If only it was an Illusion!

Chapter 18 : Can the jungle end ?

Amanda's POV

I basked in the jungle for a while, there was a great commotion of voices of different kinds for example of the dry leaves, birds chirping. I could even hear some kind of roars. My legs hesitated to walk any further. Maybe I was right for choosing this side but my opinion had no relevance since I was not optimistic regarding my decision.

"Maybe Amanda you should turn behind and go in the direction where Mr. Reynolds is, he can safeguard you ", the positive me guided me.

"No, you silly, you're right. Stay confident and keep going. Mr. Reynolds is nothing but a pain in the ass. ", the negative me offended.

I stopped at once to take a quick decision because Mr. Reynolds may not have walked very far away. I tried convincing the negative Amanda whilst agreeing with the positive one. "Maybe I shouldn't have argued so much, this will give him a reason to mock me down again. ", my sub-conscious objected with my actions and words I used in the past.

I turned around quickly and returned to where I started. I finally reached the place where we actually parted and took the right way. Mr. Reynold's exaggerated 'RIGHT' word echoed in my ears.

I took the right path and kept moving further expecting to see if Mr. Reynolds left any trail behind. I took longer steps than usual to match up with Mr. Reynolds's speed. I kept walking for approximately 10 minutes but to my discontentment, I saw no human figure. I regretted my stubbornness and firm behavior very much.

I was never good at making choices since a child. I kept moving further to at least find a highway so that I could reach home. I lost hope of finding him as the forest got deeper with every further step of mine. I felt inconsolable due to my loneliness, his company annoyed me completely but his presence comforted me just like some invisible armor as I knew that he'd always have my back in any difficult situation.

I then saw someone's shadow from the back, I was pretty sure that I found my man but a part of me was very shy to walk and join him so I decided to follow him silently without making him realize it. I walked tongue-tied preventing myself to make any noise whilst walking.

Suddenly, my legs hit a rock so naturally, a voice like"OW", came out from my mouth, I caught my mouth instinctively with my hands and concealed myself behind the back of the tree. I peeped a bit to inquire about Mr. Reynolds, he was turned towards my side. He did get some hint that there was someone.

He looked here and there for a while and later caught up with his walking speed. I tracked him a little more cautiously this time. To my disappointment, I saw a huge lizard on my shoulder traveling across my back.

"Ooh, you filthy creature. move away. Shoooo ", I swiped it off my shoulder and ran at my fullest speed towards Mr. Reynolds. My screech obviously alerted Mr. Reynolds, he turned around. It was such a creepy feeling that I couldn't stop myself from being loud. I had some sort of phobia from lizards, their existence caused discomfort in my eyes. I was lizophobic, if that's even a word in the English dictionary.

I yet remember how much I was scared in the past when Sam kept a fake lizard near my pillow, I freaked out so much in the morning that I started crying since the very moment I saw it. I was later alarmed by the fact that was unreal.

"Oh, I was being stalked ", Mr. Reynolds was the first one to speak up.

"Took you too much time to believe ", I tried covering myself up.

"I knew it the moment you got hit by a stone ", he smirked " I am Aaron, don't forget the name "

"But why did you leave me alone when I rushed towards the left side ", I looked at him.