Jungle Lovers

Chapter Four

Panic drove me faster and, unfortunately it seemed, deeper into the forest. Even amidst my panic I knew I wasn't being very careful and it was that carelessness which caused me to maybe take a wrong turn or possibly shift slightly in my trek. I actually had no clue where I went so wrong, but either way it all ended up with the same outcome—Me lost in a creepy jungle at night.

The darkness crept in all around me and my nerves had become completely frayed. The slightest brush of a palm or hanging vine that I didn't see, or rather couldn't see, and I was screaming like a loon and running further into the forest's clutches.

Calm down. You just need to calm down, catch your breath...Think!

No matter how many times I told myself to do just that, I couldn't calm down. The further I walked into the dark the more lost I would get and the more frustrated I became.

'Janey, I don't think it's safe in there. Maybe we should wait until morning, the sun will be settin...' My father's voice reverberated in my mind softly, like an echo in a deep canyon floating back to me.

“Ugh, you're so stupid, Janie! Why...why couldn't you listen to your father?” I bent down to untangle a wayward vine from my ankle and the thoughts of my father now added to my worry.

I knew my father must be worried sick by now and I felt horrible that I had done this to him after all he had been through. And worrying him was the least of my sins. I had left him wounded and alone...vulnerable to any beast silently stalking the outskirts of the jungle looking for an easy meal. I am sure I was in just as much danger, but at least I was a moving target.

Tears began to sting my eyes, Don't you dare cry Janie, just keep it together. You can get out of this as long as you keep your wits about you.

“Moss. Grows on...the North side of trees. Well, that bit of Girl Scout knowledge might be handier in the daylight....nighttime, hmm, the stars...”

My eyes trailed up to the sky above only to find that the foliage was so thick that even the light of the moon didn't have much of a chance being seen from the ground. The breath left my lungs on a frustrated sigh as I became more disheartened at ever finding the beach.

“It's an island for fuck's sake, Janie. At some point this stupid jungle has to hit the ocean again...And I have officially gone the way of the nutters, I mean, talking to ones self can never be good.”

'As long as you don't answer yourself then you don't qualify as certifiable.' My father's words whispered in my mind and I chuckled. Even though I was beyond lost in a strange and eerie jungle alone, thoughts of my father could comfort me and ease the panic.

“Well Janie, just head in a straight line and you can't miss the beach. Here's hoping this is a very tiny island.” Picking up my pace once again I started forward with my new plan of finding the beach and following the shoreline until I found my father.

The interior of the jungle was hot and muggy. Sweat poured off of me by the bucket full and suddenly the possibility of death by dehydration became a real and immediate concern.

Thankfully the canopy of trees above me thinned and the pale light of the moon dappled the path around me. I was grateful for the small amount of light, at least I could see the dark landscape before me and no longer ran the risk of being concussed by slamming head first into a low lying branch.

The landscape looked almost alien in the silver glow or maybe more like the earth was captured in a gray scale photograph. The leaves and vines which were a vivid green in the sun were now shades of light and dark gray in the minimal light offered up by the night sky.