A Logger's Worst Nightmare

Aurora was exhausted. It was hot and she had climbed up at least twenty five trees and it was only nine. Lunch break was a long time for now and she could already feel hunger pains coming on. She didn’t dare eat between trees afraid of getting hit with some sort of baton or whip from a peacekeeper. Peacekeepers seem to stalk her because she’s so small so they expect her to slip up but she never did. She would slip climbing a tree once in a while or accidently graze her hand with her axe but never got in trouble for breaking rules. She supposed she had an easier peacekeeper in charge today because no one was yelling at her for stopping once in a while to take a breather.

She was walking down the path to go to her next tree when she hears every logger’s worst nightmare. “Look out! It’s going the wrong way!” She expected it was coming her way but she didn’t know where to go so she ran a few feet to the left. She knew she hadn’t moved far enough when she felt something brush against her arm. BANG! The ground underneath her feet shook from the impacts of the tree to the ground. Next thing she knew she was being taken down by a bunch of pine branches. She couldn’t move to free herself. “HELP!” she called out. She was near tears. What would her mother think when she didn’t come home with her father and brothers? Would her father and little brothers come looking for her? Would she die under this tree? Then she came aware in the pain shooting up from her foot. She could only imagine it would be broken.

She tried not to close her eyes afraid she wouldn’t wake up. She knew she wasn’t under the trunk of the tree but a bunch of branches which were too heavy for her to free herself from. She didn’t know how badly she was hurt but did know at least her ankle was hurt. She had pine nettles stuck in her silky dark brown hair. She was wishing she had moved a bit faster and farther so she wasn’t stuck under a tree. The branches were typically heavy but then they are clumped together they were.

Kai was walking in the forest when he heard a young girl scream and a tree fall. This kind of stuff was normal for him, but usually with adults, not children. He dropped his sharpened ax and dashed over to help her. When he arrived he saw she hair full of nettles, with tears collecting in her eyes. He lifted the tree a little of the ground and attempted to free her from the fallen tree's grip. As her pulled her out he fell backwards, landing on a tree stump, shocking him, but not injuring him.

Aurora was startled when she was pulled from the tree. She looked around confused. She didn’t dare look down at her legs while behind pulled away afraid of what she would find. Then she was suddenly stopped being pulled she dared to look around more. All she could tell that it was a boy that had pulled her out. He was sitting or leaning against a tree stump, she didn’t think she weighed that much.

She forced herself to sit up though it was a bit painful. Her head hurt a bit and her ankle was pulsating. She knew at first sight it was broken. The purple and blue bruising was a clear sign. She knew that this would mean a while of hardship for her family. This wasn’t good for her or the family as whole. How would they survive without the money she makes?

“Are you okay?” she asked, her voice quiet let fierce. She hated to seem like she was weak. She also wasn’t as fierce as usually since she was in so much pain. She would hate to think someone got hurt helping her out.