Chapter 1

A Story by haywenzo

The journey of aloneness begins.,...

On a sunny afternoon, when the day was its brightest, The sun sent scorching waves into the forest as it was lively and extremely beautiful. Branches of heavily built trees swayed in a uniform rhythm, and the forest looked thick as ever. Every living thing seemed busy and the forest life was fueled by the flaming sun.

Reflected light shone on the stream, as it flowed steadily while birds gulped water from one edge. A lifeless body laid helplessly close to the stream like a log of wood, his lips utterly dry and his hair tangled, his body was stiff, his eyes partly shut as the burning sun took its toll on him.

A bird perched on his pale forehead, striking its beak on his slightly pointed nose, a seeming response came from his rigid unconscious body as life was restored in bits to him, he began to twitch. His clothes were tattered and he looked unfed, he attempted to open his eyes but it wasn't much of an easy task for him. The bird noticing movement from what it thought a fallen twig flew away, and was soon lost in the midst of hefty trees. The boy kept on struggling unaided, wanting to sit up but there was no strength left to move his emaciated body, his eyes began to dilate slowly, suddenly he felt a burning sensation as light traveled deep into his dark brown eyes.

He kept still for a while before he started to tweak, this time he put all his effort to sit himself up but it seemed harder and not possible. He looked towards the direction where he could hear activities taking place and shockingly, he saw birds surrounding what looked like water, he felt a bit vigorous, a thought struck his sick head.

After few unsuccessful attempts, he was finally able to move his body, he began to roll purposefully, not faltering a bit. Soon enough he was quite close to the stream, his fading strength failed him again as he lay hopelessly beside the moving water, trying to stretch his feeble hands so he can drink out of the water. Just about the same time, the sun began to die down as the evening breeze set in. Everywhere was chilled, and he felt a little less weary, an increase in flow of the water forced the stream to spread due to the evening breeze, The birds were long gone now as they dispersed into the air. He gave 'rolling' a shot once more and he was eventually able to get close enough to drink out of the stream.

   He drank till he had his fill, he washed his pale face and the day looked less obscure, though he felt hollow and a tad weakened. He raised his head, nothing seemed captivating around him except the movement of fishes in the water. It dawned on him that he was in the middle of nowhere, and at that moment he decided to shout for help, he opened his mouth to shout but to his amazement, he couldn't hear his voice. He sat there, alone and bewildered.
              The day began to round up, and the night spread its carpet; Darkness flowed into the atmosphere, and the night chills became active. The wind blew subtly, and the movement of the trees produced a singing like rhythmic noise that seemed to turn the night life on.
                The boy woke up from his slumber, realising he had just passed out again, the burning thirst he felt initially had somewhat turned into an enormously terrible hunger during the course of stress compelled sleep, he could feel his worms feeding on his intestine, and he could have sworn that they relished in it. The moon shone at what looked like its brightest, and the little reflected light from its weak glow rested immensely on sections of the stream, he could scarcely see anything, as darkness ruled the night and had command over every other living thing in the forest.
                Different creepy sounds came from different angles of the forest, he closed his eyes hoping fervently that this was just a nightmare, at least he'd appreciate one right about now. But reality has never been this real, it was so clear to him now that he was left with no choice than to anticipate a solitary life, one full of torments. While his mind wandered about, with scary thoughts taking over his unsettled mind, his stomach began to send perpetual announcements to his brain, declaring its desire for food or at least anything close to eatable.
                   He had not an idea what the forest could offer such an helpless boy, who woke up in the middle of nowhere. With what seemed his last strength, he advanced toward the thick forest, principally dominated by hefty trees, it was like an adventure, on the quest for food, but closer to a death trip as the forest could be anything but safe.