Getting Out Alive: The Autumn Veatch Story by Ellis Tara

Author:Ellis, Tara [Ellis, Tara]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Tara Ellis Publications
Published: 2016-01-13T05:00:00+00:00

4

Sunday, July 12th

Late afternoon

The rest of the day turned into a blur of continuously crossing the river, which became deeper and swifter, and eventually lead to a large, twenty-foot waterfall. With no other options, Autumn had to pick her way down the rocks jutting out of it, adding to her cold and misery.

It ended up being the first of two waterfalls, but shortly after, the stream spread out to create more of a marsh. While it was less treacherous, trudging through the waist-deep muck was almost as bad.

She’d been forced to stop and rest several times already, her body quickly weakening. Thankfully, she drank some water while it was still flowing clean. Now, Autumn squinted at the lowering sun, dreading the possibility that it represented: spending another night out there.

Humming, she continued to distract herself with a broad spectrum of songs. It was the only thing that had kept her from going insane. She’d made it through nearly the whole song list from the movie Happy Feet, and was currently making the smacking sounds from Prince’s song, Kiss.

Looking up to mark her progress, she paused.

Is that a trail?

The woods seemed to hold its breath in the silence as she made her way toward the flattened area ahead. Although hopeful, Autumn was reserved. Multiple times that day, she had been excited by what she thought was a sign of people and civilization, only to discover it was a trick of light or her imagination.

Sighing, she stepped out of the muck and onto something new: a sandbank. While relieved to finally reach level ground where she could walk on dry land, she couldn’t help but be frustrated that it wasn’t actually a trail.

Covered in thick, stinky mud, the exhausted teen began searching for a place to settle in until morning. As much as she wanted to deny it, night was once again winning the battle, and she hoped to be asleep before experiencing its full effects.

Preferring to have something at her back, Autumn selected a fallen log and then numbly went through the now familiar routine of stripping down and using her cardigan as a cover. At first, she was thankful for the soft, slightly warm padding that the sand provided. As the evening progressed though, it became clear that the location wasn’t a good choice. Sand fleas emerged, and she could feel them crawling all over and biting her. Afraid to move blindly through the dark woods, she stayed put, and awoke to discover that a rash and countless bug bites were added to her injuries.

After taking stock of the multiple wounds, she longed to be the girl she was a mere forty-eight hours earlier. Everything had changed. While she wasn’t sure if life could ever be the same again, she was eager to get home and appreciate what she had. Autumn did what seemed impossible, and stood up.

I didn’t know that moving could hurt so bad.

Pushing herself, Autumn tried to ignore the pain. If she stopped moving, she’d never get out of there.

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