My Life Flashed Before My Eyes

Today I was this close *holds thumb and pointer finger 1 centimeter apart* to being eaten by a bear. The story? It goes something like this. Across the road from our house is a pine forest. We'd been having campfires up there so there were chairs and it made a nice, quiet place to read undisturbed. Or so I thought. 

The unsuspecting Mattea grabbed her book around 11:00 and headed out to read in her very suspenseful book. About halfway through the chapter she heard some rustling in the bushes. Without even turning around she had only one thought: bear. She did turn around though and her surmise did in fact prove correct. In the brambles, about 6 ft away, stood a huge bear on all fours. As fast as she could she tucked her book under her arm. She had slipped off her sandals to be more comfortable and knew she didn't have time to put them back on. Mattea didn't realize this till later but even though she hadn't put them on she subconsciously had picked them up. All this took about 1 second. The next she was flying over the campfire, down the dirt path, leapt over the ditch, and hit the road and then driveway running--not even noticing the way the stones bit into her feet. (Afterwards she SURE noticed it though). All she knew is that she heard the bear breathing behind her, the pad of its feet getting closer. She was prepared to be mauled to death at any moment. Several other thoughts were zipping through her head too. All about what you are supposed to do when a bear is after you (play dead, climb a tree), worrying maybe she should have stayed where she was and not run, and about all the stories of people who had died this way. About half way down the driveway she screamed for her faithful dog Bella and then proceeded to shout one word: "BEAR!". With this she galloped up the porch stairs, opened the door, into the entry way and SLAMMED the door behind her. She opened it a second later to let her Mother in who had been sitting in the sun, trying to relax after her tooth surgery. After she had explained what had happened really quickly they all rushed out onto the front porch to watch Bella bark and growl the bear away. 

Thus ends the humble adventure of Mattea K.