Free Origin by Jessica Khoury Page B

the trees, forcing my feet forward, I tell myself,
Only an hour. No more. Back in one hour, and I’ll tell someone about the fence. They’ll fix it, and I’ll never be tempted again
.
    Wild Pia whispers that she has no intention of doing so, but I ignore her as best I can. She’s brought me this far, andthat is enough. I will explore the immediate area and no more. I doubt I will find much to interest me anyway. I’ve seen all the plants and animals of the jungle. They’ve all been brought into Little Cam for research. The scientists say there are hundreds of species not yet discovered` in this place I now know is called the Amazon, but if so, surely they won’t be lurking this close to Little Cam.
    My flashlight strikes off the trees. I see mighty kapoks rising to unfathomable heights. Lianas crisscross every level of the rainforest, creating a network of narrow roads traveled by all manner of monkeys, reptiles, and insects. Every now and then I see a pair of eyes glint in the darkness. I wonder what they belong to. The largest animal in the Amazon is the tapir, but the most dangerous is the anaconda, at least for me. The thought of the giant snake, capable of swallowing a man whole, is the only thing about the rainforest itself that terrifies me. The poisonous snakes can’t puncture my skin, so I don’t fear their venom. The diseases carried by mosquitoes have no effect on me. But anacondas…I have little desire to be strangled and swallowed alive. I can’t suffocate or starve, which would mean an eternity trapped in—
I’ll stop that line of thought right there
.
    Suppressing a shudder, I try to focus on the beauty around me. I can only see what my flashlight falls on, but that is enough to take my breath away. Flowers as big as my head blossom full beneath the moon, whose faint light is rare this close to the jungle’s floor. The soil here is too poor to sustain much life, so the trees spread their roots above the ground in great fan-shaped buttresses draped in moss. The frequent rains are the trees’ main source of water; the larger the roots,the more rain they can catch, and the taller the tree. I see plants with leaves the size of umbrellas, their tops thick and smooth, their bottoms laced with red veins.
    Alai lopes in ever-widening circles around me, and I realize this is his first time in the wild too. He must feel what I feel—perhaps more. He is a creature of the jungle, after all. His head turns right and left, his tail is rigid behind him, and he misses nothing.
    Beneath my feet, the moss and leaves are as thick and lush as any carpet. More so, for every step I take sinks an inch as soon as my full weight is on it. The soft, moist earth receives my steps silently, as if reluctant to allow an outsider like me to interrupt the rainforest’s nocturne. Frogs and birds and other insects chirp along with the perpetual hum of cicadas. When I stop and close my eyes to listen, I’m struck by how
noisy
it is. At first the jungle seemed as silent as it is dark, but in truth, the sounds are almost cacophonous.
    As I concentrate now on the way ahead, the noises fade again into the background. I am getting wetter with every step; the leaves that brush against me are damp, and little droplets of water splash off of them onto my dress and my arms. A spider monkey swoops across my path, swinging at head height and chortling with monkey laughter. Alai snaps at it. My flashlight just happens to catch its round yellow eyes, which stare straight into my own for a brief moment. Startled, I stop until it melts into the darkness.
    The jungle enchants me. I’m unable to turn around and go back. Every sound, every glimpse is a breath of sweet, fresh air. Instead of filling me up, the rainforest empties me, leaving me thirsty for more. The more I see, the more I want.My nerves and will are stronger now, my fear is less. I am committed. Little Cam is out of my reach, so whatever is happening there, I cannot stop. If