LOST IN THE WILDERNESS

 

One fine evening, I was playing football with my friends. The playground was near a forest. It was getting late; the game would usually continue till it was impossible to find the ball. The score was 2-2 and we were playing aggressively to get the final point. I was the goalkeeper and was always under pressure. One fellow named Thomas kicked the ball so fast, aiming the goal post. The kick was so hard that the ball went straight into the forest area. I shouted at him and went in search of the ball by myself. Usually, the ball doesn’t go that far, but this time it did and it wasn’t easy to find the ball as it was already dark. I walked straight towards a slope and slipped my leg on a round stone and was about to fall. I ran swiftly to prevent myself from falling and finally reached the end of the slope. Suddenly it struck me that I might be in danger as I was now lost in the midst of a forest. To my misfortune, it was a no-moon day and the sky was so dark that you couldn’t even see a star. I knew I had to depend on my ears till it was morning. I could hear the chirping of birds and some small animals, possibly harmless, passing by.

Everything that used to soothe my mind, like the cold breeze and walking among the bushes now gave me a shiver down my spine. Somehow I needed to survive till it was sunrise. I slowly started to move forward. It was getting colder and I couldn’t understand if it was the climate or the fear inside me that was making me shiver. Oh no! I stepped on something. With all the courage that was left in me, I removed my shoes and caressed my leg to see what it was. It was very soft, ‘damn it, it’s a snake!’ It started to encircle and climb up my leg and paused on reaching the knee. I was almost prepared to die, but still, I decided to try my luck. I stood there not moving like a statue but couldn’t help with my breathing and the blinking of my eyes. Has the snake fainted due to the obnoxious smell from my sweaty shorts? I had been playing for more than 5 hours. Unfortunately, I was not wearing my socks or else the snake would have fled even if I was 1 km away from it, such is the smell of my socks.

“How long can I stay like this? I must do something to come out of this situation”, I said. Suddenly a hot fluid started flowing through my leg. I looked upwards to check if it was acid rain, but no, it wasn’t.  The moment the fluid reached the knee, the snake loosened its hold a bit. I was sure someone did this to save my life, although I didn’t know who it was, but from the bottom of my heart, I thanked that person. My mind relaxed each time the snake continued to loosen its hold on my leg. My breath became normal and my heartbeat regained its lost rhythm. Maybe the snake had finally left, but I could still feel its presence on my leg, or maybe, the snake was just my hallucination.

I then continued my journey. It was too dark now and in this wilderness, it is never clever to stay idle unless you are troubled by a snake. I planned to change the direction of my route and turned left only to be pierced by something on my waist. This thing really hurt me. It had a countless number of spines and I understood it to be a porcupine attack. I could not see anything. What was I supposed to do? Staying alive for so long was itself a blessing for me. These attacks and my nervousness made my body lose its strength, my limbs became weak and I couldn’t walk anymore. I searched for a tree and it didn’t take me much time to find one in this forest. Thankfully, there weren’t any monkeys to disturb my slumber. I removed the spines that were stuck to my body and sat beneath that tree. Though it was pitch black I kept my eyes open.

I was exhausted and fell asleep the moment my eyelids met. I woke up to the heavy raindrops splashing across my face. I sat up and it took me 5 seconds to regain my consciousness. I saw my mom staring furiously at me with a jug of water. “How many times should I call to wake you up. Get up now, it’s already late. The school bus will arrive in only 30 minutes”, she said. I sat up on my bed, with my mom’s shawl on my leg and my father’s round comb by my side and… my wet pants revealed the source of the magic hot fluid.