He was too young; he spent all his time at school getting teased for eating bugs. How did this even happen?
He was only six, and somehow, he wound up alone in the wild bush of Brazil. He had been with his heavily-pregnant mother on the plane to Spain from Australia. He thought Qantas was the world’s safest plane.
He didn’t know it was even possible for planes to crash. Not while he was on it; him, a small child. His mother, pregnant.
Not many had survived the crash. His mother survived the crash, but had died weeks later. Some of the other survivors supported them, but eventually they all died of starvation or exhaustion.
He survived mostly on bugs. Desperation drove the others to it as well, but by then they were too weak.
He didn’t know if he’d survive out here. By now, he assumed no one was coming. He stuck around too long, so he moved on.
Living wild, the only good thing was that he hadn’t bathed in ages!
Luckily, he learned how to tie leaves together from some kids back at school, so he made a blanket weeks ago that he still carried around. He also had a knife, and some old fire embers. Plus, some emergency stuff from the plane.
Yeah, it was dangerous. But he was big now!
He found a river. He played in it, splashing around. Then he waded through it, ankle deep, following it wherever it was going. Maybe he could find something else to eat.
He wasn’t ever fast enough. Maybe he’d leave the river and find more bugs.
His energy sapped from lack of sleep. He dragged his feet.
He was gonna die out here. He ate more bugs.
“Who are you?”
He turned around. A girl in pink looked back.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“Wendy.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I live through there,” she pointed. “My dad’s a doctor. Wanna play with me?”
“Sure.”
—
Prompt from Trifecta.
May 22, 2012 at 1:50 pm
That was an excellent post. Very nice writing style. Thanks so much for sharing. I really enjoyed it very much
Enjoy Writing? Join us today.
Writing Jobs Available
May 22, 2012 at 11:34 pm
glad the kid held out long enough to stumble upon a stroke of luck (:
May 23, 2012 at 4:20 am
Does finding Wendy mean he’s in Neverland? I liked this piece. It would be a wonderful opening for a longer story.
May 23, 2012 at 10:39 am
That was well written. I look forward to what happens to him.
May 23, 2012 at 12:46 pm
I agree with Tara, it’s a great opening for a longer story… will you?
May 23, 2012 at 11:52 pm
I made the Neverland connection too; it’s a nice little allusion either way!
May 24, 2012 at 1:01 pm
I ordered if it was a play on Peter Pan. Interesting beginning
May 24, 2012 at 1:02 pm
That should say Wondered. Stupid autocorrect
May 24, 2012 at 1:27 pm
The list of things he had now that sounded so adult – the blanket, the knife, the fire embers, and his perception of himself as ‘big now’ were all so perfectly shattered at the invitation to play.
May 25, 2012 at 1:57 am
Excellent! I was able to see this dirty little hungry boy wandering the jungle trying to survive. The continue use of “he ate bugs” definitely showed how a child’s ability to overlook what the adults were disgusted by drove home his survival.
May 25, 2012 at 2:27 pm
Funny, I just watched the movie “Hook” (about Peter Pan/Neverland) earlier this evening – I thought of that when I saw the name “Wendy.” I love how he thought the greatest thing was going without baths. That is totally a six year old boy’s thought!
May 25, 2012 at 2:28 pm
The body can do amazing things to adapt to extreme circumstances. Glad he didn’t have to do it for long.
Thanks for linking up. Please come back for the new challenge tomorrow.