CHAPTER FIVE

Karen awoke to new sounds. She slipped on her sun dress and went outside. There, a short distance away was some good size birds, making clucking noises.

“Wild chickens? This situation keeps getting stranger, and stranger!”

The thought of chickens reminded her that she had not eaten for a long time. She shuddered at the thought of having to kill and clean food to eat. She went back inside.

“It is so hot!” she complained and took her dress off and took some of the water in her pail the sponge off. After hanging up her dress to dry, she poured herself a cup of water. She plopped back down on her bed. She was just about to let out a long mad scream when she notice a faint image on her pillow. The longer she looked, the clearer the image became.

“What in the world? Start? How odd? I wonder what this means…And what are these boxes underneath?”

She scratched her head for a moment. When she looked up, she noticed that the book on her night stand was open.

“I know I shut that thing.” She mumbled as she picked it up.

A shiver came over her as she quickly noticed that there was now a new entry.

“If you are going to survive, you must learn to establish good routines. Any fatal mistakes and you will returned to ‘Start’. Those empty boxes will be checked off each time you are returned. You were chosen because you have proved yourself to overcome challenges.”

She got to the end of the new entry and shut the book. She stood up and let out that scream, then shouted,

“Yes, I am a survivor, but I also refuse to be manipulated!”

She poured herself another cup of water. The book was right about overcoming challenges. Growing up on a farm she had faced many of them. Thinking about that former life reminded her that she had not eaten. About that time, she heard the sound of the “wild chickens” again. She slipped her dress back on, grabbed a knife, and headed outside. The chickens immediately took off. She wanted to chase them but knew she was better off just following so she could conserve her energy. This proved to be a wise choice. For the direction they went led her to an area she had not yet explored. It led her to a small cave. Inside was a cold pool of water. The rocks that surrounded the pool were covered with vines that were full of berries. Off in some of the small craves were what appeared to be these birds nests, and in those nests were eggs. Karen gathered as many berries and eggs as she could manage to wrap up in her dress and headed back to her shelter. This discovery was the beginning of her first routine.

Every morning she would sponge off, get dressed and make her way to that cave for fresh water, berries, and eggs. After she eat, she would take the seeds from the berries, and dry them. The hope was to possibly cultivate them eventually. She knew she could not live off of berries and eggs forever, so she started making trips to the cave later in the afternoon, about an hour before sunset. She learned that was about the tome that he chickens would go in to roost, It took her a few tries, but it was not long before she had her first wild chicken dinner.

After about a week, Karen was very tired of just surviving. On the next morning there was another new entry in her book.

“You have a lot of angry energy, you need to turn that into creative energy.”

That was the whole entry.

“Yes, I have a lot of anger!” she shouted.

Then figuring she was wasting her breath, she continued in a softer tone.

“Turn your angry energy into a creative one. How many times have I been told that before? My Grandmother, my mother, my teachers, my goodness I never want to hear that phrase again!”

Karen continued to mumble to herself for quite a while. She would occasionally stomp her feet, and or shake her fist as if she was reliving several old arguments she had in the past. When she finally calmed down, she picked up the book again. It looked as if she intended to throw it across the room to let whoever or whatever the author was what she thought about the last entry. However, when she picked it up, she noticed more had been added.

“You are not trying. You did not manage to escape farm life by simply being mad at your lot in life. Stick to your routines and expand your desire for a better way of life.”

Karen could not believe her eyes. This was practically word for word what she was told by her high school guidance counselor. To her amazement, she did feel a bit calmer. She closed the book, and began thinking about the words, “expand your desire for a better way.”

The next morning after she collected her eggs and berries, she began to observe some of the other wild animals. She would again follow at a distance to see where they may lead her. It did not take long to discover other materials she could use both for food and to add comfort for her from the heat.

Two new items were added in her shelter soon after she began to explore on her own, One was a pencil, and the other was a blank journal. Her “instruction book” suggested the she keep a diary. This she did for a couple of reason, not least of which was to keep tract of how many days that she had been forced into playing this game.

Not too many mornings after that, she awoke to a loud thunder clap. She scrambled to the door to see a huge storm headed her way, She rushed outside and grabbed the few things that she had made that would not hold up to a strong wind. It suddenly dawned on her that it had not even rained sense she arrived, much less stormed. She was now very concerned if her shelter would be able to stand against the storm that was approaching. Of all the emotions that she had felt sense being placed in this situation, she now could add fear to that list. She grabbed her pillow and waited on the storm.