Burning Moon (Wattpad Version)

Alternative Ending- Chapter 23 (Lilly finally finds Damien!!)

“Oooh, this is amazing,” Red said while looking around. And it was all pretty amazing. We were totally  surrounded by an enormous, lush green tropical jungle. Some of the leaves were almost my size and the jungle was so dense and thick, that in-between the massive green foliage, everything was pitch black. The vegetation was a mixture of tropical palms, and enormous trees that seemed to go up forever. It was so damp, that all the once brown trunks were painted bright green by a moist moss. Ever so often the green was punctuated by a splash of red, where a large alien looking flower peeped out from behind the thick green curtain. Huge vines hung from the branches above us and also wound themselves around and over the trees in an intricate web like structure that was everywhere.

“Your man is somewhere in there.” Red was suddenly behind me pointing into the dense bush. “Oh em gee, maybe he’ll come swinging down for you from a vine, hopefully with his shirt off like Tarzan or something,” he nudged me in the ribs. “No, I have a better idea. You should go swinging down from the tree without your top on!”

“Um…” I smiled at Red, “Hopefully there will be no swinging from vines!”

“Fine,” he sighed dramatically, seemingly genuinely disappointed that I wouldn’t consider some form of vine swinging, “But I hope you’ve planned something. Some kind of gesture? Or at least know what you are going to say to him?”

I thought about this for a moment and realize that I had absolutely no plan.

None.

Nada.

No well -thought out speech prepared, no proposal or plan as to how we were going to overcome the issues we’d had last year and no grand gesture I could make to him.

Red looked at me with wide blue eyes, “Please tell me you at least know what you’re going to say to him. I mean, you’ve come all this way, what you going to do…”

He suddenly put his hand on his hip and flicked his hair back, I assume in an attempt to imitate me, although I don’t think I’ve ever done that before, “Surprise Damien it’s me!” His imitation of me was horrible, and he made me sound a little like a drunken Cher.

I was thinking quickly now. “I don’t know what I’m going to say okay! I haven’t thought that far.”

Red shook his head worriedly, “Well, how do you plan on being together after this? Since he’s still traveling and you’re still working? Are you going to quit your job and life and go traveling with him?”

Oh crap, the very important logistical details I hadn’t yet thought about! All I knew was that I loved him, and that this year without him had been torturous. I think Red must have seen the worried look on my face because he was suddenly by my side taking my hand, “Don’t worry. I’m sure it will be fine. Love will conquer everything.” He said leading me towards the dense jungle.

I hoped so.

Being inside the jungle felt like being inside a giant hot, suffocating green house and I instantly broke  into a sweat. We continued carefully down a small path, following some small read arrows as we went. Although I couldn’t see any animals, any giant hairy spiders or whale sized snakes, you got the distinctive feeling that the jungle was literally alive with all sorts of creatures; hidden under the moss, disguised on the leafy floor and lurking suspiciously behind the large leaves. I tried not to think about the TV show I’d watched last week about the King Cobra, which was indigenous to Thailand and could grow up to 2 meters long with a venom that could kill a man in minutes. Instead, I focused on what I was going to say to Damien. Was I prepared to leave my life behind and travel with him? This time, a year down the line, the answer was definitely YES!