105 DAYS

Chapter Nine

^Tony^

Edith couldn’t control herself. The past two days had been a very new experience and she had found a lot of new types of trees. She had taken close up photos of each of the leaves and flowers and during the night she had etched the structure of the leaf in her notebook. Chris had appreciated her eagerness and the
effort she was giving on falling in place with the hike.

Tony had been very good to her. He had helped her while she had struck her leg in the mud and when she had stumbled over the tree trunk that was used to
cross the stream, Tony had been by her side. He later joked her about her carelessness but it didn’t hurt Edith as her mom’s would do. As the group walked
through the jungle on the third day Edith’s eyes fell on a very curious shaped leaf. It looked like a perfectly cut design. It had a long point and under it was a circle shaped edge. Then the circled edge was ended by a box shaped edge.

Edith was surprised. She stopped short and kneeled by the plant. The structure of it was very different. The veins were jumbled and they were purple. The dark green texture of the leaf was rough. It was unlike any Edith had ever heard or seen. She touched the leaf. It was hot. But everything about the leaf was disturbing Edith.

“Tony here look at this leaf, please. Have you ever seen anything like this?”

Edith turned to look at Tony.
Her heart dropped a beat. She was alone. She could remember that she had asked him to stay till she was done but she hadn’t heard his reply. While she was trying to rake her brains thinking of the time she had asked Tony to stay and at
once she remembered that he was talking to someone else at the time. Edith stood and looked at all the sides. She couldn’t see anyone. Not even a rustle of leaves. She
was just alone in the dense forest surrounded by tall trees. All she could see was thick trunks of the trees which was placed closer to one another.

Fear crept in her mind. She was lost. She didn’t know where she should go. She didn’t know which way to turn to. She had never felt more alone in her life. She
had no one to talk to and no one to hear her talk to. She felt tears stream down her face. She had just found the leaf interesting and the interest and curiosity had made her lose herself from the team and she was stuck alone in the large forest with nowhere to turn to.

“TONY!!” Edith shouted. But she could only hear her voice echo around her. She couldn’t hear any replies to her plea. No hurrying footsteps coming towards her. She tried to move. But she felt as though she was rooted on the spot. She put her bag down and drank some water to relax her troubled mind. Edith jumped up
and down a few times and after her heart beat returned back to normal, she took her bag and moved forward which she thought was the right way. She couldn’t even see any footsteps. Edith was trying not to cry. She was a grown up for god’s sake and she could overcome the situation, she thought vainly.

After few minutes of walking Edith was met by a two way path. She didn’t know what to do. She went through the right path thinking that it should be the
way.

Alas, she should have gone through the left path.

***

Kevin was shaken by someone and he opened his eyes. He woke up to see that he was the last to wake up that day. He stood quickly and packed his sleeping bag. The team was getting ready to go and Kevin moved to the stream that was flowing near them. He quickly washed himself and as he was making his way to the clearing he stumbled over a rock and fell hard to the ground.

The blow sent his mind to blank. After sometime the pain made Kevin open his eyes. The pain on his forehead was unrelenting. He had fallen on the ground and his head had knocked on a large old stone. Drops of blood was sprawled on the ground and the stone was covered in a big red spot of blood. Kevin walked back
to the stream and washed away the wound. He pressed his hand on it to add some pressure and to stop the bleeding and after sometime it stopped. Kevin looked on all sides and made way to the clearing. His bag was where he had left it and he took some medicines and bandaged his wound. He stood and as he was getting ready to go the eerie silence made him wonder were everyone else were. He called over saying some names. But none answered him. He called for Bill and George but Kevin could only hear his own voice echo around him.