Torn

Chapter 2

Tossing my woodsy-themed blankets to the floor and turning off my set 7 o'clock phone alarm, I slowly stood up and sleepily stretched as I gazed around my thoughtfully organized room. Walking to the glass encased door, which were to the left of my black modern bed, I forcefully brushed aside the heavy black-out curtains and quickly unlocked the glass doors. Strolling about my private cedar balcony, and I stopped to breathe in the crispness of the blue cloud-filled sky. I could feel it, today was going to be epic.

Back in the moment, I headed inside and began to purposely prepare and pack for my long-anticipated survival trip. Walking up to my dresser which was laden with photos highlighting memories of my family and dogs and carefully moving aside the neatly arranged wilderness tools that would be needed for the trip, I opened the top drawer and removed the camo-dominated outfit that I had put together the night before. After slipping it on I also attached the fixed blade survival knife which I had received from my parents when I had turned thirteen. I woke up my two dogs, Bear, a young energetic pure black Border Collie, and Wolf, an experienced loyal German Shepard. After putting on their heavy duty walking harnesses and letting them out to relieve themselves in our expansive and treed backyard, I took them out for our daily 5 km walk.

Once back, I finally began to package the necessary supplies for my trip. Grabbing my rugged outdoor backpack from my closet, I began to excitedly pack it with all the important supplies I would need for the expedition such as perishable and non-perishable food, three boxes of matches, different types of flashlights, and a portable tent. Backpack closed, I then clumsily retrieved my well-used sleeping bag from the small cramped cavity under my bed and placed it beside my backpack. Do I have everything? Checking off the list in my mind, I concluded I had everything. Wait! My toothbrush! I rushed to the bathroom to complete my morning hygiene routine and to quickly add my toothbrush and toothpaste to my backpack. As ready as I would ever be, I went downstairs to eat.

Ooof! A barrage of Nerf darts pummelled me at the bottom of the stairs. Jumping into action without missing a beat, I valiantly fought back against the sneak attack. After a few moments though I fell as I had no appropriate weapon at my disposal and they had thoughtfully laid-out booby traps in advance. Typical antics from my two younger brothers. I held back my smile and wore my most-defeated expression. After magically breaking out of the pillow prison they built for me, I strolled over to the kitchen to scrounge up a bowl of Lucky Charms cereal.

"Morning, honey. How did you sleep?" As sure as my nightly homework, my mom asked me the same question each and every morning.

"Fine." I muttered as I focused on pouring my cereal while I thought about what I still had to do before I left for my adventure in the woods.

Chatty as always, "Dad will be driving you to your survival trip at ten. Also, did you hand in the essay for Mr. Bern yesterday?" She rested against the counter top while bringing her cherished cup of coffee to her lips.

"Ok. No, I didn't. I tried to but Mr. Bern had already left before the deadline. I'll hand it in first thing Monday morning. Promise." I radiated confidence as I scooped spoonfuls of crisp and soggy cereal into my mouth.

"Sounds good. You better get it in first thing Monday morning though. That projects worth a lot of marks." CRASH! Waaaaah! "Crap!" my mom muttered under her breath as she raced out of the kitchen to find out what had occurred.

Picking up, carefully rinsing, and depositing the dishes into the shiny newly-purchased dishwasher, I quickly checked to make sure that I hadn't left a mess. I looked at my watch, 9:30 a.m. Thirty more minutes until I leave, I thought to myself as I began my planned last minute preparations.

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My dad finally pulled to the side of the well-kept park road, arriving at the pre-determined location. I hastily retrieved my supplies from the back of the Honda and bid farewell while notifying him when and where I should be picked up the next day. I was finally here!