The Three Bear Brothers: A Very Slightly Chaotic Family Saga.

Episode 3: The Cookie That Wasn’t Really About the Cookie.

Meditation ended.

Officially.

Unofficially, something had gone wrong.

Nico sat up.

He checked his shoes.

They were still there.

He checked his feet.

Still bare.

Everything looked normal.

Except it wasn’t.

There was a feeling.

Not a big feeling.

Not a dramatic feeling.

A small, annoying one.

Like when a tiny piece of rock sneaks into your sneaker and refuses to leave.

You can walk.

You can even run.

But you are aware.

Very aware.

Nico frowned.

This was not meditation.

This was discomfort.

The cookie came back.

Not the cookie itself.

Just the thought of it.

The cookie he was absolutely, definitely not going to confess about.

He had decided that already.

Very firmly.

Confessions led to questions.

Questions led to discussions.

Discussions led to explanations.

And explanations were dangerous.

Nico preferred silence.

Still, the cookie stayed.

It rolled around in his head.

Soft. Persistent. Crumbly.

He tried to ignore it.

He tried to think about nothing.

Instead, he thought about how unfair it was that cookies existed at all.

He sighed.

This was getting worse.

The feeling pressed and shifted, like that annoying rock, now clearly positioned exactly where it shouldn’t be.

Nico stood up.

Walking didn’t help.

Sitting didn’t help.

Staring at Benedict didn’t help either.

Benedict looked very calm.

Annoyingly calm.

Clearly, this was a problem Nico would have to deal with himself.

He needed space.

He needed quiet.

He needed somewhere where thoughts could wander without being overheard.

Nico looked toward the stairs.

The attic.

Yes.

The attic was good for thinking.

Nico took a step.

The cookie followed.