Surviving Borneo (short story)
SURVIVAL SHORT STORY
It was July the 12th Percy Green and Alice Green were flying to Indonesia with their mother and father for the summer holidays. They were very rich, in fact they were traveling on a private plane from London. Percy was moving to year 10 next year and Alice was exited to be in year 7.
No matter how many times she went on a plane Alice always felt scared of flying. Her mum had been sitting next to her, comforting her but she had to go talk to their Dad who was co-pilot of the plane. She had seen some smoke from the engine but didn’t tell the children because she didn’t want them to worry.
Percy was busy reading his book. Alice was still very worried and began to look out of the window. Suddenly she screamed in fear. The engine of the plane was on fire, and before they new it they were plummeting down to the ground so fast Alice didn’t even have time to stop screaming. Then everything went black.
They had landed in the jungles of Boneo where Alice and Percy lay unconscious it was Percy who woke first almost an hour after the crash he waited 5 minutes for his vison to clear and noticed he was still strapped into his seat. With all the strength he had left, he walked over to his little sister and shook her vigorously and said “Alice, Alice wake up Alice Ali-" the rest of his words were drowned in sobs. His parents were dead.
They had been walking for an hour, Alice was still crying they had been very lucky to have survived but sadly there parents weren’t so fortunate. Percy was very sad to but he didn’t want to show he was sad because he had to be strong for his sister Alice and take charge. Fear was growing inside him they had been walking for what felt months and they still hadn’t found any water but now this fear turned into anger and the anger got the better of him.
“Shut up Alice! Stop crying I need to concentrate and anyway it was you who got us into this mess, if you hadn’t been such a scaredy-cat the pilot would have concentrated and landed better then maybe mum and dad would be alive right now and they could have got us rescued.” Percy was now crying he truly didn’t mean this but the anger was controlling him and it was too late now to say he was sorry for Alice had run off crying even harder than ever.
He ran after her through the thick jungle. It was starting to get dark and he was worried about her getting lost. They ran on and on, but eventually Alice stopped next to a tree near a river.
“You were right” sobbed Alice “It was my fault”.
“I’m sorry” replied Percy “Let’s just stick together and try to find safety”.
“Well done for finding the river, if we follow this it might take us to a village” said Percy.
They began to walk following the river. It was a bit lighter here away from the thick trees. They saw monkeys swinging from the trees on the other side of the river. Suddenly they heard noises nearby and rustling of the trees. Alice began to panic and grabbed hold of Percy. He was scared too but he didn’t want to tell her. They stood still, waiting to see what was coming. Then out of the bushes appeared a small grey elephant, followed by a group of larger ones. “Pygmy elephants” whispered Percy “I was reading about them on the plane”. “Look at the baby one” Alice turned and saw the baby blowing water out of its trunk. The elephants all went to the river to drink and Alice and Percy kept walking.
Tired of all the walking, they were looking for a place to sleep. Just by the side of the river were a series of caves. Percy, who always loved going on scout camp gathered some wood and tried to make a fire. Alice dug around in her shoulder bag and found a pack of biscuits for them to share. Percy had a backpack with him and pulled out a small travel blanket. They were so exhausted they soon fell asleep.
They were woken up by the sound of all the birds singing in the trees. It was already light. They packed up their things and set off walking again. They walked for hours, both worrying that they would never find help.
They followed the river round a bend and came across a man hunting with his young son, about Alice’s age. Alice ran towards them shouting. The man turned and pointed his spear at them. When he saw they were just children and the state of them he must have realised they were not going to hurt him and he lowered his spear.
The man and his son waved for them to follow. “come” said the man. They followed along and soon they were at the man’s boat. He pointed at the boat for them to climb in. He clearly didn’t speak much English. They all climbed into the boat and set off down the river.
Soon they arrive at the man’s village on the bank of the river. The villagers all came out to see them. One of the villagers could speak English. Percy explained they had survived the plane crash. The man told them he would call for help from the big city.
That night the villagers gave them good food to eat and comfy beds to sleep in. The next morning a plane came for them, it took them back to London where they went to live with there aunt uncle and cousins Eric, James and Isla.
Alice and Percy lived a long life although Alice was so afraid of going on a plane she didn’t board one until she was 45 and had kids of her own.
