In His Hands

Part 5 - Jungle Life

Life settled into a monotonous routine for Hannah. She slept in the tree house at night. The hot, humid weather gave way to frequent rainstorms. She repaired the thatched palm leaf roof, learning to weave the leaves together as the previous occupant had done. And so the tree house provided reasonable shelter as she curled up with Cat, watching the heavens open and the torrent flow through the jungle trees.

There was water aplenty, and a variety of fruit in abundance, but she sorely missed bread, meat, and cheese.

Fish swam in the rock pools on the shore and in the waterfall pond, but Hannah had no idea how to go about catching them. Cat sometimes came in with a small rodent or bird, but it didn't feel right to take his prey. After spotting a bird with a worm in his beak, she searched in the damp ground and unearthed grubs. She suspended them on sticks and dabbled them in the pool to attract fish but, without hooks, the fish nibbled the grubs and swam off. In desperation, Hannah managed to swallow a few grubs herself.

She rigged up a flag from her white gown, tying it to the tree house roof. At least it had a use. It fluttered gaily in the breeze, day and night. But a ship never came closer than the horizon. God knew where she was, but it didn't feel like anyone else in the entire world did.

None of her recent past came back to her. All she could remember was her comfortable life in the big house. She and her father. Plenty of dark-skinned servants. Her personal maid. Much food and wine.

But at night, the terrors came back. She frequently awoke, drenched in sweat, with images of blood and fire rushing through her mind. During these times, her heart pounded and her clammy hands shook with fear. Cat knew when she needed comfort. He came and stood on her chest, peering into her face with a concerned meow, until Hannah reached up and stroked him. Then he settled on her chest, and his heavy warmth lulled her back to a more pleasant sleep.

At first, she struggled to keep her mind occupied. The sheer boredom of the jungle got her down. She felt sick at the sight of unending blue, salty water around her. Maybe she would go crazy here and die a lunatic. To calm her mind, Hannah recited all the psalms and hymns she knew from her childhood, repeating them over and over. The rhythms gave her a measure of peace.

She had the idea of following Cat to see what he got up to. He had a mundane but consistent routine. Sleep, hunt, eat. His first port of call every day was a hidden glade. Tiny, bejeweled birds flitted from tree to tree, twittering and going about their business. Cat breakfasted on birds before licking his paws clean and stalking away.

Hannah couldn't take her eyes off the beautiful birds and spent the entire day watching them from a makeshift hide of leaves. They nipped by, drinking nectar from wide-lipped flowers. Hannah didn't try to catch one. They flew too fast, and she didn't think she could bear to eat something so beautiful. Although, it appeared Cat had no qualms.

As the days passed, she became immersed in the everyday life of the jungle. Cat fished in the pond with his paw and she tried to copy him although her hands seemed big and clumsy compared to his delicate paws.

Hannah laughed out loud with joy the day she flipped her first tiddler out of the pool, using a scoop fashioned from a palm leaf. After that, she practiced for hours until she could easily catch five or six small fish in the space of half an hour.

The tinder box meant she was able to light a fire, and she cooked the tiny fish whole, wasting none--eating eyes and bones and tails, so there was nothing left. The fish renewed her energy. She watched the animals, day in and day out, observing their habits for hours at a time. She walked, fished, swam in the pool, gorged on fish and fruit, and then slept. It dawned on her that she had become another animal. But the incessant worry diminished and eventually ceased to bother her as she melded with the jungle habitat.

***

One day, Hannah pottered down to the pool in her normal morning routine. She crouched, motionless, at the edge of the pool, half hidden in the bushes.

A loud cawing sound caught her ears, and she looked up, involuntarily stepping back. Sharp throbbing radiated through her heel, and Hannah gasped and jumped round.

A red and black striped snake slithered off into the undergrowth. Hannah shook her foot and quickly immersed it in the pond. Two angry red bite marks stood out.

She panicked the whole day that she would die a painful death. The wound swelled and wept pus, and she huddled in the tree house, crying in pain and fear. That night, fever came upon her. Mad hallucinations filled her brain ....

***

The tree house platform tipped and swung her upside down as she clung on.

Cat grew twice his size and roared in her face, his fangs dripping blood.

Jungle birds screamed and flew at her, their sharp beaks gouging at her eyes, hands and feet.

Sweat dripped off her by the bucket load and her ankle swelled to the size of a small moon, red, burning and scarred.

Blood and fire swirled around in the darkness like the pit of hell itself ...

***

Hannah had no idea how long she lay between life and death until she opened her eyes and saw the clear sky above her and Cat curled into the crook of her arm. Weak and weary, but free from hallucinations, she sat up.

And then, like a flash, memories filled her mind. Out of the daze of hallucinations, truth filtered free, and the past came back to her.