Vines

Awake

Ch. 1 Awake

I awoke on the ground, with jungle noises practically screaming in my ears. Light flooded my vision while I slowly blinked my eyes open. I had a bad feeling inside me, but I ignored it for the time being. I blinked a few more times and I slowly came to my senses. I smelled the wild, the warm earth that I lay sprawled out upon, and worked my way to moving my fingers and toes.

I bent my arms and pushed myself up. A small ache In the back of my head came to life but I ignored it. The moment I stood up, my legs felt like rubber and I fell back down. My eyes quickly began to inspect my legs and arms. I had a large cut across my shin and a bunch of small cuts all over my arms.

Wait, I said to myself. How did I get here? 

I tried to remember what happened, but all I got was a splitting headache clawing its way to the front of my brain to the point that I couldn't ignore it.

 "HELP!" I yelled. 

My headache caused my vision go dark. I put my pointer finger on my temple and massaged it. My vision came back but my headache continued to pound. I continued to massage my temple but It didn't go away. The pounding only seemed to get worse. I put my unfamiliar hands up to my head to try and make it stop. Through the pain, I felt like I was me, yet not me. I feel like I'm at home but am a foreigner.

"IS THERE ANYONE HERE!!!!" I called out.

 My voice however didn't carry. It just seemed to get swollowed by the forest.

 "Please," I called out softer, "Someone help me!"

 I squeezed my eyes shut and propped myself up on my knees. Who am I? I began to comb through my hair with my fingers. I felt something on my hand. I took a deep breath, hoping, no praying it wasn't what I thought it was. When I swallowed my fear, I removed my hands and noticed there was dark blood coating my left hand. Although some of it was starting to flake off. It was old. Hours maybe even days old blood. 

What have I gotten myself into?

Questions started to poor in my mind. 

How the heck did that happen? Why am I here? Who am I? Do I have amnesia? No.... I couldn't have it. I couldn't possibly have it. 

It felt like when you go to sleep one night at a friends' house and don't remember where you are for a split second. Except, even after the split second, I still couldn't remember. I felt tears sting the back of my eyes and spill out over my tanned cheeks. There is no one coming to save me. There is nothing here but me. Then again, I'm not even me, am I? I started to panic even more. My breath came faster and the world started to go fuzzy. I tried to remember what to do in this situation. I faintly remembered being this scared in my intangible past. Suddenly words echoed through my mind.

 "Fight your fear and you'll be in a battle forever. Face your fears and you'll be free forever."

 I calmed down and slowed my breathing down. The words were from Mom. I couldn't remember her face but I could hear her voice saying those words to me. "Mom" I whispered. I need to find out who I am. I felt a pang of homesickness. I want to go home. I looked around and noticed that I couldn't see the sky...only tiny bits of the sun peeking through. I will make it through this. My breathing was finally normal again.

The moment of peace and tranquility quickly broke when I felt a pair of eyes staring at my abused body. I heard leaves crunching as I saw a black figure on four legs mechanically stepped out from behind a clump of discolored leaves right in front of me. Its' evil eyes stared at me with a look of hunger that not even I had ever remembered experiencing.

My adrenaline activated something deep inside me and it started to scream,

"Run!". Instincts took over my legs and made me go sprinting off in the shadows of jungle. My already burning legs ran for what seemed like hours. I passed trees and through small patches of sunlight. The humidity was causing even more sweat pour off of my face. No matter how bad I wanted to stop, I knew I couldn't.

I knew I need to survive. If not for myself, than for someone important. I couldn't explain why, but I could feel it in my bones. I jumped over moss covered logs and past brightly colored birds that cooed suspiciously at the sight of me. I knew I couldn't run much farther, and soon enough my lungs wouldn't take in air. I began breathing so hard it brought me to my knees. The world went black around the edges and I forced myself to slow my breathing down. I heard a growl behind me and I bolted again. I ran until my legs wouldn't even move. My stomach twisted and I began throwing up the bile in my stomach. My arms shook while I held myself against the tree. I was trying not to let myself fall in the mess. I wasn't strong enough and soon I was laying in it.

I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore and the world began to turn gray and then fade to a black.

--------------------

I could feel fear, and my heart racing like a drummer who keeps speeding up the beat. My legs struggled to keep up with the beating of my heart as I sprinted on the jungle's spongy ground. I stopped in the blink of an eye and dove head first into a large and tall group of dark green plants.

I laughed out loud to try to lift my mood. "I knew they would never change."

Men carrying big black guns that I don't know the kind of, sprinted by. They crashed through the jungle in the direction I was running.

I heard loud, gun- shots echoing off in the distance and my blood immediately turned to ice. Someone else was out here and they weren't on my side.

-----------

I woke up in a cold sweat. What happened to me? That couldn't possibly be just a dream, so what was it? To many questions I reminded myself. Then a light bulb went off in my beat up head. It was a memory- that would explain why it was so vivid. 

I tried to swallow but it got stuck in the middle of my throat. "Gluh, Gluh," was the horrible choking noise that came from my bone dry throat. I kept making those noises and the pain was like fire rising in my throat. I hit my throat with my hand to stop from choking. 

I began to stumble through the forest while gripping my throat. WATER, I NEED WATER. I knew it was just a matter of time before I would trip like the clutz that I was on a hidden root somewhere on the forest floor. WATER, my body screamed once more. "Gluh, Gluh" I heard my throat do again. I'm running out of time. My body was torn between giving up and dying or just to stop moving.

My head felt like it was becoming foggier and foggier. My eyes blurred everything out of focus and I ran face first into a tree. I grabbed the tree and used it to push myself forward.

 "Two more steps, just two more," I told myself. 

As I predicted I didn't last long. I fell and when I did it was hard. Somewhere that seemed far off in the distance was a croak.