Chasing Life|| 《ON HOLD》○

Chapter 1

SOFT. Mmm... so cool. The thundering of crashing water jolts me awake. I find myself lying on something soft and jet black. So smooth almost like fur. I sit up and see one of the most breathtaking sights I have ever seen in my life. Colorful bows of water reflecting the sunlight beautifully and cheerfully bouncing off mammothous rocks creating dozens of dazzling rainbows.

The majestic trees and their canopies tower over the center of the falls which is at the foot of the mountain. It is as if at the cliff's feet lay treasures guarded and unknown to man since the beginning of time. In short, it looked like a scene taken out of a fairytale.

But soon I was dragged back to reality by my aching body and my severely scratched limbs with remnants of dried blood on them. Panic seized me. Where was I? Was I in danger? I noticed that I was moving quite fast as the world seemed to be getting farther and farther away from me. I shifted a bit to the side to try and get up but strangely, it made me feel dizzy. I was floating! On what seemed to be a black bulky blanket like a hard thing. To make matters worse it was not any daily black blanket or rug. I was asleep on an unconscious black furry animal. A wild grizzly bear! I shook myself. I had to get to land somehow to decide my next course of action. How in the world had I ended up here?!

I put out my feet to feel the water. It was cold. Probably from altitude. I have to get to bank somehow and go home.

Home.

That was all I can think about right then. I couldn't understand where I was and how I was there? And then it had come back to me. The voices of people. An old woman in particular. My mother.

Go for a vacation.

For a vacation.

A vacation.

That's why I was there.

But where are the others?

A whoosh interrupted my line of thought and dragged me back to the present.

The bear I was sitting on started sputtering as if waking up from its brief comatose. I tried to get up but the wet fur made me slip and lose my footing. Frustrated after trying thrice I gritted my teeth. God please help me! I screamed in my mind. My eyes fell on a dead moldy log floating my way.

'Strange.' I thought, as it was floating against the current. It was almost impossible as the current was quite strong. It almost seemed like something had pushed it in my direction. But I don't dwell too much on that fact. I decide to jump into the water and hold on to it to try and reach the bank with its help. Then I finally fell into the water. The sudden chill made me gasp. Kicking into the water I struggled to wade my way to the bank. Panting and grunting and flailing my free arm about I managed to grasp the weeds on the riverbank. Letting go of the log, I hauled myself up. Gasping for air I realized that I had a backpack on my back. Before removing it to fling it off, a thought stopped me. I might have a use for whatever might be inside.

So huffing I flung it onto the bank. I pushed through the marsh. As I finally made my way onto solid ground, I saw the bear flailing about in the water till it grew limp and disappeared into the water altogether.

A twinge of sadness twisted through me. I had no idea how it had ended up in the river with me on it, but I was grateful for its presence as it helped me stay afloat.

It was the evening time. The warm orange glow of the setting sun in the mist made the whole forest look like an inferno.

My eyes widened in shock when I noticed something. My backpack. It was missing. I remembered throwing it onto the bank but now it was missing.

I was terrified. Had it sunk into the water? I jumped back into the water feeling the riverbed with my palms trying hard not to get pulled away by the current.

Screech. Screeech.

The noise above me interrupted my frantic skimming .

A little brown creature was sitting comfortably on a high branch. Almost smirking confidently it held out my backpack clasped in its tiny fist. Landing my fists on my hips I huffed in annoyance.

"Put. It. Down. Now!" I yelled.

Screech! screeeech! It screeched dumbly and started swinging away with the bag. Tears of frustration pooled my eyes.

Hrumph! I growled. If I wanted to get out of here in one piece I needed my goddamned bag!

It might have a map or some sort of guide. Or maybe even provide me some insight as to how I have ended up here. I looked at the creature which brought my doom. Still screeching loudly it started to disappear deep into the mysterious green confines of the jungle.

I was curious as to where the naughty little creature had planned to go. It was almost sundown, therefore the chase must come to an end soon, if I ever wanted to manage to keep myself alive. I did not even want to think about the dangerous animals that might be lurking in the dark expanse the forest would soon turn out to be.

Suddenly, I flinched. Raindrops descended through the thick canopies, starting out as mere drops slowly morphing into bigger ones and eventually torrents began to fall. Completely drenched again, I felt defeated. I had just gotten out of the river and now this. I have to find shelter to remove the wet fabric to reduce the chill I was feeling. A cover or a cave would be a godsend.

A logical part of me told me to keep following the damned monkey to see what it was going to do so that I could probably follow its example. Shivering due to the cruel wind, begrudgingly, I followed it. All that while, I began to subconsciously note the change in the surroundings. As I was going deeper and deeper, it became more and more muddy. My Wellingtons started to go deeper in and my efforts had to be redoubled in order to maintain my pace.

Finally, I stopped. My hopes of following the monkey were futile when a sight met my weary eyes.

A number of rocks were arranged in a circle and at its centre lay a few smoking branches.

A campsite. It looked like someone had been there recently.

A bloody campsite in the middle of nowhere?

Hope blossomed in my chest as I wished that whoever had been here were still in vicinity so that we could be partners in survival. The fire seemed pretty small so whoever it was, they might be either alone or only a handful of people. This would mean I could share resources. But another thought rudely interrupted my wishful thinking. What if he or she were a savage? Or a native who does not understand English? Pushing my thoughts away I focused on getting away from the merciless rain first. My eyes scanned the scene. It fell on something familiar.

My long-lost precious bag.

It was the key to my survival in this treacherous hell. The monkey must have dropped it here while fleeing to shelter.

Crouching low under the shade of a tree which seemed drier than others, I quickly zipped it open. A few brochures(made of card, fortunately ), an extra set of my clothes (that I might have kept in for emergencies but are of no use to me now as they were considerably wet), sanitary napkins(in a plastic wrapper hence still useful), wet tissue, a wet towel and two large bottles of drinking water, came spilling out. I stuffed everything back in except the brochures.

There was very less light as the sky began to darken and I was about to lose my only source of light. Quickly I scanned through the cards.

"How to build a shelter... how to build a shel- Aha!" I figured a shelter might provide some warmth, as I might not be able to maintain a fire in this weather.

"Collect large branches. Lay them in a crisscross manner. Lean two such resulting structures against each other as shown in figure. Cover them up with large lea-"

A loud harsh thunder interrupted my reading. I shivered. I was scared beyond words and still dripping wet. I shut my eyes close in fear as it became even darker.

I was petrified. The whistling noises that the wind made against the leaves did not help. I gave up the shelter idea and decided to lean against the tree to wait out the rain while giving away to the slowly approaching bone-numbing fatigue.