The Mistake I'm Thankful For

I Can't be Lost

This side of the world seems dead. It was all just a dry and empty paved road but the further I go the more trees and fewer lights there are. The road also seems to fade, like we were meant to never come here.

I know I'm not an adventurer type of person and the day is getting darker so I need shelter, and gosh I'm thirsty. I've watched enough movies to know where this will end up but let's just keep a positive mindset. In a forest like this there sure is a river, right? But I'm too scared to leave this lane. Although it's not paved, the line is visible. Still, I'm thirsty.

I need to start a fire, make a safe place. I need to survive. C'mon Jo! 

"Ugh! Fine!"

Not that I was arguing with myself. I was being logical.

Now, to find a river is to find the most alive possible looking tree.

...

They all seem alive. Nevermind.

Okay, maybe not that. I think I should find where the birds are going. At this time of day, they are probably taking a bath, right? I looked up and after some time searching, I spotted a blue-feathered bird. It was quick so I had to catch up on it whilst trying to not trip over. Even though I considered today to be one of my lucky days, it wasn't. The bird led me to its nest. I've wasted my time perfectly. 

As I rolled my eyes, I saw an old shack. "A-ha! Yess! I knew it was my lucky day." I ran over to check on it and sweet mercy, it's not too old to actually collapse.

The shack gave me hope and I decided to pile up woods from nearby and also gathered some rocks. I chose to not touch or eat any berries that I saw because I'm not smart enough to know which ones are poisonous. The only type of berries that I know are only strawberries and blueberries but I bet they don't grow wildly.

I went back to the shack and started to make a fire. I put some rocks underneath the wood because I don't want the shack to end up burning then I stacked a few twigs. I took a dry leave and tried to make a fire. At this point, I forgot that I was thirsty and kept on trying to make a spark out of two rocks. It's harder than I thought it'd be.

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I woke up to the sound of scratching. Oh no. I think I might know what that is. I accidentally slept while trying to make a fire. I was facing towards the pile of firewood with my head resting on my arm. I slowly gazed to where the sound was coming from and I saw a bear.

It was still dark and that only adds to the list of reasons to cry. Automatically, it made my heart beat fast and my breathing wasn't in control. The bear's ear shifted towards my direction and approached me. I suddenly forgot how to breathe. My eyes were fixed on the bear's face that was getting closer and closer. Then I noticed that it was blind.

Its eyes were pure white and so was its forehead, the rest of its fur was shining black. I don't know why but that gave me comfort that it had a disadvantage. I could just slowly get up and run without it noticing me. Because it didn't hear my breathing, since I stopped, it turned away and proceeded its journey. I slowly got up and ran. Though obviously, I was making a lot of noise, and right now, it's chasing me!

God, help me. Is this the price I have to pay for the mistake that I did? All my intentions were good, it was for the well-being of the city. My home.

RAWR!!

"AAAAHHH!" I screamed and ran, and still running. Bear in mind that it was still dark and I can't see anything but I kept running anyway. The bear was so fast I could feel its breath close to my legs. I can't take this any longer so I decided to take a turn. I ran the opposite way so that it'll slow down a bit for me to climb up a tree. I've never done it before but I held on to any branch I could reach and stuck my feet on every part of the tree until I was safely catching my breath on top of the tree. High enough so that the bear can't reach me.

Then I waited and waited and waited for hours. There was a moment where I cried in silence, like questioning why I did what I did in the first place.

The bear still hasn't gone yet. Though suddenly, I could see a faint image of a white ball. Wait, it's a rabbit. Oh no. 

Both of them were staring and kept still until the bear started growling. The rabbit jumped its highest and ran. With a hungry stomach, probably, the bear went off to chase the rabbit. I sigh in relief and piled up my courage to continue my journey. Hopefully this time I get to see a human instead of another creature.

I slowly went down from the tree and accidentally stepped something hard and it cracked split. I looked at it and it was a carrot the rabbit left behind. And surprisingly, it seems fresh as if it was just picked a few moments ago.

Could it be?

 I trailed the path to where the rabbit was coming from. It left quite a messy chunks of bitten carrots and I'm grateful for that. Until it led me to a wooden fence. I saw the hole the rabbit must've used. I hopped over it and-- bless me.

The soft sunrise complimented the beautiful view in front of me. It touched the green leaves of the vegetables and made the orange color of the carrots popped. I'm in awe because I know there is no other being on this planet that could build such a work of art.

I shifted my gaze to every corner of the huge farm while moving my body searching around and trying my best not to step on the crops.

"Please don't ruin months of my hard work."

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