Page 48 - Cornice Grade 8

Survival Story

Memories Unfolded

l Sharon Rawal l

Ugh, he groaned. Tired green eyes look every- when he woke up in the forest. But he’s been try-
where for a lighter and a familiar, white, and red ing to remember and he writes everything he re-
pack of cigarettes. The most common ones that members by carving his thoughts on wood.
sell quickly due to their low price, there were
probably only a few left. There’s only such a lim- Gilbert hesitated but had to get up to feed Iris.
ited resource of cigarettes in a forest. The man And no, Iris is not a human. She’s a wild bear, a
ran his fingers through his tangled brown-tinged grizzly bear to be exact. Iris has been there for
hair, searching for what he was looking for eve- Gilbert ever since he first arrived here. They’re
rywhere. He eventually gives up and throws best friends.
himself on his sleeping bag, getting some shut-
eye. “Ah, it’s time for dinner isn’t it Iris?” Iris squeals
showing that she was very excited to eat.
Blinking slowly, the noise of birds chirping, ve-
hicles moving, people talking could all be heard. Gilbert smiles as he walks towards his table filled
A flashback. Confusion raced around his head with jars of insects and a variety of plants. He
and everything was blurred. A familiar figure of slowly opens the jar and takes out a handful of
a woman was noticed. He had been seeing her in plants and a few insects. He then whistles calling
all his confusion, past memories. The familiar sil- Iris to eat. Iris grumbles up each and every in-
houette seemed to haunt him, making him groan sect and plant and then licks Gilbert’s face. both
and whine when he caught a glimpse of her. Cu- of them lay down, Gilbert falling asleep on Iris’s
riosity fondled his brain, wanting to know who back. Soon enough, both of them fall asleep.
the mystery woman was so desperately but could
never catch what she looked like. It’s 5:00 a.m. and Gilbert rubs his eyes as he
wakes up. It isn’t a normal morning like the other
This is Gilbert, a 20-year-old man who has been days. It’s extra cold, and it’s snowing. The snow
living in Aokigahara Forest ever since his plane has covered up his tent and the wood sticks he
crashed and was stranded there. Gilbert has been collected have also been covered by the snow. It
adapting to the forest for about 2 years now. He was officially winter.
has learned about everything in the forest by Iris was still asleep
now. He hasn’t been able to get out of the forest. not noticing the
Well, it’s mostly he never really tried to. There cold at all.
was this one time he tried to search for an exit
out of the forest, but instead, all he could find “Winter is finally
was dead bodies, skulls, bones, and some wild here.” I should begin
animals roaming around the forest. But that was clearing up the snow
2 years ago, that time where he first landed in the and then gather some
forest. Life in the forest was very hard and stress- more sticks and stones.
ful for him. Gilbert had forgotten everything After all, it’s winter.