As the first machines tore through the dense forest, the animals within it sprouted alabaster wings and flew above the clouds. The forest birds were no exception, growing a second pair of wings and leading the rest of the animals. Animals from foxes to bears to coyotes lit up the sky, blinding those who came upon their home with loud destruction. Since that first day, no rain fell on the newborn city and the clouds stayed the same. As years passed, the city that was now built, named Being City, became arid, save for a lake running through the center, providing only for those who could afford its water. 

In the second story of a Being apartment complex on the hottest day of the year, Mike chose to treat himself to a full glass of water to start his early day after months of having to ration one sip in the mornings. Mike had an ill, pale complexion and stood around six feet tall with a slender body, inevitable for one who had been working indoors as an apartment receptionist for over three years. Aware of his stagnant lifestyle, Mike opted to take the stairs each day and night, rather than the elevator, to keep himself active as much as he could. 

In the lobby, the front desk where Mike worked faced the entrance of the complex. It was a wall of glass with an automatic, sliding door, presenting a view straight down Being’s Main Street, usually empty due to the heat of the dry city. Seated at the front desk, Mike had little drive, living day by day without protest, meekly answering patron questions over the phone and greeting visitors without a smile.

With temperatures breaking heat records and a slow day at the apartment complex, Mike distracted himself by watching the tidal waves of clear heat move the frozen clouds in the sky. Yet, from his seat inside, Mike believed it was more than the heat waves moving the clouds. Mike’s chapped lips split a dime’s width as if whispering the thought in his head out loud. Anyone outside of the building would have sworn Mike’s idea to be true without a second of hesitation. For once, in more years than Mike was alive, the clouds above the city moved. Within the hour, the clouds had stopped again, and not one word spread about the occasion.

Later than usual, the sliding doors opened for the first time that day. Entering the complex was an enormous bear, shaking Mike’s seat with the forceful steps of its muscular limbs. The bear’s coat and eyes were both a deep black, brightened only by the tan ring around its muzzle. There was no aggression in the bear’s walk toward the desk, yet a confident saunter claimed its place in the apartment complex. With an unspoken understanding between bear and man that both had an equal claim of territory, Mike placed keys to a room in the bear’s mouth.

“Third floor, room 3F,” Mike directed, “call the number on the sign or come downstairs to any of the help desks if you need anything.” He pointed at a piece of paper with a phone number on the wall behind him. Choosing not to put pieces of paper in the bear’s wet mouth, Mike left out a copy of the sign and all of the documentation for the apartment. His eyes followed as the bear walked away and up the stairs, ignoring the elevator. Behind the desk and to his left, Mike entered a paper room, returning with sheets of laminated papers for the bear. His knees cracked as his body lowered into the chair, stretching once he was seated and placing his gaze back upon the closed sliding doors.

The bear reached its room on the third floor, struggling to place the keys into the door. In the room across from the bear’s, a girl woke to the noises of hefty footsteps in the hallway, causing her to walk to her door to see what was going on. She peered through the peephole on the door at the struggling bear. She took note of the bear waking her and returned to her bed. The girl’s name was Sabrina. She was a college student living alone, short with black hair, and blind to the problems of Being. In a city deprived of water, she was living with a sea in her pocket. With classes out, Sabrina slept past noon on most days.

As night fell, no more noise had been heard from the bear’s room, yet at any time, word was being spread of the bear's arrival. From the lobby of the apartment complex, Mike took the elevator to the second floor.

The next morning, a crowd had gathered in front of the apartment complex. The sliding door was locked open by the crowd, forcing heat into the building. At Mike’s seat, he could hear the chatter of the crowd.

“Where did it come from?” one man asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” another answered, “it had to have walked miles to get here! There’s no place for a bear to live near here.”

“I saw it! I saw it!” a woman with a purple scarf chimed in, “it came out of the sky!”

A second woman refuted. “I don't think it's real at all. No one has really seen it.”

The discussion went on for hours with different crowds coming and going. Mike felt like fainting in the heat.

A large man with a sun hat called into the apartment complex towards Mike. “Hey, you! Where is this bear?! Did it already leave?!” Mike shook his head. “Then where is it?! Aren't you the one who saw it first?! I think you’re a liar who wants attention!” Without the courtesy of a response, Mike just stared sternly at the man, beads of sweat running down his face. The apartment complex’s security stood at the sliding door, keeping anyone from trying to enter. 

