[Past]

"I'm gonna die."

"No, you are not."

"How would you know? I'm the one with the-"

"With a sprained ankle. Ann, you're not the first human to get a sprained ankle." Caroline suppressed her laughter making me frown at her.

"I could be the first one to die of it."

"You can't die of a sprained ankle. Now be brave and eat something." She put the plate of pasta close to me.

"Dead men need no food."

"Stop being so dramatic."

I gasped as she raised a brow and said smugly, "How about once you finish this plate, I will give you some more painkillers like you have been begging me for hours."

I took the bait and instantly picked up my fork.

#

[Present]

Cold, that was the first thing my body registered as I started to regain consciousness. My body was shivering. One of my legs was numb and my back and pants which seemed to be resting on something hard and round were wet and cold. My neck ached due to the awful angle it was placed in my sitting posture.

Why was I asleep while sitting?

Where was I sitting?

Why was it so cold and moist?

Why hadn't my mother woken me up yet from this uncomfortable place?

My eyes snapped open! And I found myself surrounded by moist frosty darkness. I eased the muscles in my neck as my eyes adjusted to the blackness of my environment. Reality found its way back to me. The past day's events ran in my head as a feeling of deep despair settled in my heart. I was still here. The nightmare continued.

I sagged my shoulders in defeat but sat upright with a jolt due to a deep sting of pain in my shoulder. I could not relax my muscles. I felt my swollen shoulder blade hinder all movement on my right side.

I am a right-handed person so the hindrance meant I couldn't get down and continue my trek to civilization. I tried to get to my backpack, but it was impossible with only my left hand working. My eyes started to sting with fresh tears as I sat with my hands on my lap. My misery oozed out through my tears as I cried silent tears through the night. I didn't want to attract any beast's attention. I wanted to let out all the hopelessness in my heart before it swallowed me, but I had to keep my voice down.

I wasn't a very religious person but I did believe in God. So I prayed for relief in my situation and a way out of the mess I was in. I asked why it was me who had to suffer through all this. None of it made any sense. I was not left with any strength. It seemed like the darkness of the cold night was seeping inside my body and reaching my heart, adding to my distress.

My complaints to God came to an abrupt halt when I heard a deep howl coming from somewhere near below me. The howl turned to plural which grew louder. Amid the howls, I noticed a small whimper right at the foot of the tree that was my dwelling. I sat holding my breath as I observed the predators catch up and gather around the prey that seemed to be unable to flee for life.

I sat up there, listening unnerved and petrified as the bunch of predators caught up and feasted on the still-alive prey. I heard their incisors tearing the flesh of their victim and their canines breaking its bones. I could hear their vicious guttural snarls as they enjoyed their dinner. I don’t remember if I was even breathing. The terror intensified as the chill of the night reached its peak, making me sit frozen on the moist mossy branches. This place was wild and scary.

In the dead of night, I realized I couldn't sleep anymore even if I wanted to. I don’t know how long I had slept but it couldn't have been lots of hours. The predators below me took their time as I sat speechless, trying to avoid catching their attention.

From up there I could see the quadruped carnivorous animals' hunting group, with heightened senses for hunting at night. Their bodies were huge, standing at a level of an average pony with the muscle mass of a bull and agility of a leopard. I had seen them zoom in through the dense vegetation like running on plains, not stumbling even once, as they reached their prey. I just hoped they couldn't climb trees.

The animals scattered at what seemed like the dawn. I could feel light about the foliage and a certain morning chirping of birds had started which seemed to go to sleep all night. I didn't want to climb down in case the predators were still around and could smell me, even though my back ached due to the awful posture on the branches, I had never spent such a painful and horrific night, all alone.

I tried to ease my muscles and change my posture. As I braced my back against the mossy tree trunk, I gave out an involuntary moan of pain. My shoulder won't allow me to move at all. But I needed to set my back against the tree, so I forced myself and almost cried out in immense pain. Once settled I tried reaching for my backpack and drank the last few sips of water I had with my left hand.

I sighed and silent tears started to flow again, the migraine returning, throbbing in my head as every sound sent sheer pain through my head, making my stomach need to puke.

I don’t remember how much I had cried or when my body decided I hadn't slept enough, so I cried myself to blackout again. Next time I woke up the bright morning had raised the temperature, though I still felt cold. The one thing that was the most shocking was my right shoulder. The pain was gone.

I sat straight and slowly moved my right arm, it felt slightly cramped but moved nonetheless. I felt confused. I had only slept a couple of hours but my shoulder felt like I had had comfortable bed rest for a week with antibiotics, painkillers, and anti-inflammatory medicines. I uncovered it to check and to my astonishment, my pale skin was as unblemished as it had been before the hit, except for the sticky moss from the tree trunk sticking to my skin through my thin shirt.

I tried to rub off the moss but then it dawned on me. It was possibly the moss that had cured my shoulder so fast.

I had read about the medicinal effects of plants in botany minor and even though I wasn't sure what this thing could do, I knew it wasn't your ordinary moss. So I scrubbed some from branches and trunks around me and tried massaging my shoulder to my instant relief as a cooling sensation passed through wherever the moss was spread. I discovered that its paste had a more menthol-like effect.

After about half an hour I felt my numb legs regain feeling and felt relieved to be able to eat with my right hand as well. So, I exercised my shoulder and then secured the backpack on my back readying myself to climb down.

I soon realized climbing up was the easier part. Climbing down meant looking down again and again to fix my footing which terrorized my poor acrophobic heart.

Once my feet hit the secure ground, the disgusting stench of blood and raw meat hit my nose. I tried to keep my breakfast down but couldn't help feeling nauseous. I put some distance between myself and the unfortunate animal's carcass which was nothing more than a bloody mess and then tried to formulate a plan.

Today was the day I made it to civilization or at least found a road or path.

Also, I decided from now on I would mark trees with stone, making arrows to remind me I had already gone this way so I don't go in circles. The possibility that whoever had kidnapped me might be around or could find me through my markings on the trees didn't even pass my mind until I had trekked about half an hour and marked two dozen trees.

My food supply was limited and was going to go stale soon so I had to think about that as I went through the day as well.

My water supply, on the other hand, was all exhausted and now I needed to search for water as well as survive and find my way. The temperature rose considerably during the day, as I had witnessed yesterday and so I might start feeling parched soon enough.

My shoulder still ached so I collected more moss which seemed to grow everywhere and was the most common occurrence in this forest, lucky me! I also tried to apply it to my head which seemed to still have remnants of the killer headache I had yesterday. In fifteen minutes, the magical moss worked.

Last but not the least, my clothes were worn and dirty and thin so I needed to change but I only had one more pair. The cleaner pair seemed to be of waterproof material and maybe even thermoregulatory so I decided to not change during the day and see if the pair helps during the icy night, which hopefully I might not have to spend in this godforsaken forest again. But still, I took my chances and kept wearing the thin pair I had on which I decided would be better during the day anyway, against the heat and sweat of the day.

With everything worked out, a newfound optimism, and the thought to return to my family soon, I started my trek. The forest was awake and I exclaimed exasperated, "Good morning to you too!"

Of course, no reply came but the birds and crickets.