The Wild Girl

Chapter 1

The crisp bite of autumn air blew across my face and the red hued leaves crunched under my feet as I walked through the forrest to the hollowed out tree that had become my home. The tree was hidden by a piece of bark just big enough to cover the entrance and act as a door to keep the unwanted animals out. On the inside the ground was lined with a large blue tarp and littered with the nuts I'd stocked up on for the winter when nothing would be growing. I reached for my tattered pink backpack that I'd had since they left me here. I unziped my bag and brushed past my fire starter,baggy clothes, extra knife,tattered book and blanket and clasp my hands around my water bottle complete with a water purifier. They made sure I had the necessities I needed to live and extra large clothes so I wouldn't grow out of them. I squated down to crawl out into the forest. As I gazed up at the sunset somewhere in the back of my mind I knew the sun was going down and I needed to start a fire, but I was already heading to my stream to collect water. I flung my matted down, tangled black hair over my shoulder and scooped up the water. As soon as I get back home I lit a fire and cracked open my door just enough to ventilate the smoke and cook the small squirrel I caught and skinned earlier that day. As my fire died out and I finished my meal with a berry soup dessert I crawled under my blanket and drifted off to sleep. When I wake up the sun was just peaking out from over the big hill. I plucked all of my clothes from my bag and head to the stream because it's laundry day. With my clothes tucked under my left arm I meandered through the woods picking the leaves that make a soap-like consistency when you break their stems. I reached the river and began on my clothes, I squeezed the "soap" onto my clothes and scrubbed them with my hands ringing them dry and lying them on a rock where I would pick them up later. Meanwhile I go back to my hollow and grab my big survival knife. I walk across my path and find a rabbit that I catch and eat some for breakfast and save the rest for later. After this I headed back to the river to retrieve my clothes, whistling on my way. I stopped abruptly when I looked down at the rock and noticed that my clothes were gone.