Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: LOVE (08/03/23)
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TITLE: The Jungle | Previous Challenge Entry
By Aaron Menchaca
08/06/23 -
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David stood looking at his best friend as if all of a sudden he didn’t recognize him. In a way, he didn’t.
Maybe it was the seventy-two hours they had spent lost in this jungle in Northern India, the way it pulled their nerves every which way. Maybe it was the food, having to stretch out what they had left into what was probably two more days of walking until they had a chance to reach help. But likely it was the bizarre request that Brad just made.
“Besides, how is that going to help? Let’s keep going”
But Brad just stood there, wide-eyed, and if David was seeing right, he was swaying a little. But he didn’t answer and he didn’t walk. He just stood and stared back.
Finally, Brad spoke again, in a voice that quieter than before, “Just head that way and I’ll meet you over that next hill. I want to see how this wind is moving us. Maybe it’s pushing us the wrong way”.
His words were flat and distant, and David’s mind went to a time when they were kids and conspiring together against Brad’s older sister, the victim of their next prank.
He hadn’t thought of that memory for many years, but this whole ordeal of being lost in a jungle for the past three days had brought a lot of forgotten memories to the surface. That worried David more than anything, more than the low amounts of food and water or the lost navigation devices or even the constant sounds of the dense jungle around them, especially at night. He worried that his primal, subconscious self knew that disaster was ahead and was replaying his life, like a final, soothing recap.
Brad wasn’t making any sense, talking about wind. This jungle allowed nothing of the sort, dense with Banyan and Shailendra trees and all manner of vines and other greenery. It held them constantly in a vacuum of heat and humidity, and the last breeze they had felt was yesterday when they walked through a clearing before heading back into the dark canopy.
“Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but we need to get going”, Daniel insisted.
He turned and walked a couple steps in the direction they were headed, but Brad didn’t move. He stood there looking at David, and for a strange moment David saw him looking off to the right, into the dark green vegetation. Then back to David. He looked like he was losing it.
David stepped back towards his friend, slowly, suddenly unsure what to do. One thing he didn’t need was his friend cracking mentally under the weight of the situation. He would now have to tread lightly.
“Brad, let’s just get over this next rise and look for somewhere to get some more sleep. This whole thing is been a wringer and we’re both exhausted.”
Suddenly, something seemed to change inside of Brad. His shoulders dropped and a softness returned to his eyes. He almost smiled.
“Hey man, just humor me for a second. I know it sounds crazy, but I feel like there’s a small breeze flowing through this big monster of a jungle, and I think if I watch you walk up that next small rise, I’ll be able to tell if it’s pushing us a little off course.”
David felt like he was facing a huge decision. On one hand, it might not hurt to humor his friend with his theory. Brad had always been a fixer, and maybe this was some sort of coping mechanism, no matter how illogical.
On the other hand, he had always heard that an over-stressed mind can hang itself, if given some rope.
David stood a second longer. Then he turned away from Brad and starting walking up the rise.
As he crested the top of the hill, he turned back just in time to see the tiger launch itself out of the bushes, to the right of Brad. It landed right in front of him and kept moving, taking him down.
David felt a rush of instinct to defend his friend, but as soon as the tiger turned his blood-smeared face towards him and he saw its big yellow eyes, he turned and ran the other way.
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Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
John 15:13 (NIV)
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