Survival

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  • Dedicated to Ryan, Bobby, Michael, Patrick, and Courtney
                                        

I awakened to the sound of Pauline's screams. I forced open my eyes and brought myself to my senses. I got up. "Pauline!" I yelled, "Where are you?" I heard her scream again. A forest was ahead of me. Maybe she's in there, I thought. So I walked into the trees. Rays of sunshine danced upon the grass as a warm breeze blew through the leaves making a faint whistling sound. "Over here!" Pauline cried in agony. I turned my head and saw her leaning against a tree with Ralph snoring and unconscious beside her. Then I looked at Pauline again. Tears were streaming down her face. Also, her face was twisted into an excruciating expression. She was holding her leg tightly and wincing. I looked at her leg. It was.... wrong. I widened my eyes. "It hurts really bad." She told me achingly. "I.... I see." I replied, "We've got to do something about it." You could see the bone stretching her skin from the inside. The area around that was purple and blue and bleeding. It was broken. I got out my first aid kit and grabbed the bottle of rubbing alcohol from it and poured some on Pauline's wound where it was bleeding. She screamed at the top of her lungs and squeezed her eyes shut. Then I cleaned it using a napkin and water. While I was scrubbing it, I sensed Pauline staring at me. I could tell she was in pain, but she wanted to talk about something. I looked at her face. "Something wrong?" I asked, "Other than this?"
"I just want to go home," she murmured. "Me too," I replied, "But every step closer to a base we go, we're another step closer to home too." "I guess you're right." She said. "Straighten out your leg." I instructed Pauline. She did as I said. Then I got out my pillow. First, I propped her leg up on it. Next, I bandaged up her injury. Finally, I got out an Icy/Hot pack, cracked it, and shook it. I then laid it on top of the bandages and sat back. Pauline thanked me. "I bet our parents are at war." She said. I agreed. "They'll be forgiving each other once they figure out that we're actually alive." "Yeah." Said Pauline.

At that moment, Ralph came to. He scratched his trunk and made a 'confused' face. "What happened?" He asked. "Okay. First, we fell out of the Great Wall of China. Then we passed out. And Pauline broke her leg." I answered, "If only you'd been awake...." "Thanks for the update!" He said cheerfully. We were in that terrible dungeon for about half a day, a night, and another half a day, then we broke out. Pretty good timing, I'd say.

We ate a late lunch of cold canned chicken noodle soup and water and waited for sunset. And then I remembered: "We still have our phones!" I shouted. Pauline and I ripped our phones out of our bookbags and tried calling our parents. It didn't work. "No service." Pauline mumbled sadly. "At least we can still play games on them." She nodded. I played Geometry Dash for a while and then got bored and turned my phone off. Sunset had come. The sky was orange, red, and light purple. It was beautiful. "Pretty." Pauline said, looking at the sky. "Mmhhmm." I agreed. Soon, the sun sunk below the horizon and out came the moon and stars. I gently scooped up the sleeping Ralph and laid him aside on his own little pillow. Then I scooted over to be next to Pauline. We smiled at each other and looked up at the cloudless sky. The moonlight glistened on the smooth leaves above our heads. Our hands found each other and I squeezed hers. "I wish I could do more about your leg." I said. "Me too." She replied. We silently watched the twinkling sky and wished on every star that we could make it home. I wondered how we would survive through this. Was it really a test? Or a serious situation? "Your head," Pauline broke the silence, "Does it hurt?" "Huh?" I was confused. "There's a painful-looking gash on it. Does it hurt?" I reached up and felt my forehead. "Kinda." I answered. "Maybe you should clean it." She put in, "You're a good doctor." I blushed. "Thanks, I will." I cleaned my head with water, then put on some Neosporin and covered it with a big band-aid. I relaxed again and put my arm around Pauline. She rested her head on my shoulder. A shooting star sailed across the sky, then a million more came falling after it. "Woah!" Pauline exclaimed. "Wow," I said. I ran to look for a walking stick for her. I quickly found one and brought it back to her. She stood up on her good leg and I handed her the stick. She took it. Then I helped her hobble to a clearing so we could see the shooting stars better. We sat down and made up our own constellations and told the stories behind them. "In times like this I wish I could reach up and take the moon out of the sky to see what it feels and looks like. It would be amazing to hold it just for a second." Pauline said. I smiled at her and nodded. After that, I even lifted Pauline off of the ground and spun her around. Finally, when the last shooting star blinked out, we went back to our tree. Pauline fell asleep first; her head fell limp onto my shoulder. After a while, I fell asleep too. And guess what? I had another future-telling dream. No surprise there. This time, Pauline and I were running down the mountain, and we hopped into a canoe and took off across a lake. Suddenly, it capsized and Pauline and I fell into a cold, black abyss. I woke up.

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