Decision
I was just trying to use my father’s expedition to capture some amazing photos that not many get the opportunity to get. Not make this life-altering decision on whether to stay with what I have always known or take a leap of faith. Oh gosh, how rude of me! My name is Jane and I am guessing you have no clue what I am talking about. Well, let me start from the beginning.
It all started on a warm night in June. My father Robert, his business partner Bruce, and I hopped on a boat and slowly headed towards the small island called the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits. We planned to go and look at the wildlife and do research on the animals we could find, but I think Bruce had a different idea for this trip. Once we made it on the island we hurried and set up camp so that we could head out in the morning for our first day of adventure.
The sun was just coming up over the mountain and I could hardly wait to get this started. I am going to college for photography and this was going to be my big break. My dad and Bruce slowly got up and made breakfast and started getting things ready for our eight-hour hike around the mountain. Finally, they were ready and we started our journey into this beautiful new world.
We were about two hours in, pushing through banana trees, bushes and beautiful wildlife when I noticed a small monkey up ahead on the trail. I asked everyone to freeze so I could get my perfect picture of him eating his banana. Well, it turned out I wasn’t the only one looking through a lens. I glanced up only to see Bruce staring at the innocent little guy through a scope on his rifle. I instantly stood up and stepped in-between the monkey and the gun to show Bruce that we were not here to kill animals, we were here to explore their home. As I stared down the barrel of his gun I realized that we were not on the same page. He rolled his eyes at me and continued trucking around the mountain, making it clear that this was not going to be easy for me.
It was almost lunchtime and we found a nice waterfall to sit by. We unpacked and ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. As we were sitting there just admiring the beauty a group of giant apes and a man, yes, I said man, ran across the top of the waterfall as if they were playing. We were all in such shock we didn’t know what to say or do. After they had left I looked at my father and told him we couldn’t leave until we had gotten more information and I had gotten a picture of the two beings coexisting. We decided to move camp to the bottom of the waterfall so we could keep an eye out for the group.
One night I jolted out of bed because of a noise outside my tent. Scared and curious I slowly walked out and there they were just sitting there looking at all of our stuff. When they finally realized I was watching them they froze. I tried talking to them and they all slowly backed away from me except the man. He slowly walked toward me reaching his hand out as if he had never seen another human before. I turned, grabbed my camera and then I reached out my hand. He quickly grabbed me and ran with me on his back after the other apes. We went to the top of the waterfall and he said four words that I never expected. He said, “Do you trust me?” I nodded and as I buried my face in his back, he jumped off the cliff into the waterfall. When he landed I opened my eyes to such an amazing scene. They had created a hidden home that no one would ever have been able to find. I took more pictures then I could have imagined and was in awe of the amazing place they had made their own. It was clear he was the leader and even though all the apes were concerned by me, they still respected his decision on bringing me here. I will spare you the details on him showing me around and letting me into his world. I had taken so many amazing photos that a photographer would just die to get.
Now comes the decision I am struggling so hard with. Even though the smart decision is to go home and stick with my family and career, my heart is telling me to pick this new and undiscovered world that I feel like I belong to so well. What would you choose?
Author's Note:
This story started out where a monkey was able to complete a dare. By jumping through a waterfall he was supposed to be able to gain respect. After doing so he not only gained respect, but also he was able to gain the power in his tribe. He found a hidden world, and because of his discovery, he became king of the monkeys. I liked this story but kept thinking of the movie Tarzan, which is my favorite Disney movie. When trying to think of what to do with this story I decided to mesh the idea of Tarzan with this story plot. I wanted to try something new because of this being the last part of my project. I really stepped out of my comfort zone by writing in the perspective of the woman in the story. I tried to be very interactive with the reader so that they felt like they were experiencing this too. I really enjoy this story and I am excited to play around with it and make it an even better story in the long run. I am hoping to maybe work on expanding my descriptive words and making this story the best it can be.
