Mysterious adventures in the shadow of trees

Chapter 15: Learning

-Sofia-

    The bright 7 AM sun prised my eyes open one by one until I furrowed my eyebrows in pain. It happened every morning, but I suppose my curtains at home were more opaque. The curtains in Amanda's cottage contained floral designs, so I was unsure if she preferred beauty over practicality.

    The bed was quite comfortable, but maybe it was because I was so used to sleeping against a tree trunk.

    "Good morning!" came Amanda's voice. "Admiring your room I see?"

    "Yep and feeling fresh and clean at last thanks to that shower!"

    "Great! Well, get up because we'll be learning how to build a campfire and utilize your surroundings. No phones, too."

    The last part hit, but hey, I had never built a campfire before and could learn a few survival skills from her.

    This is for the best.

    I mentally locked my phone in a locked safe that I didn't know the passcode to.

    I proceeded to nod; a burning question rose. "We're not gonna eat breakfast first?"

    "You know you have to work for that in the wild, right? It's not like you can just have it magically appear. Otherwise, I would love to sleep in and let the sweet aroma of pancakes reach my nose and wake me up. I mean, what did you smell when waking up?"

    I thought back. "Nothing...Just fresh plants I guess."

    "Exactly my point. Alright, get up, and let's build a campfire!"

    My stomach growled, which had never really happened before because my parents always made me food even when I wasn't hungry.

    Oh, how much I wish I could eat all the food I postponed right now!

    My ever-growing hunger propelled me from my bed and out the door with Amanda.

    "Took you long enough. I'm starving!"

    "Yeah, sorry about that. Hunger made me get up faster."

    "Uh-huh. Let's meet back outside the cottage door when we have two handfuls of sticks."

    I agreed and continued walking to find that a twig snapped beneath my shoe.

    "You're coming with me," I said to the twigs.

    "Huh? What are you talking about?" Amanda stopped in her tracks.

    "Oh, I was talking to the twigs."

    "Weird girl."

    Every step I took converted to around ten twigs and sticks, and soon, both of my hands were full.

    I frantically looked around, hoping I didn't get lost a second time.

    It turned out that I stayed in front of the cottage the entire time!

    "Wow, working smarter, not harder I see? We both got the same amount of sticks, but I traveled further. Crazy. You're good in the wild already!"

    "Thanks but I wouldn't be so sure if I were you."

    Amanda found me in front of the cottage door, where we said we'd meet up, and motioned me to put the sticks down on the ground.

A sharp painful sensation got in my right hand to which I muttered, "Ow!"

"You okay?" Amanda asked, standing up.

"I think I got a splinter."

"Let me take a look."

I gave her my hand to which she smiled a tight smile, but once she tried to put her other hand on the splinter, I immediately pulled away. "Wait, you're just gonna pull it out like that?"

"Well, yeah. It's bothering you, so we should take it out. It's a small splinter. You'll live."

"Have you ever gotten a splinter before?"

"Many times from skewers and sticks. You name it."

"Oh okay, I trust you then."

She pulled out the splinter like a pro.

Then, she positioned the sticks in a criss-cross pattern and took out a match.

    "Where'd you get that from?" I asked.

    "My pocket. I just took a packet of them from my drawer before I came out to find you."

    She lit the match up and placed it on the sticks to which the fire grew big but stopped growing once it reached the edges of the sticks.

    "Alright, let's go get some berries," she announced.