19 January 2013
I stumble on in the fading darkness, hoping to find some decent shelter before the last hint of light fades and the forest is plunged into darkness. My toes are stuck together now by the blood drizzling in between them.
I limp on for sometime, my back aching from bending over to stop the flow of blood on my leg. Up ahead I can barely see a depression in the ground and bushes overhanging into it.
Old, dead leaves cover the ground in the ditch and dampen my clothes when I lay down on them. I need to stay alive to find Zay, then maybe I'll be able to survive so I can see another sunrise.
I can't fall asleep because thoughts corrode my mind. As I lay there, I come up with scenarios of dying. I could die from blood loss or instead of that, drown in my blood. Sleeping in the ditch, I'm too vulnerable to predators. Maybe some nocturnal animals will decide it's a good night for a feast. Or starvation could consume me.
So many scenarios swirl in my head that I become drowsy, my mind shutting down. Maybe I'll die of being homesick...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I wake up suddenly and the sun shines down on me, illuminating the leaves on the branches arching over me and shining down into my eyes. I shield them with my hand and push myself up with the other. My joints groan and are stiff.
My eyes focus on my calf, my left pant leg completely bloodied. Carefully and gently, I roll up the pants which are almost falling off around my knee. A long gash runs almost the entire length of my calf and blood surrounds it, coating my skin in crimson. Parts of it are still bleeding, but for the most part, the blood has dried.
I try my leg and I only feel a little pressure. Deciding I can deal with it, I clamber up from the depression and start walking; anywhere.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've walking for ages now when I come upon some broken branches and matted down bushes. At first I limp on by, ignoring the trampled path, but then walk backwards. I double take at the footprints in the mud. And the blood mixed in the water.
Immediately I sit down, examining the site and washing my calf with the clean water. My leg sighs with relief and most of the blood washes away, leaving a dark pink line stretching from my knee to mid-calf.
I decide to follow the trail, probably a mark of my rampage when I was delusional. The path tramples right over some beautiful flowers which I think are orchids according to my book in the attic, but I'm not sure because they're all muddied and torn. I trip over more broken branches and bloodied rocks until I find a patch of nettles whom probably made the little scratches on my arms and cheeks. Little blue berries reflect the light and I can see my reflection in them if I lean over.
I carefully step over them and arrive at a clearing. The same pine trees await me. If only Zay was here with me in my triumphant moment.
But he's nowhere to be found.
Gemini Chapter Nine • Opuss № I