Isaiah flipped the page. A tear drop ran down his cheek and to his chin.  It dropped onto the picture below. The picture was of Isaiah and his dad hunting.  This was the first time Isaiah had looked at a picture of his dad since he died about six months ago, on May 27, 2017. 
“Why did you have to die?” Isaiah cried.
Isaiah dropped the book and ran into his room.  He ripped open his closet door, pushed a pile of dirty clothes aside.  He grabbed the 22 rifle that his father had given him before he died and rushed downstairs.
“Where are you going?” Isaiah’s mom asked as he ran by.
Isaiah continued downstairs without answering.  Then, he went into the closet that contained all of his father’s old hunting things.  He quickly looked around the clutter on the floor, and located the bullets for his 22 rifle.  Before leaving, Isaiah grabbed his father’s old backpack and took one more scan around the closet.  Isaiah’s eyes fell onto a small pocket knife his father brought with him every time he went hunting.  Isaiah slowly stepped around the clutter towards the knife. 
“What are you doing?”  Isaiah’s mom questioned.
Isaiah continued without responding.
“I said; what are you doing?!”  She asked furiously this time.
“I’m going hunting, Mom.”  Isaiah responded tonelessly.
“Well, I would’ve appreciated it if you asked me first; however I thought that you might want to go hunting, so I bought you a license.  I’ll grab it for you. Just keep packing, and don’t forget to wear warm clothes.”  His mom replied.   
“Okay, Mom.”  Isaiah responded robotically.
Isaiah, still staring at the knife, continued to advance through the clutter on the floor.  He grabbed the knife and tossed it into his bag.  He turned off the light and rushed back upstairs to his room.  There, he grabbed a camouflage jacket out of his closet and put it on.  Then, he went to his dresser, grabbed a pair of his camouflage pants and slid them on. 
“Isaiah, I made you a ham sandwich just in case you get hungry while hunting!”  His mom yelled from the kitchen.
“Thank you mom!”  Isaiah yelled back from his bedroom as he searches for a camouflage hat in his room.
Isaiah tossed a pair of sweatpants off the floor of his closet.  Under the pants laid the hat he was looking for.  It was the only hat he ever worn while hunting.  He slid the hat onto his head, took one more scan of his room for anything else he would need, and then Isaiah runs out of his room.
“Your sandwich and hunting license are right there,” Isaiah’s mom said while pointing to the sandwich and license on the counter.  “Where are you hunting?”  She questioned.
“I’m going to the big woods where dad and I hunted.”  Isaiah answered her.
“Make sure you stay safe and be home right at dark,” his mom told him. “I won’t be awake when you get home because I have to be up early for work.”
“I will,” Isaiah interrupted as he ran out the door.  He darted to the back of the house.  When he made it to the edge of the woods he stopped, stared into the woods, scared of the unknown.  He slowly took one step into the woods, and then another.  His heart pounded as he kept walking.  Isaiah didn’t know what to do; he had never been hunting alone before.  He was scared of the endless possibilities that could go wrong.
After about ten minutes of walking, Isaiah turned around to look back.  All he could see was woods.  He looked to his left, then to his right, and then in front of him.  Every direction he looked was identical.  Isaiah didn’t know where to go.  He had never been alone in the woods before. 
Isaiah decided to walk until he found something that looked familiar to him.  He walked for about five minutes.  Unable to find anything that was familiar to him, Isaiah sat down and looked around.  He didn’t know where he was, and he had no idea what way he had come from.  Isaiah was lost.  He had never been lost before, because his dad always knew where to go.  However, his dad wasn’t with him, this time Isaiah was alone.
Isaiah closed his eyes.  He imagined what his dad would do if he was lost.  A teardrop dripped from Isaiah’s face and then another.  He was too scared to open his eyes, so he just sat there, trying to build up the courage to open his eyes and try to get out of the woods.  He laid down.  Sleep overtook him.
When Isaiah woke up, it was almost pitch black.  He could barely see anything.  The only thing he could see clearly were streaks of sunlight in the distance, however, the sun was on the opposite side of the sky.  He slept through the night.  Isaiah sat up and looked around.  Suddenly, he heard a noise.  The noise was sticks breaking.  The sticks kept breaking, and the noise got louder.  Then, he could see what was making the noise.  About 50 feet away and running in his direction was a giant black bear.  Isaiah ran, but he wasn’t fast enough.  The bear caught up to him and tackled Isaiah to the ground.  Isaiah covered his head with his hands, as the bear slashed at him with its claws.  He felt the bear ripping his jacket with its claws.  Isaiah screamed for help but nothing happened.  Then everything went silent.  Isaiah heard a growl and then a second one.
“Are there two bears?” Isaiah thought to himself.
Isaiah slowly picked his head up from under his arm.  He saw the bear, however, this wasn’t the same bear.  This bear was much bigger, and it also had a very weird scar on its nose.  The scar was the letter “M.”  Isaiah stood up and stared into its eyes.  The bear stared back into Isaiah’s. He took a step towards the bear, then another, until he was within arm’s length of it.  Isaiah put his arm out to touch the bear.  The bear didn’t move.  Then, Isaiah touched its nose.  The bear immediately walked up to Isaiah and rubs its side against Isaiah’s hip. 
“Milo?”  Isaiah asked.  Milo was the name of his deceased father.
The bear nudged Isaiah with his nose.  Right then, Isaiah knew that the bear was sent by his dad. 
“Dad?”  Isaiah asked.
The bear nudged Isaiah with its nose again.  The bear and Isaiah just stood there, staring at each other for minutes.  Neither the bear nor Isaiah did anything besides stare into each other’s eyes.   Finally, Isaiah turned and started to walk away.  Isaiah knew he had to get out of the woods.  Immediately, the bear ran in front of Isaiah and growled at him.  Isaiah stopped, and then tried to go around the bear.  The bear stepped in front of him just as it had before, and growled.  Isaiah tried again to step around the bear, but the bear stopped him for a third time.
“Well if you don’t want me to go this way, I’ll just turn around and go the other way.”  Isaiah scolded the bear as he turned around and started walking again.
The bear ran up in front of Isaiah again, however, instead of stopping him, the bear walked in front of him.  So Isaiah followed the bear.  For about 15 minutes, Isaiah followed.  Then Isaiah grew impatient and turned left.  The bear immediately, just as it had before, ran in front of Isaiah and growled at him.
“Get out of my way! You don’t know where to go! You’re only a bear!”  Isaiah ranted as he tried to push the bear out of the way.
Instead of only growling at Isaiah, this time the bear bit down on Isaiah’s coat and didn’t let go.  The bear started to pull Isaiah towards the direction they were walking before.  The bear continued to pull on Isaiah’s coat until he started walking without resistance.
“If you don’t get me out of here, I’m going to be really mad.”  Isaiah grunted as he started to follow the bear again.
As Isaiah continued to follow the bear, he remembered all the times he went hunting with his father.  He recalled the time he and his dad saw a ten point buck on their first time hunting together.  He remembered all the jokes his dad would tell him. 
Isaiah picked up his head after about 15 minutes of remembering times with his father.  Right in front of him, through about 15 feet of forest, was his house.  He looked around for the bear but it was nowhere in sight.
“Thanks dad.”  Isaiah spoke softly as a tear dropped from his eye.  Confused at what just occurred, Isaiah walk inside to his bedroom, and went to sleep.