Page 41 - Cornice Grade 8

Survival Story
No Way Out
l Aabha Shrestha l
“Why would you do that !” I yelled at my mom.
She had spent all my college money on her debt.
I had worked really hard to earn that money
and was aggrieved at what she did. Furiously, I
stormed out the room to get some air. As I took
fast strides on my way out, I noticed a sketchy
figure following me. A sketchy man kept follow-
ing me for an hour straight. At that point I was
scared so I started running, running without any
consciousness. After 30 minutes or so, he was out
of sight. But I was in the middle of a huge for-
est, the forest was tannin-brown. The grass was
crispy under my feet. The trees were skyscrap-
ers tall. I was lost, lost in this huge woodland.
I neither had any map or compass with me, I
screamed, “Help! help! Somebody help me!” but
no one could hear me as I was surrounded by
huge, thick trees. Spending the whole afternoon
looking for an exit, luck wasn’t on my side. The
sun started to set, I was parched. Finally I took
a break near a stream, the water looked pretty
clear so I took a deep breath and drank a huge
gulp of water.
I wanted to continue my mission of getting out
of this place but was too exhausted, so I had to
find a safe place to stay the night. After a long
search, I finally found a den. I slowly crept in- seen, I buried the
side and decided it would be best to spend the
night there. Using my jacket as a sheet to keep
underneath me and a bunch of soft hay as a pil-
low, sleep came quickly. I woke up in the middle
of the night by a rustling sound from the near-
by bush. I slowly and quietly made my way out
the den, my heart skipped a beat at what I saw.
There was a huge tiger waiting for its prey. As per
my research in the past, I steadily backed away
from the tiger and ran for my life till it was out
of sight.
Slowly the sun rose, making the sky beautiful
and bringing vivid thought to mind. I was not
going to give up just yet so I once again went on
in search of an exit.
I took a new route, but that was a bad decision.
“Oh my god,” I muttered, “A hyena!” I silently
tried to get out of that place, but I stepped on a
crispy leaf which let out a loud sound in the quiet
forest. Scared that the hyena heard me, I swiftly
climbed up a huge tree nearby. After some hours,
I slowly climbed down and rushed to a new
route. I started losing hope, “What am I going to
do?” I thought to myself, if I hadn’t stormed out
like that this would never have happened.
To stay alive, I needed to find food, fire, and a
shelter. With the thought of people coming to
find me, I had to leave some trace to help them.
So I looked around, and a plant caught my eye.
It was a bush of African violet. The bright flow-
er lightened my mood and I decided to leave a
trail of it. Letting half of
the flower to be
other half in the
ground so the wind
wouldn’t blow it. I con-
tinued my hunt. Fi-
nally I found a small
house, it looked old,
dirty, and gave
me chills. I had
no other option