Wander Around The Forest
1312 Words
"Oh my God! Where are we?!" she shrieked, still looking around in horror.
Seeing Mayang's reaction, Liam and Troya couldn't help but chuckled with amusement. Mayang frowned.
"Well, rather than just staying here without knowing what the real situation is, it's better if we check around this place carefully." Troya got up, then she dusted her high school uniform skirt.
Liam agreed and immediately got up too. After that, he helped Mayang. The girl accepted Liam's hand and got up. She's having a little trouble because of the leather bag and backpack she's currently carrying on her shoulder. She had to justify the location of the bag to make it easier for her to move.
"Hey, you bring my bag!" said Liam suddenly. He felt more relieved.
"Ah yes, indeed, you are the one who gave it to me," said Mayang, removing the leather bag and giving it to Liam.
"And you bring your bag too!" shouted Troya, already stood beside Mayang with a glint of happiness in her eyes. Mayang carried her bag, and that meant there's food to eat.
"I think so, I haven't had time to put anything down because I immediately ran into the house." Mayang replied.
"Is there any food in it?" asked troya impatient.
"There are only bread and sushi left over from lunch." Mayang opened the zip and peeked inside.
Luckily their school has lockers so she doesn't have to take all her books home.
"I am very hungry!" said Troya, immediately taking the lunch box from Mayang and opening the lid.
It turned out that there were still a lot of sushi left in it. Oh yeah, that's because the one who ate it was just her. Liam was busy with his laptop, while Mayang was on a diet. Liam and Mayang also seemed very hungry. But because they both felt that the situation was not safe, they disn't take the sushi.
“You guys don't wanna eat? Oh yeah, Liam, so what about the house? Can we stay for tonight?" asked Troya with mouth full.
Liam shook his head quickly, "Conditions are so bad, not comfortable!"
Troya looked disappointed to hear the answer. Therefore, she did not finish the chocolate bread. She threw the parchment paper on the ground. Mayang always scolds her for her bad behaviour, littering carelessly. But it seemed like this time there's something more important for the girl to think about.
"We can't sleep outside, Li. If that's the case, we'll have to go around looking for a place where we can spend the night." Troya's words were more like an order.
Liam just nodded. Actually he felt embarrassed, because as a boy he seemed so useless in this condition. All his life he never participated in any camping activities or nature lovers. He's always in his house. Even if he went out of town, he would sleep in a nice and comfortable inn.
On the contrary, Mayang although physically very fit and strong, but for this kind of surviving in the jungle, she would immediately cry if she had to experience it alone. And that didn't mean Troya more experienced in these kinds of situation. Even though Mama and Papa had ever taken her on vacation out of town and slept in the tent, the tent was set up in the courtyard of a big, cozy, villa they rented, so that didn't count at all. The conclusion was no one was prepared to be in a situation like this.
Finally the three of them walked side by side to check all around the location. They decided to take the route from their left, following a path that's only a meter wide, passed the many thickets that had grown blocking the path, so they had to turn a little off the trail to get pass it.
Mayang fell down when her feet accidentally stepped on the roots of a tree that sticking out above the ground. Dirts got her sports uniform. Meanwhile, Liam was caught in the roots of a hanging tree. He got panic, that only made the roots of the tree wrapped around his body tighter. Made them stop long enough to release him.
After that, they continued walking. Liam walked too slow when he took his steps. He often fell behind or disappeared. Or Troya often lost both of them because she's already five meters ahead. Perhaps what could make this condition less frightened are the cute animals that often appeared from behind the bush, such as rabbits, squirrels, birds and deer. In addition, wildflowers flourished with colourful petals made the atmosphere felt more cheerful and relaxed.
"Hey," suddenly Troya stopped walking, making her two friends bumped right into her from behind, so the three of them fell.
"Troya, don't stop suddenly!" scolded Mayang as she rubs her knee, which hurt because she used it to restrain her fall. Luckily she wore her sports trousers. Even though she didn't seem hurt, but she felt a little sore.
"Sorry! But I think we've passed this tree three times already!" said Troya looking at the cross she made using a piece of paper that was taped to the tree trunk.
"That means we took the wrong turn. Earlier we had passed the T-junction. We turn right because the trail leads us there. But I saw across the river there was another path connection. It has a bridge there, because I saw a wooden short column on one side of the river." Liam explained.
Finally the three of them decided to walk the path. This time when they met a T-junction, they walked across the river which was not too big or deep, only until their knees, and the water was not too swift either.
When they reached the other side of the river, they continued on track. Staying guided by the path of the existing rock fragments, finally they met again with a T-junction. This time they decided to take the plunge by taking the right path after throwing a coin. They also left a mark with the paper strip stuck to one of the tree branches.
Usually Mayang spoke under any circumstances. But even at this time, she ran out of topic to talk about. She's too busy patting her open arms while applying insect repellent which luckily was carried in her bag.
The dim atmosphere in the forest actually made this forest even more creepy, especially as the sun was starting to go down, and its rays were starting to turn orange.
"Troya, still far? Can you be faster?" whined Mayang.
"I don't know!" replied Troya, feeling annoyed at the girl, who could only complained.
"Be patient, May, we all also want to hurry out of here!" consoled Liam touching Mayang's shoulder. "Or here, let me just carry your backpack. It must be heavy." But actually he felt a little regretful that he'd only offered that just now.
He didn't know any good manners with girls, such as what to do to please a girl, etcetera. After all, his girlfriends are just the two of them. One is indifferent and has no sweetness, while the other is strong, although feminine and very beautiful. So it's only natural that he didn't know such rules. In fact, most of the time he got help and was very spoiled by the girls, such as his meal.
"Thanks, Li!" Mayang smiled faintly, untied his backpack and gave it to Liam.
As soon as he received the backpack, Liam's body immediately felt dizzy. Geez, this backpack is heavy. Yet before they were stranded into this world, Mayang carried her bag without complaining. Mayang massaged her shoulders for a moment, feeling relieved because the burden on her shoulders was already gone.
The three of them walked back for a while. This time there was no significant problem, because there were no more fallen tree trunks, gnarled tree roots that have surfaced, landslides or rivers. Then when they finally managed to see a more open area, and the sun was shining brighter, they saw a house again.
"Look! A House!" yelled Troya happily.[]
- Writer
