Lost

Search And Rescue

Hunger mixed with exhaustion and a kind of cold that seeped deep into the bones , is NOT good for a human body. We are not animals and cannot adapted to the rapidly changing climate as easily. Which is why sleep did not keep me blissfully away from my problems for a few hours. No matter how tired my brain was , my body decided it wasn't going to sleep until my growling stomach was filled , it was like an angry tiger trying to fight its way out of my belly , i could actually feel it moving.

I sat up and stretched my aching limbs, rubbing my arms i pondered what to do , the obvious thing to do would be to go out and search for another lizard  or other small creature that i might actually have a chance catching. But i could also go and try and find some type of fruit , eatable fruit at that not the poisonous kind that would kill me. But it was too dark , i kicked the ground in frustration which earned me a stubbed toe , i had long since disposed of my tattered shoes ,my feet had become hard and leathery over the few days , Days? had it really only been days? It felt like weeks , months even but i guess time doesn't matter in the forest.

I needed food, desperately and i had no idea how to get it , one eyed i looked around straining my eye to find a moving figure in the blackness, Did i just hear a slither? Did a twig just snap behind me? I used to love imagination but now i found it rather annoying , playing tricks on my mind , giving the illusion that i had a chance at surviving in such a desolate place , i was half dead already , starving , thirsty , cold and one of the tools i didn't have to scavenge for, completely useless , i mean my eye by the way.

Which reminded me that it probably needed readdressing, I carefully unwrapped the vine from my head, tentatively i touched my fingers to it feeling around checking the damage by touch alone , it was bad. I felt pus oozing from the middle of the swelling , where the wound was , my body , even with all the exaushtion had managed to make a VERY breakable seal over it ,which cracked as soon as i slide my grubby hands over it. New blood streamed down my face coming thick and fast. The dried up blood falling off  before my eye. I had to wait a few minutes for the blood to clot and slow down. Afraid of infection I wanted to patch it up properly , but of course i was in the middle of the forest which unhelpfully and unfortunately did not supply First Aid Kits regularly , or at all for that matter.

So instead i slit another vine (which i had managed to find while sitting with my back against a rotting tree) down the belly and once again wrapped around my head careful not to injure my eye even more. The juice from inside the vine did ease the pain a little but not enough to stop me worrying about it, the thought of infection never left my mind.

I then turned my mind once again onto the ever growing worry of food which my stomach screamed for. What should i do? i had already gone through my options , go find some or wait for starvation to take total control and sap me of all energy. I chose the first option the latter was just to difficult and scary to even think about , an unacceptable choice , i would not let the forest triumph over me , i refuse. All i had to do was keep my self alive til search and rescue found me , i surprised myself by thinking that , i never really gave much thought to getting rescued. But i guess the burning hope that my dad sent out a search party was always there , in the back of my mind never giving in to the fact that the rest of my days would probably be spent in isolation with only the screeching birds high above for company.

Deciding my best option would be to wait out the darkness - there was just no point foraging when my eye couldn't see anyway- , i settled back into the hollow trying to the best of my ability to block out the gurgling of my malnourished belly.Twisting and turning , completely unable to get comfortable i could not wait for dawn to break out in the open sky when i could finally scavenge for the nourishment my body desperately needed , i place my cold dirty hands over the skin that was stretched across my rib-cage covering my stomach, stomach? I didn't think i could really call it that now more like a patch of skin that was holding my insides inside me.

Day break finally arrived , though i was not awake to see it (sheer exhaustion had finally allowed sleep to drift into my body for a few hours) , i felt the burning heat on my eyelid -as the other one was wrapped up- and awoke to a warm bath of hot sunlight , it was blissful. Wait sunlight? it was midwinter, i thought in confusion , obviously the clouds wanted to take a break and the sun wanted to come out of hibernation for a while! Basking in the light i stretched my limbs and just let the heat wash over me and for once forgetting my dilemma with food, even if it was just for a few minutes.

Drowsy i rubbed my eye -that wasn't stinging in pain- and yawned , i never was a morning person, but today i had to be. Getting up i stood and watched some snow melt in a small clearing a little way in front of me. Thinking that it would be a good place to start - i mean what crazy animal wouldn't want to sunbath today-  i shuffled towards it careful not to sap too much of my energy, i would need that once i got there.

Straight away i spot a lizard soaking up the heat on a rock about 5 meters away, no doubt the rock was boiling. Creeping now i headed towards it trying hard not to make much noise , which on my behalf was difficult , the forest floor was littered with sticks and twigs. 1 meter away now my heart started beating faster ,i was so close to getting my first meal, and though i tried not to get my hopes up  i was excited but determined all the same. This lizard catching was NOT going to end like the last time , i was GOING to suceed , 30 cm away my heart was pounding so hard i was sure it was going to burst out of my chest and catch the lizard for me, but it didn't. 10 cm away and the critter had finally noticed something was disturbing the area around it ,it was now or never i thought grimly, flinging out my arm i grabbed at the animal...............

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