My Hidden Home (Straight version)

The Arrival

I woke up to birds chirping in the distance as the starry sky slowly turned from its blackish-blue hues and gave way to the pinks, yellows, and baby blues of the morning sky. I felt the cold chill of the morning on my skin, though it was dead summer on the African plains, the dew still collected on the grass blades, tents, and sleeping bags, and the crisp air still came with that familiar fresh scent of cold you get in the early morning. I groaned and turned over in my warm sleeping bag hoping the others would stay asleep long enough for me to do my own exploration ahead of them, I quickly got dressed in my hiking jeans and a heavy navy-blue cotton t-shirt with a semi-light brown zip-up jacket and was happy to find the others still asleep.

I grabbed a hearty breakfast of two granola bars and a protein shake then grabbed my walkie talkie and clipped it to my belt loop; I took one last look in the tents to make sure everyone was out cold and wrote a note to leave for the crew should I not return before they woke up. "Went exploring in the jungle, will be back soon." I started toward the forest ahead and could see the tree line of the jungle after only five minutes of walking; I'd imagined what it'd look like, but I didn't think the forests could become this huge. As I got closer I could feel the pull in my chest, an instinctual, strange pull; I looked to my left and saw the jungle extended farther than I could see, I was walking on the flat plains, and to my right sat some immense, majestic, snow-capped mountain ranges, the deep rocky blues contrasting nicely with the pure snow was a sight to behold, if I had time, I could stare at them all day without a care in the world; I chuckled to myself and thought about my youngest brother, he'd just sit and stare at them no matter what he was doing, he'd make the time. "He never really was one for rushing around anyway." I thought he was laid-back to the point of laziness, but in his defense, I was always one to stay busy. "But free time is so boring," I complained to the wind, bugs and birds.

I continued thinking about home and started to miss it, I could practically smell my father's heavy cologne mixed with light hints of the animals that have been on the used ugly brown carpet. Shaking my head, I forced myself out of the hole I was digging myself into, I knew if I concentrated too much on home, I'd lose myself in my own mind, and maybe walk into the forest and be lost in a second. I looked at my watch, it's been fifteen minutes since I left camp, picking up the pace as the trees grew closer, but I sensed danger, uncertainty, and that pull again... I shrugged it off as jitters and the like and I pushed it back in my mind.

Within another five minutes I had finally made it to the jungle entrence, I said it was huge before, I was wrong, oh so wrong; this forest, at least the outskirts had the tallest trees I had ever seen in my entire career as a zoologist, they were massive, if I was guessing the trees averaged fifty, maybe one hundred feet tall and so tangled with brush I could hardly see anything through them. All I could see was different shades of green and brown, and the occasional bits of white, yellow or blue from birds flying out of the mess or a small flower peeking through, catching every ray of sun it could. I began to feel the heat radiating from it, pulsating with life, I could smell the heavy air from a few feet away, heat amplified the smell of growing things, making it heavier, it grew stronger and as I got closer, I listened and heard the faint cries of animals within, and the little chirps and whistles of smaller prey birds nearest to me, my heart began to beat in tandem with it all.

I stood there for a few minutes, just listening to nature, the breeze was pleasant and cool and carried the scent of dampened dust with it, as I stood there, I felt the aura of the place, it was so ominous, and foreboding, it radiates from it like steam from boiling water; not a vibe I get from forests often. There was peace and balance and in some twisted way I almost felt at home, almost; I shivered as I decided whether to go back to camp and sleep some more, but in my curiosity, I decided not to. I studied the wall of shrubbery to find a suitable entry point, not only for me but for the rest of the group as well; I searched for a while and found a hole in the tangled mess between two trees but hesitated as my mind took over my body and froze me there in a kind of.... fear, a pull inside my chest made me want to go into the tanlge of green, but fear kept me in place.