A Different Life

Chapter 5

Esthers Pov

  I wake up on cold, hard ground. I move to get up and pain in my leg reminds me of last night's incident. Gripping my stick, I hobble over to the bathroom. After that, I hobble back to the hootchie, to find Nikki still asleep. I decide to let her sleep, remembering last night. I go over to where I dumped the firewood, and bring it to the fire pit Nikki prepared. It's early, but it won't hurt to be prepared. Once I'm finished, I settle down to read. Just as the Kikori destroy the bridge, Nikki wakes up. "Nnngh, what's for breakfast?" I shrug and go back to the book. I really want to find out what happens. "Esther! Did you even have breakfast, yet?" I shake my head. "Well, get it now, or your mother will sue me for starving you." I quickly pull out Froot Loops and fix myself a bowl of it. Immediately, I dig back into the book while eating. In Australia, the temperature will always be extreme. Right now, sweat is starting to stain the pages, making me constantly wipe my palms. Finally, I can't take it! I grab my swimmers and dart to the bathroom to change. "Great idea!" Nikki follows suit. Once we're finished, Nikki stops. "One question." "Yes?" "Where are we swimming?" "Oh, right. I found a creek when looking for firewood." "You mean when you left me in the dark with a snake?" I roll my eyes. "Are you ever going to let go?" "Depends." I ignore her and charge to the creek. I slip gently into the cold water and wade in deeper. It feels so nice, especially to my wound. I move to the edge of the creek and start to lift a rock. "What are you doing?" I look up. Nikki is standing above me. "I'm yabbie catching. Did you want some for lunch?" Nikki scrunches up her nose. "Ew, no thanks. How can you eat them?" 'Well, actually, I don't eat them. I don't eat water creatures." Nikki looks confused. "Then why catch them?" "It's fun." Nikki still looks confused, but takes a seat in the water to watch. I lift my rock up and wait for the mud to settle. I scan the small area. Nothing. I lift up another rock and do the same thing. Soon, I see the outline of a little yabbie. I carefully position my hand above the water and dart in. My hand comes out with a squirming creature. "Ah huh!" Nikki shrugs and skips a rock. She gets two. I remember something. "Oh, yeah. There are le-" Nicola suddenly screams. A long black thing is attached to her calf. "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" "Just wait!" I run to the camp and grabs the salt. Running back to Nikki, I shake salt onto the leech. It falls off into the water. "What was that?" She asks breathlessly. "A leech. They hang out in shallow water. She gains her breath back. "Maybe we should find deeper water." Nikki nods. "Yah." After we cooled down, we had lunch. We take out the ham and cheese to find the cheese frozen from being too close to ice. I get a knife and we try to slice the cheese. Half way in, the knife slips, and cuts through it nipping my finger. "Drat!" I put a band aid on my cut, while Nikki tries. Cheese comes off in chunks. "Oh, great. Chunky sandwiches." We eat our chunky sandwiches and go to explore. As we walk, I put notches on trees. "What's that for?" Asks Nikki, surprised. "So we don't get lost again. It would be harder in the daytime, but just in case." Nikki nods. That makes sense.

Dinner:
  I pull out sausages and we start roasting them over the fire. Nikki makes a face as she takes a bite. "This tastes like smoke." I take a bite and agree. "Yeah, the wind must have been blowing the smoke on them." "This is all your fault." I look at her. "Pardon me?" She stands up. "I said, this is all your fault!" I challenge her with a look. "How?" "If you just pretended that we were best friends, I would be with Tayla right now, eating lasagna!" "I didn't have anything to do with this! It's not my fault that I actually have feelings!" "I was just telling the truth!" "How do you know what is the truth? You don't take time to really know me!" My face burns with anger. "You owe me big time, Esther! I'm going to bed!" She leaves. I put my head in my hands. Where did our friendship go wrong? I miss the old days when we were the best of friends. What happened to that? Little did I know that in the hootchie, Nikki is thinking the same thing. Slowly, a plan forms in my mind.

Hope this isn't too boring. Them going into the rangers world is up soon.