Going on a school trip abroad can be described with many juxtaposing thoughts, but should never be linked to fatalities or injury. Juniper Pearl Foxx always had a sheltered, mundane life, when a terrible tragedy occurred and left her stuck in the Am...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I awoke early the next day, when the forest was still muted by darkness. There was a wet dew resounding through the area, and my skin felt slimy. It was as if the air was water, soaking you to the bone, but there were no actual raindrops. It was safe to say I felt utterly disgusting. Some animal was baying off in the distance, but I was too uncomfortable and groggy with sleep to figure out where it was coming from. I was achy all over, however I was just about used to the gyrating of the pieces of broken bone in my collarbone whenever I used my arm. Sleeping on the ground rolling with the bugs and mud had not only upset my body, but my hair was now a distraught, untameable mess. Not only was my scalp continuously itching because I hadn't been able to wash it in almost five days, there were cakes of mud, leaves and probably a whole eco system tangled into it. I had given up on brushing it. Just like I had given up on sleep.
Stretching out my moaning muscles, I leisurely got up and travelled a little further into the bushes to take care of my business. When I stumbled back to camp a little while later, I noticed Chip and Matias were now awake and busy climbing the trees again – probably to gather more fruit for breakfast. Everyone else seemed to be asleep, so with great effort I managed to haul myself up the tree, to where the boys had slept the night before. The bark scratched at my skin, but once I had good footing I was able to climb a little. There was a sort of hollow shelf you could easily stand on once you had clambered up the base, the thick branches reaching upwards and outwards like limbs around me.
Whilst I waited for the boys to come back down, worried about them slipping on the wet branches and breaking their necks, I admired some of the deep violet flowers that were scattered along the branches. The forest is as beautiful as it is deadly. Sighing, I tried to recall how many days we had been stranded out there. It was frightening how much I was losing track of time. The forest was equal in the amount of dark and light it had each day, meaning we spent a lot of time in darkness or sleeping, which was definitely making it harder to figure out where we were in the timeline of existence.
Movement caught my attention from the corner of my eye, and I whipped my head around to see an ethereal little frog hopping its way towards me. It was almost glowing against the dark, its body the mesmerising colour of liquid blue, almost neon. I didn't dare touch it though, because I knew that the more beautiful and brightly coloured an animal was, the more dangerous it was likely to be. But then it got me thinking... surely if there were frogs that must have meant water was nearby! Chip and Matias were clambering down the branches, looking like young Tarzan's with wild hair, leaves and mud decorating their figures and bare feet traipsing through the jungle. Unfortunately Chip slipped just as he was coming to eye level with me, and landed with a hard thump just next to me, scaring the frog which I was eying cautiously which hurriedly hopped along.
"Oh my goodness! Are you ok?" I asked Chip, who was groaning on his back.
"I will be..." He answered in a strained voice, as I helped him sit up.
"Are you sure you're ok Chip?" Matias asked worriedly as he landed on the levelled zone we were currently residing.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Chip waved off, but I could see he was in pain as he hunched over, not trying to stand yet.
