Joshua was excited about the upcoming trip to the rainforest. His school’s annual weekend biology class trip was around the corner. Crossing out the days until that Saturday morning in late March, he could hardly contain himself.
Ever since his childhood encounter with a poisonous tree frog hiding in the bushes surrounding his house, he realized he wanted to learn more about animals. And when he discovered the frog was from the far away Amazon rainforest, he got even more curious. How did the frog get here and why? Did it know how to get back or was it never going to find its home again? He couldn’t pick it up because he could tell from the markings that is was poisonous, so he hoped the frog would not hop away as he quickly bolted to his room to grab an old shirt. When he returned, the frog was exactly where he had left it. He scooped it up and decided to contact a researcher at the local zoo. The researcher gently took the frog in the cloth Josh had wrapped it in and told him that this was a poisonous dart frog. The researcher told him that she would take care of the frog and send him home soon. Josh was delighted to know he had done a good deed. This feeling of pride gave him strength and courage to learn more about rainforest animals and how to help. He now knew this was his dream.
Josh wanted to badly for this dream to come true and now he finally has a once in a lifetime experience to see for himself the wonders of the rainforest and its inhabitants. This was the one thing he could remember that made his heart pound so he could hear it in his ears. So it wasn’t surprising when his parents had told him over and over again to calm down and be patient. The day will be here soon enough. They had said time can not be rushed, that it moves at its own pace.
Josh ignored this. All he did was watch the time on his bedside clock change from minute to minute. Hour to hour. At ten o’clock, the night before the trip, the time crept by agonizingly slow, slowest it had ever been. He could just imagine the ticking sound of each and every minute heading closer to the next morning. That is if his digital clock were a clock like they had at school. The one he stared at made no noise. Just silence from number to number. The last thing he remembered before he fell asleep was 10:43 and part of a day dream about the future that awaits.
Even though his joy and excitement were at an all time high, Josh found that he had slept like he was under sedation. He may have forgotten about the trip while he was asleep, but now being fully awake, he quickly got ready with an enormous smile on his face. The bus left at 7 a.m. which was much too early for Josh, but he put that thought aside as he joined the rest of his classmates on the bus soon heading for the rainforest.
They traveled due west for a little more than four hours. It seemed like an eternity to Josh, but at last they arrived. He had seen pictures online and had studied some of the organisms to prepare for this trip. He had asked questions in class and took any opportunity he could find to absorb as much knowledge as possible. He had imagined a world where each species of animals lived according to their own rules; birds stayed in the tree tops and ate berries and nuts; monkeys climbed trees all day to eat bananas, and iguanas lounge around eating as many leaves and vines as they want. He thought this all the way from the sun battered top down to the unexposed darkness on the moss floor.
This was it, this was Josh’s dream come true.
The group grabbed their gear and took off single file into the rainforest. Of course it was raining, they could hear it, but they only received heavy drops here and there through the dense layer of trees. Following their guide, they wondered to a clearing two miles in. Everyone thought they were lucky to find this spot or suspicious that there was one in the first place. Once the guide explained that the clearing was made specifically for visiting groups and researchers, everyone let go of a breath they had all been holding.
The guide commanded every student to grab a flashlight and pitch in to help set up camp. Josh got himself situated and since he had been ready for this for many years, he completed the task much earlier than his fellow students. Instead of helping the others, Josh’s ambition got the best of him and decided to grab a flashlight and head off into the wet stained darkness by himself.
As he walked, the sounds of bustling kids and flapping tents began to wither to make more room for the several species of birds and insects. The noises of nature surrounded him, but he didn’t mind. Only at one point did he flinch and drop his flashlight when he heard a randomly occurring sound louder than all the others. Josh racked his brain to identify the creature from the noise and landed on a howler monkey. He was sure that was the right choice because he remembered watching a top ten list of loudest land animals. Howler monkeys were in the top five and the top of the trees above him, he was sure of it. His heart slowed to a steady rhythm after his panic subsided, although he hadn't even noticed it had started to pump faster. He thought he had remained cool and calm, but his body disagreed.
He continued on his childish endeavor of his lonely journey although strangely, he did not feel lonely. Being surrounded by two hundred feet tall trees and the chirping other non-human noises made him feel like he was small, but also on the top of the world. He could do anything he wanted. All the other students were under supervision with the tour guide, but not him.
It was not like he had planned to wander off alone. It was just an in the moment type of thing. He had not planned to only take a flashlight and nothing else other than what he wore at that moment. He had not planned on not grabbing a map so he doesn’t become lost or a walkie-talkie so he could communicate to his fellow classmates.
