The Rainforest

The sounds of the jungle echoed around the forest. The chittering of the monkeys resonated through the wilds, the smell of the rain, that had just stopped, hung in the air. The screech of the macaws that fluttered overhead were disconcerting. Being in the jungle was beautiful and deadly.

But then realization kicked in. The feeling of something watching me was heavy. A monkey gave a warning hoot and I realized who the stalker was. Jaguar. Fear crept its way in; heart pounding, I sprinted away.

A hill loomed; a vine snaked down it. The hill was steep, steep enough where a feline couldn’t follow. Hands grasping the vine, I climbed arduously up the hill. The vine was slick with rain. The jaguar was nowhere in sight; I kicked off my shoes to climb faster. The soil, warm and squishy; ran through my toes and tiny pebbles were present.

Climbing faster was the goal. Perspiring with fear, I struggled to breathe. After reaching the top I laid down, shaking. The pulchritude was everywhere, humans never stopped to look out of fear they might find something perilous.

Vines crisscrossed over the vast expanse of thick trunked trees, making a web. Monkeys picked ticks and bugs from each other’s black backs. Toucans shrieked in ghastly voices, orange beaks clicking. An anaconda snaked its scaly body across the branch towards prey ready for squeezing. A sloth ate the algae in its lackluster fur. An ocelot leapt from branch to branch on nimble paws. Exuberant butterflies flitted from tree to tree. Vivid frogs croaked as they climbed up the tree. Iguanas snoozed on low hanging branches, tails swaying.

The zestfully colored plants were seen for miles; some foul smelling, others smelling like heaven. The greenery everywhere was breathtaking. I stood up on shaky knees and examined the tree in front of me. A yucca tree. A thick root poked up from the soil. It was edible, it tasted like something nutty but the texture of a potato. A big round-shaped berry hung just above. My hand stretched towards it and plucked it. Taking a bite, I shuddered at its acridity. But it was filling.

I laid back down, the juice running down my chin. The soft soil ran through my fingers and it was enjoyable. Eyes wandering to the trees, I feasted my eyes on the wildlife. A pair of gleaming amber eyes gazed down at me malignantly, rosetted fur bristling. I started and muffled a scream. The jaguar had found me. Heart vaulting into my throat, the cognizance of their tree climbing abilities proved haunting.

While curling into a ball, my eyes squeezed shut. I heard the feline land next to me with a graceful thud. My eyes opened and the cat prowled around his maybe-prey. He unsheathed his claws batting at me. Honed black claws cut through my skin on the nape of my neck, but just barely.

The cat let out a guttural growl of frustration when I wouldn’t get up. The gashes stung and I felt blood trickle down the sides of my neck, warm and red. The ground beneath seemed to crawl as my heart beat wildly. The jaguar nosed my back when he decided I wasn’t a threat. He eventually gave up. He sprang into the tree and hastened away.

I sat there for what seemed like hours, waiting and listening, fearing he would come back. When he didn’t return I let out a sigh of relief. Sitting on my knees, I touched the nape of my neck and my hand came away glistening with warm ruby-red blood. I plucked a giant waxy leaf from a nearby plant and tied it around my neck.

Listening for a river, intending to wash my wounds, I fell silent. Rushing was heard and I plodded toward it. The river was surprisingly clear, but it smelled a bit piscine. Shirt off, pant legs hiked, I waded into knee-deep water.

A pink dolphin launched out of the water, a fish it its teeth and plunged beneath the surface. A shoal of piranhas swam down the river swiftly, chasing prey. An anaconda slithered its way into the turbulent water. The water swirled around my legs and sand and mud squelched between my toes. Little fish darted around my legs and I smiled.

Being in the jungle was wonderful and I wondered if I could live here permanently. Even though there were dangers like the jaguar, living in the extravagant jungle was amazing; there was even beauty in the imperilments of the jungle.

I had come to the rainforest looking for treasures. But my team had been killed by the natives, my grief stayed for a very short time. I had nothing back home, so I decided if I liked what I saw I would live here.

I had no idea how to survive out here. But I had seen how the natives had built houses, built weapons and found food with their innovative minds.

Why couldn’t I do that? I knew that all I had with me was my machete and some gold jewelry to give to the natives. What if I traded with my friends’ murderers? What if they showed me how to make a living here?

I wandered for a very long time. I eventually heard voices speaking in a foreign tongue. I tromped towards the voices, my feet calloused and blistered. I stumbled into a grove of yucca trees, where women were gathering roots. They screamed and scattered; but I caught one of them by the arm.

