Tandem

chapter 12

Tymom

I awake to the sounds of birds in the canopy around me. I open my eyes slowly and the pain in my arm and leg return. It's a wonder I fell asleep last night. I check my arm. It's still badly damaged and the bleeding hasn't stopped. its only slowed. I feel light headed and tired even though I just woke up.

It's unusual feeling pain for this long. Usually on Tandem if wounds are inflicted they are taken care of and healed almost immediately. This is an unusual pain to me though, one like I've never felt. The pain makes my whole body ache. I try to stand up and immediately fall back down. My leg, I completely forgot. I pull my pant leg up and gasp in pain. Its excruciating. Far worse then my arm. I grit my teeth and scream out in pain. The birds in the trees surrounding me take off leaving me alone in silence.

At least I'm prepared for this. The guards failed to confiscate my back pack before I jumped. I have all the supplies I need to survive 3 days. I also have been training for dire situations like this. Secretly after school I'd sneak off to the loading docks, the most dangerous place on tandem, and practice parkour, and sometimes I'd camp out there. I'd even practiced making tools such as hammers, and axes, even when Ran wasn't there.

I look around for my pack. I don't see it, until I look up. Just my luck. Hanging in the tree above me is my bag. Great. I try to turn myself around to find something to get it down. A stick, a vine, a rock. Something. But the tree is alone in an opening. Nothing but it and the pond. Feeling deserted and afraid I adjust myself again against the tree and prepare. But what is there to prepare for? The unknown? Death?

Oddly enough while I was laying there, wounded, possibly facing death, I felt more alive than I ever have. And as the sun peaked over the mountains in the distance, I could now clearly see the world around me. Green and lush. Trees and bushes surrounding me on all sides. The sky, golden. The clouds, white and pink from the morning light. I have never seen such beauty. I close my eyes and think.

I know what I have to do. Get up, deal with the pain, and find a way to survive.