As he walked further into the rainforest, he came to the conclusion that he did not actually know what he was doing. He turned back and walked the same way he had come. At least he thought it was the same way. All the trees looked the same, all the grass looked the same, the colorful birds, several different smells, all seemed like he had just passed this section, but in his gut he knew. He knew this was not the same path he had taken and he knew without a shadow of a doubt, was hopelessly lost.
He started to panic. He ran, whacking giant leaves and grass out of his way. He ran for what felt like hours and he was sure, but mostly hoping, he was near the clearing where the group had set up camp. Out of the corner of his right eye, he spotted a boulder. Tall and narrow, but also flat on top. Josh could not catch his breath, so he decided to stop for a short while. The boulder was up to his stomach so he had to use some of his diminishing energy to hoist himself up. Despite Josh’s lack of oxygen, no map, no communication devices, or having no plan to save himself, he was able to calm down.
He distracted himself by pointing the flashlight around to study his surroundings. The scenery was green, very green. He turned his head in every direction. Just green grass, green moss, and green vines hanging from the green moss covered branches. Even the light from his flashlight seemed to absorb and emit the color green. It didn’t matter that it there were different shades of the color green. He was still surrounded by green.
He did not like this. It felt as if he was an outlier, out of place in the rainforest. The more he thought about it, the more the thought seemed to suffocate him. Josh had never been claustrophobic in his life. Not even when his cousin trapped him inside his closet for an entire two hours before their parents noticed. The closet was big enough for seven hanging shirts and a two inch pile for the rest of the folded, mostly unfolded piles, clothes. That small space had done nothing, but here, with his lost dilemma, the green seemed to enclose around him. His heart started to pound faster again. The tremendously terrible ideas that spawn from panic and fear were setting in.
He could no longer sit still. He stood up while still on top of the boulder. Up there, he thought he would have more room to breath, but there was still just green everywhere.
Green had been one of his favorite colors since he was born. Having green napkins and plates at almost every one of his birthday parties. He even had a neon green sweatshirt he wore everyday in fourth through seventh grade. Green, green, suffocating green. All he could see in every direction was this new vision of color he now despised. Josh closed his eyes to try to calm his nerves and new phobia, but the color green was all he could see. After some time, he could see normal, sweet black.
Even through all of this, a part of his brain whispered “You need to do something”. So that is exactly what he did. With his eyes closed, he reached up toward the vines he remembered were dangling there. His subconscious guided his arms to each vine and pulling them until they ripped off the branches. He plopped each one in a pile on the boulder next to him and the flashlight. He did not know specifically what he was thinking of doing with the vines. On the one hand, he could tie them together to make a hammock when he gets tired. On the second hand, he could tie them to himself and make a path as he walked so he knows where he already was. On the third hand, he could make a net and trap animals for food if he was truly stuck without help.
He decided to go with option two. To do this, he had to open his eyes, but he did not want to see green. He was debating this for so long that it took him awhile to notice the growing hissing noise. It seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. Josh forced his eyes open. At first, he saw the exact same area he had looked at before, green grass, green moss, and green vines. Then, a flash of movement caught his attention. He looked at the vine closest to his head and paused. The vine was not a regular green vine. It was a snake.
All at once the other snakes gave up their disguises. They hissed even louder and headed straight for Josh. He wanted to run. He wanted to scream. By the time his brain had allowed him to move, the pile of snakes at his feet had slithered around his feet and lower legs. They were thick, heavy snakes. He tried to lift his feet off the ground, but he struggled to even get one inch.
The snakes kept coming from all directions. Josh screamed at full volume. A few seconds later, his scream was cut off. Several snakes above his head suddenly dropped onto his head and shoulders. At the same time, a new group had slithered onto the boulder heading straight toward him. As they made their way to his feet, the ones who were already there had slithered up to his waist and chest. Each group had been doing their own thing, but now he realized they planned this. The three groups that were separate were now one, working as a well oiled machine.
They circled around him, getting closer and closer. Soon, his suffocating feeling from the surrounding green rainforest turned into real suffocating. The snakes slowly strangled his neck, all the way down to his feet. Every time he breathed out, the snakes would squeeze even tighter.
Breath in.
Breath out.
Squeeze.
That became the pattern. He was being squeezed so hard, he heard a crack. Then another and another. They were crushing him.
Josh knew he had a short time before he would go unconscious and die. In his final moments, he thought he should not have strayed from the group. He was paying the price for disobedience.
He wanted to scream. If he could get a sound out, he would even though he knew no one would come to his rescue. It was too late. Being crushed to death in the exact place of his dream. Turns out, this was his nightmare.