[Past]

"Why are we doing this again?" I asked annoyed.

"Because we are nice." Caroline responded sarcastically.

"What does being nice has anything to do with us being here?" I whined again, "I don't even like sports."

"I know! Just endure for a little while more." Caroline gained pace, getting ahead of me, already bored of my whining and ignoring me.

"Care!" I whisper-yelled to get her attention.

"Anara. Shut up so this can end sooner." She said without any hint of anger. I gave a look as she tried to coax me, "Your parents finally got a day off from university for you. Don't make them regret it."

"We both know they came here to see Elena and me receiving her certificates, not watching me pathetically run around-" I grumbled.

"Shush now, Miss Daniel needs our help so we are giving her, which was your idea by the way." She pointed out and I rolled my eyes huffing, "Why did you volunteer to help her if you didn't want to?"

I kept looking at her unimpressed, "I genuinely wanted to help, okay? I just didn't know that help would entail us running from building to building to finish the details of the event."

"You regretting it?"

"No."

"You look like your heart's about to stop due to running, and it wasn't even a five-minute run to this building. Do you wanna sit down?"

"That'd be lovely. And a glass of cold water too. Oh, you can do the rest of the errands yourself. I don't know how you can run so well, especially in heels. Just come get me when everything is done." I collapsed on the stairs leading to the arts building where we had gone to put damaged decorations so they won't ruin the event.

Caroline just gave me her water bottle and rolled her eyes, running inside alone and leaving me huffing on the steps.

#

[Present]

The day was getting hotter and as expected I was getting thirstier. Most of the water in my body had already perspired and I had yet to find a viable water source. Most of my food was not edible anymore. One of the slices of bread on my sandwich had started to mold. Hunger was not my trouble yet, thirst was. According to studies one can go more than 2 weeks without food but cannot survive 3 days without water.

The forest was so confusing but thankfully I hadn't encountered any predator of any sort so far today. On the darker side, there was still no trace of civilization or any path leading to it. I could not give up but that does not mean I didn't want to.

I felt the urge to stop and drink every five minutes but I could neither stop nor had any water left to drink. My dirty clothes were sticking to my sweaty body and my dirty hair was in knots. And I hadn't used a proper toilet in two days. I had honestly hoped to have found civilization by now.

I walked until I could no more and then slumped on the roots of a thick weird tree with hanging branches. I closed my eyes and tried to use saliva to wet my dry lips. It must've been noon by now since the heat was becoming unbearable. For a few moments, I just sat there weighing my options and throwing profanities at my awful luck.

That was until I heard rustling. I stilled for a moment.

The peace was over.

Something, most probably a predator, was close. I stayed frozen hoping against odds that whatever it was might ignore me, wishful thinking. But my eyes jerked open as I felt something slimy encircling my right ankle.

I opened my eyes to see, that what I previously thought of as aerial roots were acting like tentacles of a giant-terrestrial-woody octopus, the tree under the shade of which I had made the mistake to lower my guard.

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My first instinct was as useless as it had been two days ago. I simply tried to pry the thick mucilaginous root from my ankle to no avail until another one came to rest slowly on my shoulder which I noticed to be dropping from above. I looked up and to my horror, I saw all the hanging vines of the tree, now alive and dripping with some sweet-smelling go-ey stuff, wriggling towards me.

My body immediately got into the flight part of the fight-or-flight response. Adrenaline kicked in and I reached for the knife that I had tucked in my belt to reach easily after my fateful adventures so far. I tried to cut the tentacular root that was now blocking the blood flow to my foot which was turning blue. The slime made it hard to cut while the root reacted by tightening its hold.

The vines were taking their time reaching me as the root holding me decided to pull me so I was half hanging upside down. I kept giving small cuts to the root but it was harder in real life than they showed in movies.

My actual horror paralyzed me for a few seconds when that seemingly useless cavity in the trunk of the tree started widening and filling with that same sugary slime that was everywhere.

It finally dawned on me, that the humongous Carnivorous tree was like the Venus flytrap or the pitcher plant. It had looked harmless but now I was going to be plant food. The circle of life was going to be complete.

But what about my family?

How would they know where I was and what had happened to me?

I had a sudden urge to hug my sister, only to realize I won't be able to do that if become the salad's lunch.

Another surge of adrenaline and I was finally able to cut my ankle restraint, making me slump back to the forest floor that was now glowing everywhere the slime was. I got up just in time a slithering root reached for me again. The vines above me had created a sort of a cover like what a trap would be for flying prey. And the roots were starting to act all gluey sticking my feet to them, making each step harder and also forming a cage-shaped boundary so I won't be able to leave.

But I had to leave.

Before the final gap hole of escape could be closed I used all my strength dumping my bag-pack to reduce weight and jumped out of my death trap. The feelers seemed to notice my presence or lack thereof, as they turned in my direction to make sure I did not escape.

I wanted to run but realized my ankle won't let me. Apparently, I had landed on the same ankle that was still trying to recover the tentacle's hold. The vines from above were gaining speed so I had no choice but to ignore my possibly fractured ankle and run for dear life. And stumbling away I did my best to outrun the tree which had decided to take me for lunch.

When I could run no more, the adrenaline rush was over and with my ankle killing me, I finally stopped to take a breath. A sudden thought made a sarcastic laugh escape my throat.

If my two-days ago self were to know how I was almost tree lunch and barely escaped, I wouldn't believe myself. That Netflix-addict woman was definitely not capable of what I just did. And I knew at that moment whatever the future brought if I survived to even one night, I will always have nightmares of what had just happened. It had possibly given me a lifetime of PTSD.

By this time I had dropped back to the forest floor, my right foot unable to support me anymore. I looked around in caution if any more of that predatory species was growing near me, finding none I turned to look back at my almost diner, to see it gradually retreating while squirting that florescent sweet-smelling slime in random directions for meters as if angry for the loss of meal.

I lay on my back, facing the little sky foliage that allowed me to look, without actually seeing anything. My eyes stuck on the void created by recent events.

Then the waterworks started, one by one, silent tears of misery.

The pain in my ankle made my whole right leg up to the knee feel numb and ache simultaneously. Silent tears turned to soft sobs, which in turn got louder and louder until I was in a full-blown crying fit. I was so done with everything. I wanted it all to be over. I wanted to close my eyes to the forest and open them to my family. I never thought I'd miss my sister this much. I screamed their names into the forest. For a second I didn't even care if any other predator heard me, it's not like I could run anyway.

The latter-most feeling lasted only a moment until I heard rustling above me. My heart skipped a beat. What had I gotten myself into now? My tears were still wet on my face. My breaths were raspy. I didn't want to look up. But the recent events forced my head up.

There was nothing there. But I was sure I had heard leaves rustling. That's when I saw a small rat-like animal on a high branch of the tree right beside me nibbling on some strange nuts. I had seen them around but didn't dare touch them. I sighed it was a false alarm. Just when I turned my head to take a look at my feet, a small sharp needlelike thing landed sharply on a dry leaflet on the forest floor beside me.

I immediately looked back up to see the rodent peeling an acorn-like nut and throwing the needle-like sepals down, carelessly. Before I could move to get out of range a needle came flying straight at my right shoulder, which still hadn't completely recovered.

In a matter of seconds, my whole right side was stiff paralyzed as I started to lose vision and hearing as well. Slowly I lost control of my whole body as I lay unable to move and quite vulnerable on the microbe-infested forest floor. The last thing I remember was another needle hitting my left cheekbone as I lost consciousness entirely, with only one thought in my head,

If things stayed this way I might never be able to return home and this eternity might be shorter than expected.

Whether I would give up or not, depended on whether I woke up or not.