, forever." Brian read aloud from the heart-shaped tag around the bear's neck. He tossed the bear back to me and pretended to stab himself in the heart.

"Shut up," I snapped. "I feel bad enough, you don't have to rub it in."

Brian shook his head, "Whoa Katie, you had to break it off. You never agreed to be his girlfriend; the guy just assumed you were after one pity-date. He's jealous of every guy you talk to, even the gay ones. Plus, he's just plain creepy. He can't even keep a roommate because he freaks out if they touch any of his stuff or even come on his side of the room."

"I know. I shouldn't have gone on that date with him; he was just so persistent." I tossed the panda bear onto my desk and gave Brian a hug. We'd been best friends since the eighth grade and he always knew how to make me feel better. As Brian returned my hug, I could have sworn the bear's button eyes glared at me. My psychology professor would say I was projecting my guilt onto the bear or some crap like that. I laughed at myself.

"What's so funny?" asked Brian as he pulled away from the hug. 

I pointed to the panda bear and started to tell him about my paranoid delusion, but before I could get a word out, the bear stood upright and lunged at Brian. Its frozen smile turned into a snarl as it hissed,  "Sam and Katie forever!" Brian jumped back, but the bear was already upon him, biting and clawing at every bit of exposed skin.

My friend howled in pain and terror as I pried the fluffy little monster off him and threw it across the room. It immediately tried to scurry back, but I grabbed my empty laundry basket and dropped it upside down over the top of it, creating a makeshift cage. The little panda bear was freakishly strong and I ended up having to sit on the laundry basket to hold it in place. I stretched my legs out to prevent the snatching claws from ripping my legs to shreds.

"Are you okay?" I cried out to Brian.

"Just peachy," he groaned as he pushed himself up off my floor. His neck was bleeding from one of the bite marks, and his face was covered with scratches and bruises, but all the wounds appeared to be pretty superficial.

"You have to get out of here." I demanded.

"I'm not leaving you alone with that thing."

"I think it's mad because I hugged you, so I'm hoping it will stop when you leave."

Brian still seemed hesitant. "What are you going to do with it?"

"I'm not totally sure yet, just go."

"Alright, I have my cell if you need me." he said as he left the room.

As soon as he left, the panda stopped snarling. When I bent down to investigate, I realized that it had returned to its original huggable self. I snatched it up and left my room, slamming the door in disgust.





Sam opened his door and sneered when I threw the bear in his face. "That didn't take long," he mocked.

"This thing just tried to kill Brian and I because I gave Brian a hug. Do you know anything about that?"

"I put a curse on it."

I started to argue, but when I remembered the adorable stuffed panda bear going postal in my dorm room, the idea of Sam putting a curse on it didn't seem all that crazy. "What the hell did you do that for?"

Sam shrugged. "I knew you were going to break up with me so  I put a curse on  the bear to attack every time you showed affection to somebody." He let out a cruel laugh. "Just be happy it was a hug. Think of what it would have done if you'd kissed him. And don't bother throwing it away, it will always find you."

I howled with rage and pounded him in the chest with my fists. "Remove the curse, you freak!"

He leered down at me. "Are we getting back together?"

"Hell no! We never really were together except in your twisted mind."

Sam's lips tightened with anger. "Well, prepare for a lonely life sweetheart. If you touch anybody, that bear's going to go crazy and rip the two of you to pieces."

"I'll find a way to break the curse myself."

He laughed again. "The only way to do that is kill me, and I know you don't have the stomach for that."

I sank down to the floor in defeat. He was absolutely right about that, but a thought occurred to me. "So I can't kiss anybody ever again?"

"That's right. If you do, the bear will probably kill you both."

"Anybody?"

"Anybody, even your family."

I walked over to Sam and planted a big wet kiss on his lips. "Good-bye Sam," I whispered and turned to leave the room. His jaw dropped in a look of confusion that was slowly replaced by terror as he realized what my kiss meant. As I closed the door, the bear came to life again and hissed as it started toward Sam.

As I walked away, Sam's screams of pain echoed throughout the corridor. Several of his floor-mates opened their doors to investigate the screams, but once they realized where the screams were coming from, they rolled their eyes and retreated back into their rooms. Sam wasn't nearly as smart as he was creepy. You'd think he'd remember to exclude himself from his own curse. I left Sam's dorm and headed to Brian's room. I was going to give him a big kiss, just because I could.