Page 46 - Cornice Grade 8

Survival Story

Holy cow, Athena thinks, a theory sparking in neck so that they’d know when the animal ar-
her head, she’s never thought of that … rives, only for them to realize that the cat would
eat them on instinct and that it would be like
But anyway. The brunette girl slings the three asking for a death wish. It feels the same, now,
backpacks off of her shoulders, pulling out ev- except that she’s the group of mice, the fruit is
erything else she’d grabbed and stuffed in her the cat, and the goal to tie a bell around the cat’s
pockets. From among the cluster of items, she neck is similar to her goal to get food. She stares
can see a few things … A flashlight … a water up at one of the many coconut trees, wondering
bottle but no food (yippee!) … a rope … a tent how to get the coconuts falling without having
and a sleeping bag … a pocket knife, among oth- one fall to her head and potentially cracking it
ers. Strangely, after seeing these items, she feels open.
calm. Using basic logic, she starts thinking of
the events that would happen after the plane After moments of thinking, Athena gets an idea,
wouldn’t arrive. The airport staff would start and she starts working. She cuts a length of rope
getting worried that there hadn’t been any calls with friction and ties its ends together, before
from the pilot, and thus, they’d start sending twisting it right in the center to make a figure-8
out search parties to scour for the plane. Athe- shape. Then, she places a foot inside one of the
na would have at least two days before they’d holes before beginning to climb up the tree, the
come to get her, at most. Until then, she’d have ropes around her feet preventing them from
to survive on this wannabe slipping. She slowly starts
paradise on her own. The first coconut comes out quite easily, scaling the tree, reaching
and Athena throws it to the sand. The the coconuts, and grip
Athena starts on the tent next four are stubborn and don’t come the palm, rotating it. She
first. She manages to work out until she tugs them gently. tries not to look back at
out where most of the the ground, knowing that
poles and pegs should go despite being a begin- she’ll surely faint from the height if she does.
ner in this, though she doesn’t have a mallet and Success.
thus has to use her body force, finally, she man-
ages to erect a small tent. This will be fine enough The first coconut comes out quite easily, and
until she can find a better shelter, or until they Athena throws it to the sand. The next four are
find her. A deafening bang! stubborn and don’t come out until she tugs them
gently. However, Athena had been a little stupid,
Makes her jump in a mixture of surprise and fear, pulling one too hard. With a sickening crack! a
followed by a sudden jerk of the ground, making ringing pain to her shoulder makes her cry out
her fall over due to the imbalance and clamping in pain, clenching her teeth in pain while letting
her hands over her ears. Coughing out the sand her arm off of the tree, only being supported by
that has accumulated in her mouth, she shakily the other.
gets up, her mind ringing again.
Okay, that is dislocated. Mission abort right now.
Food, she thinks, her heart still pounding from
the explosion. I need food. Easier said than done, Fearing for her life, she slowly descends, her
though. Athena remembers this one story about forearms scratched by the splinters from the
these mice who plan to tie a bell around a cat’s trees and the pain in her shoulder slowly numb-