Stranger in the Woods

Chapter 10

I came to consciousness with a sudden rush of pain and a dim awareness.  I heaved as if I had never taken a breath before and my chest felt as if it would burst under my lung’s expansion.  I opened my mouth to cry out but no sound came.  I could taste grime in my mouth and, although I tried to spit, I could not seem to execute that simple function.  I struggled to raise my head.  The left side of my face, which had been on the ground, felt completely frozen and numb.  I tried to move my arms so that I could raise myself up but they too felt numb and useless.  After enormous effort I finally raised myself up slightly and rested on my elbows.  I looked around.  My first realization was that I somehow must have moved myself out from the stream that was now about three feet behind me, but I had no recollection of doing it.  No doubt though, had I had remained in the stream after my fall, I would have certainly frozen to death or drown.  

I did not know how long I had been lying there on the ground.  Perhaps it had been only a few moments?  I doubted it had been too long, or else I would have probably have been frozen to death even out from the stream.  As I pulled on roots and rocks, raising myself up from the ground so that I could sit, I tried to look around and see if there was any sign of anybody or anything that could help me.  There was not.  I was completely alone.  Except for the forest and whatever creatures there were unseen around me.  I was alone.  

I saw my pocket knife by my feet and slowly bent to pick it up.  It was then I saw a large, bleeding gash in my right hand.  With the sight of the wound came a throbbing pain that began to burn.  I quickly picked up the knife with my other hand and struggled to sit on a large flat stone at the water’s edge.  I don’t know if the knife had caused the gash or something else on my way down the hill, but I realized that I had to bind my wound for fear of bleeding too much.  I took out a handkerchief from my pocket wrapped it around my wounded hand.  The pain was dizzying.  I pressed my wounded hand tightly against my stomach and winced.

I struggled to raise myself and after a few attempts was able to gain my feet.  I saw where the embankment along the stream was lower about twenty feet downstream, so I headed carefully over the loose rocks toward it.  As I walked a few paces into the woods I looked around to see if I could locate the tracks but there were none.  I then, absentmindedly, remembered my fall.  And as a light snow began to fall again, I realized that wherever the tracks were, they were long gone to me.  I began to feel a despair as I remembered when I had first stepped into the woods feeling a sense of predestination.  Was what I experiencing now predestined?  Was I predestined to die out in the woods on some foolhardy adventure?   

I stood as still as I could and tried to slow my heavy breathing.  I again was aware of the silence.  I strained my hearing so that I could listen and see if I could hear any sounds.  I heard nothing but the sound of the woods; the silent quiet of the woods.

I did not know what to do.  I turned and looked back at where I had fallen and tried to guess where I had fallen from and where the tracks may have been leading.  I was only guessing, but I had no idea of what to do.  Out of desperation, I began to walk in the direction that I believed the tracks were heading before I fell.  I could barely climb the hill so I picked up a fallen limb I could manage to lift and used it as a makeshift walking stick to assist me.  But even so, I stumbled many times.  After what seemed an hour I made it to the top of the next hill.  I had no bearing.  I looked down around me and all I saw were the bare shapes of trunks and limbs through the mist of lightly falling snow.  I felt myself begin to weep.  A deep sobbing from the bowels of my soul.  It welled up in side me and I began to shake.  I felt the burning of pain well up from the core of my being.  A tangible pain that made me want to collapse and die.  I knelt forward, dropped to my knees, and closed my eyes.

“Oh God!  Oh God, what am I doing?  What have I done?” I cried.

And then I heard it again.  I faint snort.  And a soft thud on the ground behind me.  I tried to remain still but my breathing was so labored that my body rose and fell rhythmically and I remained hunched over on my knees.  My body burned with pain from my wounds, but I did not rise up nor turn around to see what was behind me.  

Slowly, I opened my eyes and saw the snow covered ground.  I thought I could hear breathing behind me, but I wasn’t sure if it was my mind playing ticks on me or not?  I wanted to turn my head and look over my shoulder but instead I remained solidified in my kneel.  I began to be afraid and even if I had wanted to I could not have raised myself up.  It was as if I was in the presence of a great king and I was a waif.  I was knelt, appropriately, and humbled before the majesty of the presence near me.  I tried to listen closely to see if I could hear anything more.  There was silence. The silence of the woods.  I exhaled a sigh of relief.

I slowly raised up and picked up the broken limb I was using for a walking stick.  I leaned against the limb and tried to lift myself to my feet.  As I began to straighten there was a low whinny behind me!

My body went limp and I fell to the ground in fear.  Prostrate.  Like an involuntary flood gate breaking, tears streamed down my cheeks.  I was not crying.  My eyes were wide with fear.  My heart seemed as if it would explode inside me.  I could not breathe.  I lied there on the cold, hard earth.  And then I felt a hard, sharp object push against my back between the shoulder blades.  It pushed a bit harder against me.  I knew that it was the end.  I awaited the final thrust of the horn but it did not come.  The pressure subsided and I breathed out, but then it came again.  However, this time it was not so forceful.  Then it released and came again, and again the same thing.  

A thought came to my mind that it was nudging me.  Perhaps encouraging me to get up.  I moved slightly.  I did not know how I mustered the courage, but I rose slowly to my knees.  I lifted up the tree limb and raised myself to my feet.  I had to stand for a moment for I shook so much I feared that I would fall again.  I then slowly turned to face what was behind me.

It was a unicorn.  

The snow slowly fell and I felt as if I were in an image out of a dream.  All my pain and fear seemed to drain away and I felt warm and secure.  I just stared at it.  I did not know what to do.  Why had I come out here?  What was I planning to accomplish?  Was I going to catch it and take it someplace safe?  Was I going to warn it?  Did I just want to see it?  I stood there.  I couldn’t help but close my eyes and I felt as if I slipped into a deep dream.