ALONE

Dry leaves crackled and twigs snapped as she stumbled through the undergrowth. Never in a million years did she even see this coming when she woke up this morning. The sun had set ages ago and she could barely see her own hand when she held it up in front of her face. She couldn’t even figure out where she was as everything seemed to be the same. She stopped in a clearing and looked around, but she couldn’t tell if she was closer to the entrance of the forest or if she had just ended up going deeper and deeper into the forest. She seemed to have been walking around in circles for hours now but she couldn’t even get her bearings right.
Her stomach gave a another grumble which only served to remind her that her last meal was breakfast that day, and the only thing she’d had since then was a bar of Snickers she’d squirreled into her pocket after breakfast thinking it would be a handy treat to have during the day. Little did she realize that it would end being her only meal after breakfast. She cursed her stupidity, for suggesting that they play hide and seek today. She cursed herself for finding the hidey hole in the tree early yesterday morning when she had gone for a walk before any of the other girls had woken up. She cursed herself harder for thinking it would be such a great hiding place, never mind that she had just barely managed to make it out of the woods that first time when she’d found it. She didn’t realize that she would wind up so deep in the forest or that she would fall asleep waiting for them to find her and lose complete track of time in the process!
She turned suddenly when she heard a noise coming from somewhere behind here. It sounded like an animal of some sort and her teacher had warned their group not to wander too deep into the forest as there had been sightings of bears. Hurriedly she ran, stumbling through the undergrowth, not knowing whether she was going deeper in to the forest or just running in circles in the same place. She only knew that she needed to get away from whatever it was that seemed to be making so much noise behind her.
She stopped to catch her breath and then sank to the ground with her back against one of the trees when she was sure that she had managed to dodge whatever it was that she had heard that time and that’s when she realized how exhausted she was. The fact that she was hungry and thirsty only seemed to be adding to her need to just rest and may be close her eyes for little while then maybe she would wake up only to realize that it was a bad dream.
She pinched herself just to see if it was indeed just a really bad dream and that she would wake up in her bed snuggled under her favorite quilt. Never again, would she ever take those things for granted. She had, had enough adventure to last a life time. Never again would she throw tantrums when her mom made “normal” food. Never again, would she skip trying to spend time with her baby sister or her parents. She missed them so much right now, it hurt just to think about them and if they even knew that she was lost in the forest at the moment. Would they be looking for her? Would anybody be looking for her right now? Did any of the other girls even realize that she was missing?

She wiped the tears that had started flowing without even her realizing and tried to concentrate and listen. To try and hear if anybody was out there looking her but all she could her around her were the sound of night crickets and the occasional hooting of an owl. Who knew that crickets could sound so loud at night. The sound they made seemed to drown out any other noise that the forest might make.
She realized that she had better find a safe place for the night. At least, a place where she could rest her eyes till morning. Who knows maybe once it was morning, things may not seem as depressing or scary. She got up and then looked around her and then tried to figure out which direction she had come in, but couldn’t for the life of her remember which direction she had come running from. With a silent prayer on her lips, she turned to her right and then started walking slowly, trying not to make too much noise. She came to a stop in another clearing, but she still couldn’t figure out if this was the same one she had passed through earlier. They all looked the same! How on earth was she even going to find a spot to rest at this rate? Slowly she turned around in a circle until her eyes went to tree. The tree seemed to have a hole in it! She walked towards it hoping her eyes were not deceiving her and she came up to the tree, she saw that it really was a hole in the tree! She poked her head in to see if there was anything living inside there or iff it was the same one she had hidden in earlier, but then realized the futility of the exercise since she could barely even see outside the hole, never mind inside it.
She took a deep breath and stepped into the hole and realized once inside that it was a little low on the height but she could fit in even if it was a bit of a squeeze. With a sigh of relief she sank into it and rested her head on one side of the hole and closed her eyes and slowly realized how badly her body was aching all over.
She woke up with a start to see bright lights and heard voices yelling her name. She tried to call out only to realize that no voice was coming from her throat. She summoned what seemed like her last reserve of energy and stumbled out of the tree and through the clearing in the direction that she could see the lights and hear the voices. “Here I am!” She wanted to yell – but realized the futility of it when she remembered that no one would be able to hear a mute. She had fallen to a fever when she was a baby, as a result she had lost her ability to speak. A trick of fate, she suddenly remembered her mom telling her.
She kept stumbling through, running past trees for what seemed like forever until she was able to finally catch sight of a man. Knowing she wouldn’t be able to call out to him she tried to catch up to him by running faster. He turned around at the sound coming from behind him and his torch light shone on her face. Without another word, she sank to the ground and that’s where she lay, passed out from exhaustion as he ran towards her calling out to the others on his walki talkie.
The last things she heard as she let herself fall into a blissful abyss of sleep were of her parents holding her as they put her into an ambulance that would take her to a hospital. Her last thoughts as she slipped deeper into sleep was that there really is no place like home.

A prayer

I don't consider myself religious,
nor do I consider myself,
to be in any way sacrilegious.
But I know enough to pray,
For I pray for peace of mind,
and that tomorrow will be another day

I watched my mother turn to God,
When I was too young to know better,
To ask for guidance and to seek his blessings
and give her strength.
And this I know to be true even today,
For she still prays for peace of mind
and the strength to fight another day

Times may have changed but people still remember,
Traditions may be forgotten but their
histories will be forever treasured.
People may be fickle and flighty but this,
I know to be true, for in times of need,
They will always pray for peace of mind
And the will to fight another day

God they say is everywhere,
He knows our every thought and action.
He is our past, our present and our future,
He is our best friend and it is to him I beseech,
from the depths of my heart.
For I do not pray for pray for peace of mind but
at the end of the day pray for only his will to be done.