“Wait! I just need shoes!” I gestured towards my scarred feet. She seemed to understand. She took off her shoes and warily handed them to me. I put them on and flexed my toes, they were lined with jaguar fur and were very comfy.

Innovation. That word rang through my head again, these people were so smart and I was so stupid with my city ways.

“Will you take me to your leader?” I signed as best I could. I knew it was a risk going to their camp. But if I was going to survive here, I needed to know all I could.

Strangely enough, she seemed to understand. She took a coup d’œil at my hand on her arm, and I let go not realizing I was still holding it. She and the other women led me toward what I assumed was their village. We walked for a short while, then we finally arrived at the village.

There were children running everywhere, women going in and out of the thatched houses, men streaming into a large building made from clay in the center of the village. The women led me to the large building and there were two tall male guards in the front of the entrance.

They communicated with each other in their native tongue. Then the guards seized me and steered me inside. It was a one room longhouse with a roof of leaves and wood and walls of mud and wood. At the end was a man sitting on a throne of clay, big swirls of paint covered it gracefully. The man wore a necklace of fangs; he had white paint on his bare chest, a skirt of leaves covered his waist and went down to his knees. He wore a crude crown made of bone with vines twisting around it.

The chief leaned on his armrest and looked at me, intrigued. He said something to a woman on his left, and she secured a pillow and set it a few feet in front of the chief. The woman pried me from the guards and guided me to the pillow, she forced me down on it and I stared at the chief.

“Hello,” I waved, feeling like a halfwit. I situated a humble look on my face.

“Hello,” the chief answered back with a thick accent. I snapped my head up in surprise; he spoke English!

“You can speak English?” I implored. The chief nodded.

“There were others like you that came and teach me your language. But they come and destroy and kill people,” the chief said haltingly.

“I am not here to do that,” I fielded. “I only come to learn how to survive in the jungle.”

The chief cocked his head at that. “You want… learn survive?” He inquired, “Why?”

“I have fallen in love with the jungle, even the dangers. I love the way the jaguar prowls to the way the frog croaks. I don’t want to go back to the city, I want to stay here in the rainforest.”

The chief considered this for a moment. “We will teach. But teach us to read and write,” he commanded.

“Thank you,” I said, relieved.

“I sorry about friends,” he offered with an edge of sadness in his voice.

“What?” I asked, wringing my hands.

“We were not killers of them. It was the tribe by river. They kill and eat friends,” the chief uttered in a matter-of-fact voice.

“I-” my voice cracked and I could feel bile building in the back of my throat. I was so horrified that my companions’ bodies were defiled like that. Cannibals? I never really thought that they existed anymore. “They were cannibals?” I said with a tremor in my voice.

“Cannibals…” the chief said, trying it on his tongue. “Yes, what it mean to eat another human, yes,” he voiced monotonously.

I felt sick, the hair rose on the back of my neck. “Your tribe are not cannibals, correct?” I asked timidly.

The chief shook his head, “No, we never eat human.”

I felt better knowing that. “When do we start?” I was eager to become innovative like them, I had a thirst for the erudition of how to remain.

“You start now. My bride will show you the animals of the jungle. She knows you language.” The chief gestured to a woman in a clay chair next to him. I hadn’t even noticed her.

She strode over to me and lead me out of the building. We walked through the jungle. I stumbled after her, spear in hand. We stopped at a riverbank, she looked at me.

“Do you know how to stab?” she questioned.

I was slightly taken aback. “Yes, I know how to stab.” I wondered if she was going to make me kill an animal.

“Good,” she replied. “We-you will kill bird today.”

“What type?” I asked questioningly.

“Eagle.” She pointed to a harpy eagle in a tree, its sharp eyes looking at us. “I have brought meat to lure it, then you shall kill it.”

So this is what it meant to be shown the animals. I nodded slowly and inclined my head towards her, “I’m ready.”

She tossed a piece of meat nearby and the bird of prey swooped down towards it viciously. I aimed the spear at the eagle and charged. I speared it through the neck. While staring at its helpless body hanging slackly on the tip of my spear, I felt a bit of pride amalgamated with commiseration. A wing was twisted at an outré angle at its side, and I realized that it was injured before.

“You good,” the woman stated as she clapped her hands and whistled. “You actually survive here. Now you need to learn to build house.”

I smiled back at her, rapturous at how even one of the innovational natives thought I showed promise. I would blaze my own trail in this impenetrable wilderness.