Michael Vey: The Elgen Trap

My childhood

I have stuck out like a sore thumb from day one. It's hard not to when you were a white girl in Peru. How did that happen well my Dad has lived here since he was about 3 his parents wanted to get a farm near the wild so they could get in touch with the world. My Grandma and Grandpa were the kinds of people who thought America was ruined by all of technology. But that doesn't mean that Puerto Maldonado isn't all up to speed on electricity or anything it just means we don't cut down all of our trees. My Mom came here after collage for a 1 year trip, she wanted to see the world through her camera, but she met papa on the first day here and they fell in love. They got married and decided to stay in Peru. 5 years later they decided to have me. My name is McKenna I have brown hair and green eyes. I am skinny and tall for my age. People call me pretty but I don't really see it. Well if you just look at the picture for this chapter that's me when I was a kid and the cover is me know. But as for my personality well if there is one thing you should know about me this should explain it all. I am glad that Ma and Pa stayed because even though half the time people think I am a tourist I love it here. Ever since I was little I loved the jungle. My parents forbid me to go into there but they couldn't always In Force it. One day when I was  I traveled into the jungle. Now I don't know if you know anything about the jungle but it is not a place for a kid. Standing at the edge of the tree line I stood as I heard my Mama's voice echo through my head.
"Honey now remember you are not to go past this shadow line." I never knew why I shouldn't but I suppressed the urge to explore for so long, but that day the pull was too much. Everything past the tree's looked inviting from the smell of the flowers on the few spots where light shined on the ground to the canopy overhead. My bare feet lifted up and touched the soft wet grass. At that point I was gone. The pull was too strong as I ran across the jungle floor. The twigs and dirt sticking to my though feet. I raced my hands across the fluorescent green leaves of the smaller plants as I laughed with joy wondering why my Mom never let me in such a wonderful place. A howler monkey with a baby on its back jumped from the vines over head. I have seen these before but somehow in here everything seemed so much more magical. I stop at a spot where the grass is nice and soft. I plop down on the floor and breath in the fresh smell of jungle. I look over at a tree there is the prettiest frog I have ever seen. It had a golden yellow body that sparkled like gold and pitch black eyes. I reach out to pick it up when I hear hissing sound behind me. I slowly turn around there is see it. The scariest snake I ever saw was slithering to me. I knew this snake very well because my class mate swore she saw one once. I asked my dad about it and he said that is was called an Elapids a very venomous. It was small but scaly. I got up and froze. It lashed out at me and the last thing I remember was screaming and seeing its mouth fly to me.
The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital and seeing my parents faces. Aperently a man was just outside where I was heard my scream and came to my aid. He watched as the snake bite my upper leg. The old man took out his machete and cut the snake in half. I fainted and he caught me as I fell. The man carried the dead snake and me to the hospital, used the snake to make anntivnum and called my parents. I never did see him again but I knew he was my savor.
After 10 days I had recovered and went back to school. That day my mom gave me a clear message no going back into the jungle until I knew every plants name and every animal and bug in the jungle. Now being a smart kid I listened to my mom, but even though I was a terrified of the snake I still wanted to go back. After a couple weeks the drama of the snake warred off at school but the nick name venomous girl stuck along with the two dots on my legs. My parents died down about it, and so did I. It wasn't long before I wanted to head back out into the unknown. But I wanted to respect my mother and fathers wishes so I swore that I would not go in again till the unknown becomes known.
     I spent the next 3 years studying all I could on the jungle. I learned about the venomous snakes and spiders. I learned about the plants that help nonvenomous snake bites. The funny thing was that after reading a while I learned that the frog I was about to touch was a golden poisonous dart frog. It has enough venom to kill 10 men. So in a way the snake saved my life. I decided to keep this to myself because then my mom would never let me put if there was something out there that could kill someone that easily. I also learned that there is a tribe that will put the poison of these frogs on their arrows and shoot them into people. Knowing this I spent another 2 years learning their language.
       4 years later I was 10 and I could go into the magical jungle again. By the age of 14 I knew my way around a 5 mile radius of my house just by what the trees look like and how to read the stars if I get lost. I also learned you should never go into the jungle without a machete. Now I am 17 and I practically live in the jungle. But the jungle is no longer the most feared thing in Peru. Now the one thing that scares my mother more is not any animal but a human group the group that actually gives us electricity. But there guards roam the city taking whatever they want and whoever they want. Those people are the Elgen.