Lost

Chapter 3: Alive and Alone

Massaging her neck, Salma watched the dark shadow of a bat fly towards a gigantic shadow behind her. It was a mountain, Salma realized. No less than at least fifty feet high, it towered over her with its slopes covered in thick vegetation. Somewhere in the middle, she could make out the silvery-grey of metal railings glowing in the moonlight. Salma squinted her eyes. Were those guard rails?

Not able to tell, Salma turned away. She figured she was somewhere in the wild, a forest, or a valley, perhaps. Confused, as a bee trying to get nectar from the sun, Salma tried to stand up. Her knees were just as sore as her elbows. Salma was certain her arms and legs were strewn by dark bruises. It took her sometime before she managed to get to her feet. Her shoulders sagged under a heavy weight. The back-pack slipped off of her back, making her wheel around.

So this was why my head was lying lower than the rest of my body, Salma thought, rubbing her painful neck. But what happened? She questioned herself as she stared at the bag.

The bag?!

Something clicked.

One thing led to another and she remembered everything. Asim asking her for a jacket, the bag flying out of her grasp, the driver stepping on the brake . . . The realization slapped her to reality as the accident came back to her in flashes. She stared at the bag in utter shock and horror. Her heart started pounding harder than before. Her breathing became labored. Images of her fall flew across her haywire mind.

The bus skidding dangerously close to the edge.

"No!" Salma gasped.

Her getting slammed against the door.

"No!"

The guy with amber eyes blocking her way.

"It can't be!" Salma gasped as tears streamed down her face.

The door getting ripped off its hinges. BANG!!

"Please, no!"

Her fingers losing their grip on the pole and then. . .

Salma's wide eyes snapped up at the mountain, then back at the thick bush. Pain shot through her neck but she ignored it. Noticing its many broken twigs, the last piece of puzzle fell back in place. Fortunately for her, she had landed on a thicket which cushioned her fall. Salma turned her attention back to the mountain. With her heart going frantic in her chest, there was only one coherent thought in her head as her eyes became fixated on the guard rails.

That was the road and she had to climb back to it.

But how?

Salma was frozen in place as the grimness of her situation slowly sunk in. Just the thought of her being alone, in some unknown place, at night, all by herself, made her blood run cold. She was shaking with fear. In one hastened move, she shouldered her bag and started looking around frantically. Her lungs refused to fill with enough oxygen. Her mind burst into a thousand questions she had no answer to.

What am I going to do? Am I alone? What if someone is here? A shiver ran down her spine, her hands shaking uncontrollably. Or something? Are there any animals around? Wolves? Hyenas? Leopards?