Lost and Found

Stocktaking

Bird song. Light melodic and complex to my left. An answering call to my right.

Hold on a second, I can hear something.

What happened to the dark abyss?

I concentrate on my body. It feels warm, sun kissed even.

I smell earth, green leaves, woodsy with a hint of flowers. My fingers twitch, as I realise my eyes are shut.

I can make out dappled sun across my eyelids. An uneven transition from light to dark. I recognise it as the sun filtering through a canopy.

I must be in a forest. I lay there for a few minutes collecting my thoughts.

I am in a forest, with no idea how I got here. The last thing I remember was the abyss, and before that an accident, that I am sure ended my life.

If I had survived, I would have woken up in a hospital. So is this heaven, hell, or something inbetween.

Only one way to find out. I slowly open my eyes, so they can adjust to the light.

Large leaves create a canopy over head against a bright blue sky. A gentle breeze rustles the leaves, as they sway gently filtering the sunlight.

I slowly sit up and take in my surroundings. Trees, bushes and foliage in every direction. Confusingly the bags I was carrying into work are neatly placed behind me, at the base of a large tree.

I am still wearing my uniform. Black jeans, vest, shirt, cardigan and fleece. Remarkably they are also all in one piece. No evidence of an accident or injury.

No heavenly beings, no demonic beings either.

Although I find the forest serene, I kind of expected there to be some introduction to the afterlife. Some person or being to give be a welcome of some kind. There is no one.

What on earth is going on. I start to breathe a little faster as I realise nothing is making sense.

I was in an accident on a road, in the outskirts of a large town. Now I am in a forest. There should have been pain resulting from injuries, yet I feel great. I feel better than I have done in years. Then there was the abyss. The absolute certainty that I had died. Here I am though. Alive and breathing. It doesn't make any sense. My feet start to tap as I feel more nervous, with anxiety creeping up too.

Don't freak out, stay calm and assess the situation. I am a practical person. I can get through this. Big breaths.

I repeat this several times before I find myself calming down.

I am alone in an unfamiliar forest. I have what ever is in my bags to rely on. I have no idea which direction to go.

I have watched several survival shows, studied many primitive and traditional crafts. I have the knowledge, and the will to survive this. I need to think of a plan and set in into action.

The main four things I need to survive are water, shelter, food and warmth.

I carefully stand up and take another look around me as I walk towards my bags. It feels like it has been a long since I last saw them, and I need to take stock of what I have. There was a rather large hunting knife in the rucksack. I hope it is still there, as it will be rather useful.

Why I have a large hunting knife in my bag you ask? Well, during my rather long boring night shifts, I would pass the time away doing creative crafts. I studied historic crafts at university, and after my marriage failed, finding I had a lot more spare time, I would spend a few months trying out different ancient and tradition processes.

Back to the knife, a client had commissioned me to carve an intricate design into the leather sheaf. What better time to do it, than when I am at work, on my own, bored stiff.

The rucksack is the first bag to be opened. A small craft tool kit consisting of two scalpels and blades, other small tools; pliers, tweezers and wire cutters. A sewing kit including a couple of fat quarters of cloth, a small selection of jewellery making items (findings), various beads, my small wood carving kit including a sharpening stone. Underneath them is an a4 sketch book and pencil case. Three new books I had purchased one on homegrown medicine, traditional homestead skills, and traditional textile fabrics. Right at the bottom of the rucksack was a wooden box, and inside was the large hunting knife and sheaf.

I carefully removed the knife and inspected it. I am not overly familiar with the different categories and specifics of knives. This one has one sharp edge and a curved back edge towards the tip, and a small cross guard. I am not one hundred percent certain, but I believe it to be a bowie knife. It has a weight to it, not too heavy, but enough to know that it can do considerable damage without getting damaged. It screams quality. After a few experimental swipes I set the knife to my side. I carefully repack the rucksacks contents, moving as much as I can into the now empty box.

Moving onto my shoulder bag containing what I term as my essentials. I have worked night shifts for over 10 years, and where I work there is not a shop I can just nip to when I need anything. From this I pull out my now dead phone, and several sandwich bags.

One contains two sets of underwear a pack of sanitary towels and tampons. My periods were regular but heavy. I consider my self lucky not to suffer with cramps, but often find myself caught short and surprised when it comes. Overflow is always an issue in the first few days.

Another bag contains a small first aid kit of sorts. Paracetamol, ibuprofen, naproxen, plasters, a bandage, sanitising wipes.

The last sandwich bag contained emergency rations. Several cup a soups, sachets of porridge, cheap chocolate bars and a couple of handfuls of dried fruit and nuts.

Most of these items I placed into the rucksack, freeing up the shoulder bag. The final bag contained what would have been my food for the following couple of nights at work.

Two cheese salad sandwiches, a multi pack of ready salted crisps, two large chocolate bars, a pack of haribo, a pack of rich tea biscuits, an energy drink (in a can) and a can of vimto. Shamefully there is also a pouch of tobacco, rizla, filters and a lighter. I was reducing the amount I smoked, trying to quit. I believed I had done well to reduce down to 5 roll ups a day. Frustratingly the hardest one to cut was when I first woke up.

With there being no time like the present, I will not squander this second chance at life. I will not poison my body again. Squaring my shoulders and with a determined push I stashed all of these into the shoulder bag, leaving me a carrier to use if I can find any food to forage. For now, I will place it in the shoulder bag.

Raising back to my feet, I secure my bags in place, keeping the knife in hand, and take another look at my surroundings.

I don't know when I will find civilisation, or if anyone is looking for me.

I will need to keep an eye on the sun, and make sure I have a couple of hours before dark to make a shelter. I also need a direction to travel in. Having no idea how I got here, I cant simply backtrack. I need to keep travelling in a straight line until I reach a water source. I can then follow it downstream.

Plan in place, I keep the sun to my left and start walking.