[Past]

"Morning sunshine!" Caroline jumped on my bed, squishing me in my blanket as I groaned.

"Go away, it's Sunday!" I grumbled, not opening my eyes, hoping my overenthusiastic bestie would leave me alone but she reminded me.

"Exactly! It's The Sunday! And we were supposed to go to that sci-fi book launch remember? It was your idea!"

My ears perked up, but I wasn't yet ready to leave my dreamland and leave my beloved bed.

"Come on! You've been nagging me for months, you can't bail out on me now!" She tugged at my blanket, making sunlight reach me through the curtains that she had already parted.

"Just f-" the rest of my sentence became inaudible as I tried to pull the blanket back from her.

"What?" She asked, momentarily loosening her grip on my blanket.

"I said, just Five. More. Minutes!" I clarified and immediately ducked in my blanket, securing my hold on it so she couldn't pry it away this time.

"Fine."

I was surprised she gave that easily, but then she pulled the wild card, "Your mom made waffles and I brought Nutella. Oh, and Mr. Deniz left some cash for his favorite daughter."

Eyeing my bed like a kid outside candy store I begrudgingly got up, "Get your stinky shoes off my carpet!" I snapped involuntarily and she raised her hands in surrender.

"Sorry, your 'clean' highness! I saw you asleep half an hour before the book launch and I know what a sloth you are, so I forgot your royal carpet."

I poked my tongue at her and went into the shower.

#

[Present]

Once the thought of the harsh reality settled in, there was nothing stopping my bursting waterfall of tears. I was exhausted, alone, scared, and very confused. In just a few hours, I had been abducted from my family home, brought to a strange forest and abandoned by anonymous entities, survived a strange snake attack, and was sitting on the moist forest floor with allergic hands and a half-eaten meal and absolutely no idea what to do and where to go!

That was a strange feeling as ironic as it was, how I always dreamt of an adventure that would blow my mind and suddenly I was thrown into exactly just that but I didn't really see myself enjoying that possibility anymore.

In fact, all I wanted was to go back home and cuddle my pillow and forget this painful nightmare. Painful, yes, because of the sting of allergy on my hands due to the ophidian's sanguine fluid burning like acid. And not only had I lost my appetite but a migraine was starting as I felt drained of my literal and optimistic energy.

This was a reality. I was really stuck in that damned forest. And there was going to be no waking up from that nightmare anytime soon. Unless I tried and found my way out of those woods and got to some track or trail or any kind of pathway to any civilization. Painfully enough I picked myself up and dragged the bag-pack on my shoulder with my sore hands, which made me wince, reminding me of the hit my shoulder had received from the serpentine.

With a newfound determination, I stood and chose to walk in a random direction, for the second time that day, with a pounding head.

After the day that I had, a short walk seemed like hours. Especially when it dawned on me that I've been through the same set of familiar bushes a few times already. I was going in circles. My normal sense of direction was marred not only by my ill state of body and mind but also due to the thick foliage which won't let me distinguish between the east and west. The worst part was the fact that I could sense the dimming of daylight by the second, which meant it would soon be nightfall.

Nightfall did not only mean that I could no longer keep walking but also that lack of light in such a dense forest will welcome so many dangers that I hadn't yet thought of, especially the fact that I needed to find a secure enough place to lower my guard and sleep, if possible.

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Sleep, my body needed it but I also knew that under the given circumstances I might end up blacking out.

In any case, I needed to stop. I couldn't keep walking without a trace of direction and my splitting migraine was sure to make me puke my half meal. But my hands felt better as the effect of that reptile's fluid seemed to be wearing off. Whatever the plan I needed to make, I would do it tomorrow, if I survived the night.

To survive the night I needed to find The place. I stopped to assess my surroundings. My heart sank at the sight that awaited me. For someone who had had a very pampered brought up so much so that spoiled-due-to-comfort would be a better phrase to describe me, the scenery in my sight was an utter nightmare.

The moist humus full of insects and weeds under my feet topped with, what might be allergen bushes and the thick foliage on the trees with weird winding trunks knotting into each other, blocking most of the sky and sunlight.

