[Past]

"Elena?" I asked.

"Umhm?" She responded partially attentive.

"How do you do all this without gaging?" She was still concentrated on her work but I noticed a smile on her lips.

"Ann, you can interrogate your sister later. Right now, let her focus on my arm please." Caroline asked, wincing in pain.

"Girls, it's okay. Ann, all it takes is patience and practice. Dermatology isn't learned in a day. Caroline just endure a little more, your skin infection is nearly treated." Elena spoke without taking off her special medical goggles or stopping her hands from working on Caroline's arm.

"Your hands are so steady." I complimented.

"Thanks. This kind of infection needs special care for removal. If don't want any problematic organisms remaining stuck in Care's skin. Every step needs to be precise and thorough." Elena explained softly.

"Why are you applying it there, there is no infection?" I nearly jumped at them with alarm.

"Anara!" Caroline looked at me alarmed, "Stop, before She loses focus and applies rays where she shouldn't."

"Ann, get back to your seat. Care, relax, it's going to take more than just an annoying sister to break my focus." Elena comforted Caroline, not stopping for even a second on her arm.

"And you answer your question, Anara, some infections aren't always visible until you look carefully for their signs under the skin. I'm the one wearing the goggles, remember? I promised Care will have an arm as good as new when I'm done, didn't I? Major infection is cleared, I'm just looking for any remnants under that skin that could manifest later."

We sat through the next half hour of the treatment silently trusting my elder sister in her clinic.

#

[Present]

It was a nightmare!

It had to be.

I felt like the night-hag had paralyzed me. I was conscious but I couldn't move. Breathing was a struggle. I tried to open my eyes and with a lot of effort, I was able to discern the gory situation I was lying in. The early morning chill, the icy wetness of the mossy forest floor underneath, and lots of tiny creatures crawling on my frozen skin.

It wasn't a sleep paralysis demon, I remembered, it was those thorns of acorn-ish berries that rodent was throwing. When was that? It felt like I had stayed unconsciously paralyzed for a major part of yesterday and all night. How did I manage to survive the whole night, this vulnerable?

I had to move, my fingers tingled as I used all my strength I could muster to make the slightest of movements. It took me almost an hour, or that's how it felt, to regain partial control of my limbs. As I sat up, the sight that greeted me, released an involuntary shriek from my lips. My body was bloody and covered with creatures of all tiny sorts, none identifiable.

Caterpillar-like, slimy slug-ish, worm-like, giant centipede-ish, huge crawlers of multiple legs, ants, and many more of all colors and sizes, possibly poisonous, eating my live body. I had open wounds all over my body and holes through most of my clothes. I had liquids of many colors and awful odors dripping on my wounds. A huge wave of panic and adrenaline set in. I wasn't particularly scared of insects but this was a bit too close for me to tolerate.

I tried to move again, the insects' stings were starting to gain feeling and were painful now. My paralyzed body was regaining senses and the open nerve endings in my skin getting eaten alive were getting torturous. I cursed out loud, threw a lot of profanities, and tried to sit up.

First thing first, I had to relocate myself. So I dragged my still semi-paralyzed body a few meters away from my to-be grave soon. The movement sent all those that could move quickly, away from me. The rest I had to pry out myself manually. I used my hands to pry the scavengers off of me as much as I could. Some were stuck as leeches and others had almost penetrated my skin, all I could see was the painful bulge.

I could see my backpack lying close to the carnivorous tree that I was almost food of yesterday. I needed the knives in there to cut out my insectious parasites. The pain was now becoming unbearable, so I had to move fast. My legs were now almost functional. So as quickly as my legs would take me I limped to get the backpack without getting tangled in the monstrous roots. And returned to operate on myself.

Easier said than done.

It was a tedious and extremely agonizing task. Some creatures were just too fond of my body to leave. My hands were shaky and I couldn't place the reason for that. Thorns of acorns? Some insect's by-product? my general lack of proper rest or that of food and water? I had no idea but it made the task I was trying so much more frustrating and painful, especially when I started seeing twos and threes.

Oh, I had never hated jungles this much ever before.

It was almost evening again when I was finally done using whatever I had to rid my body of as many creatures as possible. I was bleeding everywhere I could see, I had lost a considerable amount of blood and I still needed water, disinfectant, antibiotics, and lots of painkillers.

But most of all I needed water to quench my thirst. I was so parched and famished. The heat of the day had worked with its full force. I got up on my bruised and bleeding feet. It was strange how those things had found their way inside my shoes. My back was still itchy and I could feel something crawling, but no matter how hard I tried to scrape my back, I couldn't see or free myself of creepy crawlies on my back.

I had lost the sense of direction but that was a problem for the next day, if I survived.

I searched for a tree safe enough to nest in for the night and my eyes finally rested on the weird knotting branches of a familiar tree I had spent the night before yesternight. But it seemed too far away. My bleeding feet made every step excruciating. Walking was a fairly easy part compared to the climbing that I had to do to reach a safe enough height. I was continuously sobbing the whole time.

Finally up there. I scratched my back against the rough tree trunk, that eased the itching but I bled even more. I tried to find anything left edible in my backpack but most of it had already gone stale. I salvaged what few morsels I could and lay wincing with every breath, longing for a few sips of water. My wish for water was fulfilled, just not how I expected the mercy to be shown.

Rain.

A blessing right?

Wrong!

Another predator to protect myself from.

From the second, the first raindrop touched my bruised skin, I realized, the rain was something to beware of. I had to make sure no second droplets found their way to my skin ever again.

The rain seemed acidic. It gave me an instant burn wherever it touched.

With the newfound agony of burning wounds, I took out the other suit that I had in my backpack, the only functional thing remaining, and covered as much of my skin as possible. Bleeding open wounds did not want to get covered and it still wasn't enough. I had to cover my head as well. I took the giant meaty leaves of my savior tree to form a quick canopy with shaky hands. My focus though was worse than ever.

I tried to stay still as much as my burning, injured, hungrily weak, and bleeding body would allow me. It was a struggle in itself but the mere thought of being able to hug my mom and cry on her shoulder pumped enough adrenaline to keep going.

But I wasn't built for this. This extreme struggle, intense pain, hunger, and thirst. It was overwhelming, along with the side effects of being an insect dessert.

So despite trying my hardest, I blacked out, with the final feeling of my body slipping from its position on the branch and the terrifying fact that I might find myself in the same, if not worse, condition on the same forest floor I had picked myself up from only a few distressing hours ago. That too, if my battered body survived the fall at all and not ended up broken neck or spine.

That was one of the worst days of my life. The days I would never be able to forget, even if I tried. And these days, I do try.