The day passed and the bear never came down.

The next day, Mike faced the same heat, with another crowd at the sliding door. At its center, a priest stood facing the people, one of whom was the lady with the purple scarf. “This bear is a gift of God, and its presence has come to save our blasphemous city and bring rain upon our people,” the priest proclaimed. “We thank God for this blessing! We thank God for this blessing!” he fell to his knees, and his voice broke.

Ten minutes later, the bear came down from its room, walking through the stunned crowd. The priest turned to face the bear while still on his knees. “Please bring us your blessing, oh great bear of God,” he begged, “bring down water from the sky in which you came, in the name of God!”

The crowd and its priest followed the bear out of the apartment complex and into the heat of the city, closing the sliding door and keeping cool air in the lobby. Mike's lips cracked into a small smile.

Before the sun fell, the bear returned to the complex with its followers. Its front two paws had raw, sore skin and its claws were cracked. It stood on its hind legs as it walked inside. Before the bear left, Mike offered the laminated papers to it. It took them in its paws and walked up the stairs, still on its hind legs. While he was not often one to care, Mike could not help but feel disappointed in his laminating efforts.

As soon as the next morning came and Mike returned to his seat at the front desk of the apartment complex, the priest was already chanting for the bear. After a few hours, the bear came downstairs once more, still off of its damaged front paws, and walked outside.

Beside the lake in the center of the city, Sabrina walked out of a movie theater with a large bag and two friends who were just as ignorant to life as her. Through the heavy doors of the theater, Sabrina spotted the bear on all fours walking into the lake. Frozen in curiosity, she watched as her neighbor began to drink from the lake. Her friends edged her forward and they continued on their blissful trip through their tropical city.

Hours later, as the sun was setting and Sabrina was walking back to her apartment, she looked back into the lake where the bear had been drinking earlier that day. Again, she was frozen in curiosity, as the bear was still there drinking, and the lake had lost its water. She took a water bottle out of her bag and took a sip. Sabrina continued home.

Night had fallen and Mike was getting ready to hand off his shift and go to his room when he heard the familiar, gruff sounds of the bear. When the bear came in, rather than seeing the clean coat that he was used to, Mike saw that the bear’s coat was red with blood. Gashes crawled along the bear’s body, reaching toward its head. One of its eyes had been closed by one of the cuts. Its front paws were no longer just damaged, but they were littered with human destruction. Its claws were bashed down into the tips of its paws, fast blood running down from the points where its claws pierced the pads. It could not stand on those paws anymore and again entered on its hind paws. Mike did not ask for help nor did he scream. The bear did not ask for help nor did it want anyone to scream. With a shared understanding, the bear simply continued to the stairs. Following behind it was Mike, taking the stairs for the first time since the bear arrived. He followed the bear up two floors and then waited as it continued to the third. Both the bear and Mike headed to their rooms for the night. 

In the fridge in Mike’s room, there was more water than he had left it with. He treated himself to a glass.

Across from the bear’s room, Sabrina woke up to heavy, crashing steps. She filed a noise complaint against the resident in room 3F and went to bed.

In the early morning, Sabrina was awoken once more by a bang of breaking wood. She got up and moved to her door, looking through the peephole. Outside, she saw that the door of the room across from her had been broken and flung open. Walking away from the calamity was the black bear, injured and on all fours. Sabrina chose not to go out that day, staying in the confines of her dreamy fantasy.

In the lobby, Mike was already at work when he heard the bang two stories up. When it reached the lobby, the bear walked with elegance, despite its severe injuries. The blood on the bear was still fresh as if no time had passed since the moment that it got its wounds. It walked through a silent crowd. It headed outside of the apartment complex and to the left. That day, the crowd had no signs of a priest or the woman with the purple scarf. 

Before the bear got out of sight, Mike suddenly left his seat and trailed it outside. Standing behind the crowd and facing the bear, Mike stood still. The bear walked no more than ten steps before it collapsed on the ground. Shock was heard in the crowd. Before anyone could take another breath, white wings grew from the shoulder blades of the ruined bear. They spread the width of the street, gray speckled, and torn. Fighting to carry the bear, the wings broke buildings in front of it and behind. Pieces of the apartment complex fell between people as the bear pushed its way above the clouds. People ran and panicked as Mike remained standing still, watching the bear disappear. 

When the bear could not be seen anymore, the clouds moved again. The air suddenly felt humid, yet Mike knew that rain would not fall.