2I crawled from the depths to tell you I am not dead! Sorry for the wait, I didn't mean for this much time to pass and I sort of lost inspiration for a very long time. The usual time abandonment stuff. But yeah, here you go, and again sorry. Have a pumpkin pie as an apology instead of cookies.
A pounding echoed and pierced all around his head. Running dangerously low on energy, David tried to swallow saliva and other fluids back down his dry throat. With every effort the cold and dry throat scratches and cuts.
Waking up to the stiffness came with the hot and muggy feeling coating his skin with a dampness that made everything crawl in twists and knots then turned to an itchy sensation. And then a plunge of chills invaded deep within from the morning's wind. "J-Just t-t-take a breath an-and calm d-d-down." A steady and cautious inhale. Then a shaky and unsteady exhale follows for several moments.
Charging back up with optimism, he throws himself up and falls on his side where the sloping hill and gravity play a dark joke on what is David's life.
"Oh gravy biscuits!"
He starts to tumble and roll down into the stream below. Splashing into the cool stream that sends a coldness that is bittersweet through his insides. At first a moment of cleanliness and comfort turns sour. Lemon's sweet flower turning rotten and bitter. Where his leg comes tumbling after, cracking on a stone that causes him to burble up from the water. A sickening mixing sound of slush and metal cracks through but the sharp pain is overtaking the unusual noise. David shrieks with the start of a girly scream that morphs into a loud angered howl. He quickly covers his mouth and bites down with eyes closing shut. But still, a few steady gulps get inhaled. In through the mouth and a few drops threatening at the base of the nostril. Until at the moment of pain and exhaustion, David reemerges into the land and grasps the grassy blades tight and desperate. Coughing and sputtering out the fluid that has invaded into places that feel out of place.
Biting down with clenched ferocity causes saliva and spit to start to spill over and out. Over and over again the coughing goes until it leaves him completely and totally exhausted. Clenching hold of the earth and towards his chest tightly and desperately, David closes his eyes shut hard and faces the ground below. "Why? P-Please tell me. H-how much l-l-longer do I have to f-f-f-f-ail at surviving out he-here?!" And with energy vanishing he falls unconscious with the elements. Injuries flowing outwards. Such bleeding hearts.
"David…Wake up please. Come on Campman."
Death is a cruel mistress. But David hasn't even learned how to properly court her yet. Just a bit of flirting. So, he takes a breath and coughs out again and lifts himself back up. Determined and hard to break. "I'm hard and limp in the face of you Death! And I cannot leave campers and Gwen alone. I will not let them cry for me." David takes a moment and thinks some more while he rights himself and surveys direction. Like a compass that just keeps getting broken. "I should really watch what I say sometimes. Anywhoes! The bleeding really had let the fever break some. I am feeling so much….Blood?" And the ground shifts and David tumbles once again.
The woodland creatures look on in contempt, confusion and curiosity.
Practically no time has passed since the passing out of consciousness. The lower blood pressure helps and hurts.
—-
Some time later David awakes with a pounding ache. Jitters of nerves crawl through skin. Like rumbling cicadas flowing in the vessels, just under the skin and scratching to breath. "So itchy!"
In the moment David wakes up completely and scampers out of the water towards the shore and grabs handfuls of fallen leaves and a bit of moist mud. Dig through it very carefully. "Looks clean enough." David says with a nod. He then takes the reddish mud, smoothed and dripping, and paints a layer on the leaves. "Just like a cake David." Psyching himself up with delirium David smacks the leaves on his leg to cover the cuts that re-opened. Hissing through his teeth he takes a breath to steady his tolerance further and starts to spread and smooth the mud around like a makeshift cast. "Red clay mud dries faster than darker brown mud. The blacker the soil the richer in vitamins the soil." David then hums solemnly when noticing the lack of small curious minds. Falling silent one can really hear the forest and its inhabitants going about their normal day. Noise filling the absolute silence. Birds, crickets, leaves rustling from wind or other means, the water brook.
Another look around and he notices the stick a few feet away. Within sight, and yet so far for an injured person. "Hyup!" Trying to flop and stretch towards it yields no stick in hand. "Oh geez. Just a few inches too short. Hmmmmm? Alright!" He smacks his fist with an open palm. "Wiggle time!" So he proceeds to wiggle and crawl army style, but it looks like a drying spazzing worm. But through the hard road David succeeds in reaching the stick. Panting, "A-Ha! Gotcha." Pulling himself forward in facing towards the stream downhill he gets momentum and gets up a little bit but then fumbles back down hard on his butt in surprise. "Alright, can't give up." Steely nerves and a clench fist of hard determination lead to a couple more failures, cause why not. But then it happens, David stands. The success is endorphin induced but then gurgles and stomach clenches in emptiness. Stumbling hoping on a less steep pathway a little ways from the water stream David comes across a small foliage and bush-like trees with bundles of glistening red berries. "Now the question is, are they Bush Honeysuckles or Pin Cherries?" One is poisonous and will leave you in varying states. Remember kids, Honeysuckle Berries are mild in poisoning. Symptoms are: vomiting, sweats, dilated pupils and increased heart rate. Not good even if you are thinking of becoming speed Ni-!
oh."
Taking a stance, David places a hand on the bark and finds it smooth. Almost soft like that time the campers cleaned the dirt from camp.
David chuckles quietly to himself and a grin settles on his pale features.
"Well, good news is this is Pin Cherries, if I want to be more sure…" He grabs one and squishes it open to find two thirds of a pit. A little taste shows the tartness that is rewarded.
"Lucky me."