Brave New World Chapter 13: Surviving alone👽

[Some time in the Past]

"Why couldn't we have gone to Disneyland, again?" I huffed unable to take another step.

"Because hiking in nature is always better." My mom smiled as Elena over-took us.

"Better for what? I can't even breathe!" I complained, ready to drop down on all fours.

"You just need practice. Let your body get used to the natu-" Caroline began to preach.

"Don't! You. Don't. Get. To. Preach." I glared at her.

"You can't stay mad at me forever for suggesting the hike." She argued with a smile.

"Not forever. Just long enough to make you regret suggesting this *(huff)* misery!" I opened another energy drink.

"You need a juice, not energy dri-" She tried again. Only for me to raise a finger motioning for her to stop talking, making her laugh at me and pick up speed. I rolled my eyes and tried to keep to the trail. I didn't want to be left at the end, it was going to be evening soon.

#

[Present Time]

The moment bright sunlight hit my face, a smile lit up!

I felt my make-shift hammock of knitted netting under me, saw fruity vines hanging above me, shadowing me from the direct sunlight, heard the water smashing on rocks, and my day was made!

The first thing I did after waking up, yawning, and stretching was going for a dip in the pond. Last night was the best night I had spent since I got in that damned forest. I slept like a baby, I had permanent water and food supply and my dwelling were completely predator-free, I was in heaven. Well, as much as this forest could provide.

I spent the whole day exploring this little oasis that some unknown entity had led me to. When I thought about it, it was odd. Those perfect-sized floating blue fires, that could not be ignored, leading in the perfect line towards this self-sufficient place, untouched by anything bad, were so unnatural.

It was like they were put there on purpose like someone did not want me to give up and since I had, I needed to be saved. No matter how much I wanted answers, I was alone and had barely found a means to survive let alone any proper way to get answers. So I decided to focus on surviving and leave answers to those who decided I was worth saving.

That day, along with many others after that, was spent mostly in my safe haven. I taught myself to fish from the stream, I even did a little dance when I caught my first fish. Outside my safe haven that, I called 'Cornucopia', as it provided me plentiful everything I needed, the guidebook helped me a lot.

I wrote about each new discovery and fruit, drew them in the catalog of this forest, and waited to see what side effects they may have. To my surprise, they were all medicinal and extremely delicious.

One of those days, during my random patrol, I even ran into a dead ophidian, one of whose kind had almost made me its lunch on my first day here. And that is how later I could patrol even during rain. It was so nice, to finally feel raindrops on my skin and not worry about getting a burn. Though I still preferred to avoid the rain as it did feel weird. Not acid, just weird. I covered way more ground around my 'Cornucopia' than I could in my previous state, before knowing my safe haven even existed.

I gathered so much more information about my surroundings through trial and error. Some days I barely made it back to Cornucopia, other days I brought medicinal and food plants back with me. I spent days patrolling my surroundings and learning about them while keeping my eyes open for any trace of the path toward civilization. The path that I didn't find for weeks but I did end up learning spear-making, spear-throwing, hunting with it, and even skinning and roasting my prey.

I used to pat myself on the back. The old Anara was definitely not capable of any of this. And I was honestly proud when my lonely days were beginning to be spent without shedding a single tear. I was adapting, granted it took longer than it would for a person with better stamina for adventure and even some outside help, but I was adapting. I had managed to survive almost two months alone in the forest, latter most time of which was luckily spent without any mishaps.

I knew I was a different girl and I swore to keep the same adventurous habits going on when I returned home. Yes, I still had hope of meeting Elena and my parents and telling them all about my adventures. And to say I was missing pizza and Internet and a proper bath would be an understatement.

I had certainly lost a lot of weight. I was sure if I stayed even one more month in there I might end up supporting pretty four-pack abs if not a perfect six. All my useless fat was almost gone and I couldn't wait to show off my new curves back home. Nature was an amazing thing. Of course, I didn't think that when I first came there but now, the forest had kind of grown on me. And I knew, If I could, I definitely would bring my family and friends to 'Cornucopia'.

One such day, after my two-month-versary of being in the forest, I was on my regular patrol of exploring new areas of the forest while marking trees so I always found my way back to Cornucopia and didn't have to spend the night in the open dangerous forest ever again.

It was going to be evening soon so I had to start my way back before it got dark, even though I had taught myself how to make a quick fire, it was still better to reach back in time than to attract unnecessary attention after nightfall.

I marked an arrow on the tree in the direction that I was going, so returning would be easy, that is when I noticed, not too far ahead, it seemed the foliage was lighter or maybe there was a clearing. I decided to take my chances of staying out late and investigate. I don't know what I was expecting but I needed to check and my curiosity won.

What awaited me made involuntary tears stream down my face as I smiled wider than I did when I graduated with top marks.

There was a road.

A complete tar-based road! With yellow lane strips and all. My ticket to civilization was lying there in front of me and I couldn't believe my eyes.

After all, that time, surviving, crying, begging to be rescued, I was finally the one who was going to make it home. How I wish Herbert and his old friend had made it as well. I had kept their belongings, the old man's photo and Herbert's neck chain that he was wearing when we met, to give to their families when I made it back. As it seemed, all my hoping wasn't in vain.

I dropped to my knees, the exhaustion of the past two months taking over as a strange euphoria took over. Once again I cried, but this time the tears were of uncontrollable joy. My heart was pounding at the mere thought of finally seeing other humans. I wanted to pray and be grateful but o was speechless.

After God knows how long of making myself believe as I kept staring and feeling the road, making sure it was real, I finally stood up and turned around. I marked my way to the path, confirmed and reconfirmed it, and then made my way back to Cornucopia one last time to spend the fast-approaching night and gather my belongings, before leaving for good.

Nature was mysterious and had its own ways, but this forest was a whole new level of mystery. The flora and fauna that I might have gotten used to, didn't have any similarity to anything I knew to be present on Earth. I had long given up on the stupid idea of alien abduction that I had confessed on my desperate night there, more than a month ago.

But it did feel strange to never even had encountered a single, normal rodent or lizard or even a butterfly, let alone bears, jaguars, or even monkeys, during my whole stay there. I saw many weird and pretty flowers but didn't come across any type that I had ever known in my botany class.

But it was all soon going to be my past. Soon I was going to be back and happy with my family. The mere thought of a proper toilet and my scented bubble bath made me swoon. I barely slept the whole night, due to the pre-adventure excitement.

My wait was over.

My struggle was over.

And I couldn't be happier.

Little did I know at that time, that my happiness was very misplaced. And that, what I was expecting was nothing, but wishful thinking. The reality was going to smack me in the face soon enough and wake me up for good.

**Author's note:

Roads always come from somewhere and lead to somewhere right? Is is true for Anara? Where does her road lead to?