"OMG" breathed Dina, "That is so amazingly beautiful!"
We all looked on in awe, the flower was truly amazing, so big and well, just so tropical!
The whole group lent towards the flower to get a better view, the young boy who had the leech bite was moved back to safety by his mother. A rather large man, muscled to the front, Dina, Natasha and I waited for a gap then edged forward for a better view.
Everyone tried to take photos, some were positioning themselves for selfies with the flower in the background. Dina moved over a little closer trying to get a good shot, and suddenly started to topple. She didn't scream or yell, she just had this alarmed look on her face has her footing gave way on some loose soil, her arms flailed up, Natasha standing next to her reached out instinctively and gripped her hand, it was all surreal and so fast, I reached out to grasp Natasha's hand and before we could even understand what was happening the three of us were tumbling down the hill. We could hear people shouting above us, but they couldn't help as we tumbled down and down.
Within seconds we stopped on a ledge, "What the..." stuttered Natasha, We rolled in towards the forest and safety.
I looked up and could some faces peering down at us. "Are you all OK?" called down one of the guides, "Can you walk?"
We stood up a little wobbly, and checked ourselves, yep we still had legs and arms and everything seemed to be working!
"We're OK" I called up, "We're OK" I repeated.
"Just hold tight where you are, we'll figure something out, just stay there" came the response.
"For crying out loud Dina, did you have to go so far out! We were told to stay away from the edge but you just didn't listen, as usual. FGS you really are..."
"Just drop it Natasha," I injected, "There's no point in playing the blame game. Let's just wait, we're fine which is the main thing, soon they'll send someone down and everything will be fine"
"Well actually Hazel, we're not all fine" Dina half whispered, I really can't move my ankle, it's so painful, I think I may have broken it!"
YOU ARE READING
The River
Short StoryThey had been told to stay together. The rainforest could be dangerous. But a surprise fall, badly sprained ankle and an empty water bottle left Hazel with no alternative than to walk alone towards the river and help. or did it!
