3 Lost

"Well since I'm in the forest and there's a lot of branches, I'll just make a fire", Izzy said that with ease but in reality, she had no idea how to make a fire.

Although she had watched plenty of survival documentaries and played survival games, she had no actual experience with the wilderness.

Izzy did not have to walk far to find branches she collected some and placed them up in a pyramid, she then put stones around the branches.

"Well here goes nothing", Izzy placed down and put a leaf on one lot and rubbed a twig between her palms back and forth Her palms slid down the long stick she used and she quickly placed it back up repeating the motion, but nothing was happening.

It was getting darker and Izzy felt even more fearful as he heard the calm chirps of the birds fade away and become drowned out by the sound of crickets.

Izzy continued rubbing the stick on the wood praying that it would work.

After a while, darkness was beginning to settle in and it became evident that she would not be able to make a fire with this method. So Izzy tried another method, she took two stones and hit them against each other over the fire set up.

A few moments later there was evidence of smoke as some pieces of the rock fell over the sticks. Izzy quickly bent down on all fours and blew. She blew and blew until beautiful flames erupted from the sticks, Izzy fanned the flamed as well as she could with her hands.

She felt proud of her achievement and never would have guessed that with the minimal knowledge she had from watching some shows and playing games she could make a fire.

The experience was all too real and despite feeling like she had accomplished something Izzy began to realise that the situation she was in was no dream

The things she heard, the fatigue and fear she felt was all too real.

Izzy sat down on the ground near the fire, the sky was now darker than before and somehow the weather was turning cool. The flames danced around in the fire and the wood split emitting a crackling sound, the fire offered warmth and light to Izzy making her feel slightly better. The darkness had now fully set in and the forest ambience was amplified by the dark, the cricket's sound were incredibly loud and Izzy heard the hooting of an owl somewhere amongst the noise. Her ears hurt slightly and she took out her phone and earphones that had been in the back pocket of her jeans.

The noise was getting louder and Izzy's head felt like it was being pressed under the pressure of the sound.

Izzy hastily plugged her earphones into her phone " System play music" she said.

The phone then lit up to its original screen Izzy tapped the music icon and played the first song in her playlist, the grating sound of the crickets was immediately drowned out under the beat of Drake. The song played with Drake singing his love lyrics and Izzy for a moment felt like she wasn't lost in some forest far from home.

The music seemed to have a grounding effect on her making her more clear-headed, the beat made her feel more invigorated and seemed to chase away her fear. The next song Izzy chose was more upbeat than the first it made her feel happier than before and she mumbled the lyrics forgetting for a moment where she was.

" Gotta get that that that Boom boom boom" she sang moving her body to the beat.

The song ended and Izzy laughed she recalled all the fun memories associated with this song, she hesitantly took out her earphones expecting to hear the terrible cricket sounds. Instead, she was met with silence, there was no sound except for the wind which blew lightly against Izzy's face.

The silence was strange but Izzy preferred it over the grating noise of the crickets, she warmed her hands against the fire and decided to go to sleep.

" System wake me up in the morning," Izzy said curling up on the ground near the fire.

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[ User wake up ]

The feminine voice of the system said and Izzy groggily opened her eyes. She yawned and stretched her body incredibly sore, her back hurt and her hips ached. Izzy groaned sleeping on the ground was a terrible experience, she got to her feet, and noticed that the fire beside her had long gone out. Looking around she was still surrounded by trees, Izzy sighed wishing that she had woken up in her bed and realised that everything was a dream.

Izzy yawned and licked her dry lips, her throat was dry which was a normal occurrence whenever she woke up in the morning, however, this time there was no glass of water on a table to quench her thirst.

" System, can you detect any nearby water sources?" Izzy had no hope asking the system, but she was very thirsty and thought that perhaps the system had found something out to help her.

[ Two miles west there is a detected water source]

" Yes!" Izzy exclaimed, " You're not useless!" Izzy held the phone up with a map and arrow indicated where the location was.

Following the map, Izzy excited the dense trees and finally came to a small stream, despite her sore body Izzy jumped in the air with happiness. She ran to the water and began drinking without hesitation. Scooping mouthfuls of water into her mouth Izzy was surprised to find that the water tasted slightly sweet, it was cool and refreshing and Izzy splashed her face with water.

Using the long sleeves of her shirt to wipe her face Izzy looked around, there seemed to be no traces of other animals or people in the area, so Izzy removed her clothes and walked into the stream.

It was about knee height deep and Izzy sat down in the water letting it envelop her body, she lied on her back and floated in the water looking at the sky.

A few birds flew by and Izzy thought it'd be great if she had wings, so she too could fly and not have to walk. Feeling refreshed she got out of the stream and dried herself off with her long sleeve, Izzy put on her underwear and jeans leaving her top out to dry. The weather was getting hotter and the only water source Izzy had found was the stream, she wanted to continue journeying on, but there was no way to take water with her.

Picking her phone up from the rock beside her Izzy spoke, "System, are there any more water sources around?"

[ Yes, a waterfall was detected.]

"Great! How far is it?"

[ Calculating it, three days should be sufficient enough to arrive at the waterfall].

Izzy nodded three days was a long time to go without water, but a normal person could survive at least a week without water, so it didn't seem so bad to her.

She moved forward to the stream scooping more water into her mouth while enjoying her drink the bushes in front of her rustled.

Izzy's head snapped in the direction of the sound, her eyes stayed glued to the bush that had moved, there was no movement for a few moments and then a white figure jumped out.

Izzy spotted what looked like a rabbit bolt along the stream far away from her, once it was gone Izzy let out the breath she was holding, "At least it was nothing" she said.

Speaking too soon Izzy then saw a man step out in a crouched manner, he held a bow and arrow in his hand and from the looks of it he was hunting the rabbit. Izzy was surprised to see another person and stood up yelling "Hey!".

The man jumped up, immediately pointing his arrow at her, Izzy held her hands up " Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" she shouted.

The man still pointed his arrow at her but didn't shoot.

Izzy heard him speak but she couldn't understand what he was saying.

He was shouting something at her and coming closer, still pointing the arrow at her.

"I'm not hostile," Izzy said beginning to feel uncomfortable with the man coming closer, she was afraid that he might shoot at her.

He spoke again and Izzy tried to make out what language he was speaking but it was none of the languages she was familiar with.

"System, can you understand what he's saying ?"

[ No ] Izzy rolled her eyes, " Great how am I supposed to communicate?" she asked herself, she then felt her phone vibrate in her hand, Izzy lowered her arm to check the phone.

The man saw her do this and shouted as if telling her not to move, Izzy quickly looked at the phone.

[Language comprehension

Yes or No]

Without hesitation, Izzy clicked Yes.

Feeling a buzz in her ears Izzy finally heard what the man was shouting " Who are you!".

" Don't shoot!" Izzy repeated, " Who are you!?" the man said his tone was filled with hostility.

"I'm Izzy, I got lost in the forest so I'm trying to find my way back".

"Lost?" the man said confused " How are you lost? So far into the Night Forest," his tone implied that he did not believe her and he held his bow even higher pointing it straight at her head.

" Woah buddy, wait wait, it's true I woke up in the forest. I have no idea where I am I swear!".

The man looked at Izzy, his green eyes filled with suspicion.

"Is what you're saying true?" he asked, Izzy had no doubt that this guy would shoot her if she lied, but she wasn't lying, Izzy nodded " Yes it's 100% true. Please believe me I swear I just got lost."