I stood there in the middle of nowhere, contemplating my options, for almost a quarter of an hour. After summoning all my rational logic, I decided to clear up some space under a bush. I knew it wasn't the best or most hygienic of options but my gut had always failed me and thus I was prepared for the worst.

I was ready for another spider nest under the bush I had chosen but what awaited me was what I couldn't even imagine in my wildest nightmares.

It wasn't just any spider nest. It seemed like a bug-infested nest of massive tarantula-ish arachnids, only more hairy-er. I gave an involuntary shudder followed by a scream I didn't even know I could muster under normal circumstances. But these weren't normal circumstances and so I was yards away from the bush without even registering that I had put the distance between myself and the bush.

For what felt like an hour I just stood there my eyes trained on the undisturbed web-nest full of my nightmares. I could neither get myself nor my eyes to move away from the terrifying scene. But when my feet couldn't keep me upright anymore I realized I still hadn't got a place to spend the night. Who knew what this hell of a place held and when and how long will it take me to get out of here. I finally willed my body to turn around and analyze my surroundings once more.

Then it hit me.

Why hadn't I thought of it before?

I guess since most of the things done in movies aren't authentic I never thought to apply the basic instinct of climbing a tree as Katniss Everdeen did. But then I wasn't much of a climber either. In fact, I had never climbed a tree before. I was the naturally lazy type.

But back home I had people to do chores for me, now I was all alone, terrified, and exhausted.

The twilight had approached, and I was starting to lose sight since I was Myopic. Odds did not seem to be in my favor, I didn't expect a person like me to survive. Anyway, I picked a tree that seemed not too high with a bunch of strange branches knotted midway, where I might be able to lower my guard and get a wink of sleep without falling off the tree. Now I only needed to find a way to reach there.

My hands still itched and my feet were sore, I had never walked this much ever before. I never exercised so I had gained a weird pear-shaped body that wasn’t going to help me at all. I had a severe lack of stamina due to a long-term absence of workouts.

But I needed to survive. I just had to. I had to get back to my family. That mere thought was enough to push me to take the leap of faith and trust that my body won't give up on me and that my adrenaline would be enough to drive my survival instincts.

I finally secured my backpack on my painful shoulders and pleaded with my body to help me survive. With that, I grabbed a vine hanging from the tree I had chosen, made sure it was secure, and hauled myself up. One careful step at a time. It sure was harder than it was shown on the T.V.

I almost lost my footing or hold more than once and even slipped on the moist branches twice. It wasn't a marshy area but the air was so humid and every surface seemed wet. About halfway toward my desired destination, I dared to look down.

Another mistake.

Because then my acrophobia got a chance to shine. So much so, that I almost dropped myself back to the ground which wasn't even very far.

Breathless, sweaty, scared, drained, and desolate I reached the mossy knot of branches that was supposed to be my dwelling for the night. I gently scrubbed some of the places which were thankfully spider-less. My shoulder, on the other hand, was killing me, the climb had worsened the agony. I unbuttoned my shirt and uncovered my shoulder to see, that it wasn't only swollen but frighteningly purple-ish black.

Darkness was surrounding me, just as the cold did. The temperature was dropping rapidly and my stomach growled. My hands felt much better as I took a sip of water and fetched myself a bite to eat from the feast I had packed.

As I sat up in the winding branches munching on some Russian delights, my thoughts wandered. I couldn't believe all that had happened in a day. My sister's baby shower seemed ages ago. A part of me wanted to believe that this all was a nightmare and once I woke up, I'd be back at my own home surrounded by my own family and not in this creepy jungle. But the other part of me knew this nightmare was my new reality. How I had even survived the day, I had no idea.

And yet I further had no idea what would await me tomorrow when and if I woke up.

I had never been this alone in my life so far. Sitting in that tree made me feel even more lonely than I had in the whole day. But I was busy surviving before, now I was awaiting sleep. Now I realized how alone and vulnerable I was. Now I was truly frightened, utterly creeped out, and mind-blowingly exhausted.

So despite all, I finally gave in, or more like sleep at last engulfed all my senses and I blacked out.