The Adventures of Prisha - 1. Abandoned in the Forest

The sun shone brightly, as Prisha skipped down the lane. Here and there lay fresh and green grass. Nothing could be more pleasant!

“Okay, kids, time to get in the car!” said Mr. Satim, Prisha’s father, opening the car door.

“What a beautiful day!” exclaimed Prisha, clambering into the car.

“Sure is,” agreed Mrs. Ashil, Prisha’s aunt.

“Do we all have enough food?” asked Mrs. Satim “I packed Sandwiches, bars of Chocolate, buns, juice, A small sponge cake, an...”

“Sure, aunty! How can it not be many when there are so many?” asked Anitha Kayla, laughing.

They reached in 3 hours, Mr. Kayla at the wheel.

They laid their picnic blanket and basket near the beautiful waterfall.

“Wow!” exclaimed Prisha, munching the sandwich heartily, gazing at the waterfall in awe. “So beautiful!”

“Sure!” chorused Mrs. Satim and Mr. Satim, and then they looked at each other and laughed.

“Oh, God!” said Prisha, laughing “This grass is tickling me!”

“Okay, then,” said Mrs. Satim, wiping her mouth with the napkin “What shall we play?”

“We can play Police and Thief,” Anitha suggested.

“Okay.” said Mr. Satim

“You mean, Oak – Kay!” corrected Prisha.

They all laughed. Once they started laughing, it was difficult to stop.

They got up and started to run, while Prisha and Anitha chased them.

“Come back, you criminals. I’ll have you in no time!” yelled Prisha and Anitha together, as they ran, panting.

They all soon were on their backs, on the grass, exhausted.

The cool breeze was very refreshing on their faces.

They soon got up, needing to put up the tents and such.

Mrs. Satim and Mr. Satim put up the tent.

Mrs. Ashil, Mr. Ashil, Mr. Kayla and Mrs. Kayla laid the food on the blanket, while Prisha and Anitha went near the waterfall to see how cold the water was.

“Brr” shivered Prisha, withdrawing her hand from the waterfall “It’s icy cold!”

“You’re right!” agreed Anitha fervently, shivering as much as Prisha.

They headed back to the others.

The tent was set up and the food was spread on the picnic blanket.

“Mmmm!” exclaimed Anitha in delight, taking a bite of the cake “So yummy! I bet no one in the world will be able to make something more delicious than you!”

“Thank you, Anitha,” said Mrs. Satim, smiling.

Anitha and Prisha laid down on the grass, watching as the clouds sailed by.

The sun blazed brightly; the clouds were not able to obscure the sun.

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” shrieked Prisha

“What happened?” asked Mr. Kayla.

“Snake! Aah!” Anitha yelped.

“Don’t worry, kids,” said Mrs. Kayla, who was very experienced in snakes “That is an Eastern Hognose Snake which is not venomous.”

“Oh!” said Prisha, embarrassed at shrieking at a harmless snake.

“Silly Prisha!” said Anitha.

“Anyone will be scared at seeing a snake right in front of them if they have no knowledge about it,” said Prisha defensively “Plus, you also screamed.” she added

Anitha was the one now embarrassed. Everyone laughed.

“I think we ought to go now,” said Mr. Kayla “It’s getting late.”

“Oh, please let us stay here for more time,” begged Prisha.

“Would love to, but can’t. It’ll be night by the time we reach home. We have to go now,” said Mrs. Kayla firmly.

Anitha yawned involuntarily, unable to muffle it.

“See, even Anitha is tired. We better go now.” said Mr. Satim.

“Please, please, please?” begged Prisha.

“No.” said Mr. Kayla, Mrs. Kayla, Mrs. Ashil, Mr. Ashil, Mr. Satim and Mrs. Satim

“Oh,” she said in disappointment “Just 2 minutes?” asked Prisha, but she gave up under Mrs. Satim’s stern gaze.

“I’ll just go one more time to the waterfall and I’ll be back before we go home.” thought Prisha to herself.

She went away, without anyone noticing her absence.

“La, la, la!” she hummed happily

She stopped at a pond.

“Arr! Yahaar! I am a pirate!” she said, putting an angry expression to invisible enemies. She laughed at her reflection. In high spirits, she went on, sprinting merrily.

Quite abruptly, it started to rain.

“I better get back to where mom and dad are before the rain falls down more heavily,” she thought.

Meanwhile, the adults and Anitha were packing up the food and putting the tent in the car’s dikki. They evidently hadn’t noticed that Prisha was missing. They clambered into the spacious car, and drove away. A gust of wind wrenched open the car’s dikki, and the tent flew away, to the picnic spot.

Prisha approached the previously – occupied spot. To her surprise and fear, they weren’t there.

“Mom? Dad?” she called out, scared, soaking wet. She looked around here and there.

“No!” she cried out, and all the birds flew away.

The rain poured down heavily, making her wet from head to toe. But she didn’t mind that at all. All she cared about was that about finding her parents. She tried to see whether she could spot her parents and the car. But there was nothing. She wasn’t able to see anything. Everything was blurry to her, due to the very heavy rain. Gusts of winds came. She squeezed her shirt, and drops of water dripped from it. After a quarter of an hour, she was forced to admit that her parents, uncles and aunts had left her alone, forgetting that they had left her alone.

“Aah!” she cried, tripping over something. She couldn’t see it very clearly. She knelt near it. It had the figure of a triangle. It looked very familiar….

“The tent!” she exclaimed “What luck!”

She set up the tent, in the pouring rain. She was quite exhausted; it had been more than an hour, but the thought of shelter doubled her strength.

She was soon in the tent, sheltered from the heavy rain and wind

“Brrr….so cold,” she thought. “It’s so uncomfortable with wearing such a wet dress.”

She ripped of her dress, squeezed it, and put it on again.

The rain poured down steadily for the next 2 hours. Prisha was very cold and uncomfortable, not to mention hungry, thirsty and scared.

Morning turned into night.

“Aah!” shrieked Prisha, whenever an owl hooted. The rain still didn’t deplete. If she would try to find her way back to home, she would catch a dreadful cold. She couldn’t see, too. Her parents also wouldn’t be able to find her in this pouring rain. It would be very dangerous to be driving in this kind of weather. They would be very exhausted if they chose to walk their way.

*

It was nearing night, when Mrs. Satim came into Prisha’s room in the house.

“Prisha, it’s time to go to bed” she said staring around the empty room “Prisha?”

“Do you know where Prisha is, Aunty?” asked Anitha, who had spotted Mrs. Satim. “I been trying to find her, but I still am not able to find her. I really want to show her my drawing.”

“I also can’t find her,” said Mrs. Satim “Let’s go find her.”

However, they could not find her.

“What if – what if?” said Anitha, suddenly scared.

“What?” asked Mr. Ashil

“What if we left her behind?”

“Oh, no!” cried Mrs. Kayla.

“We must immediately go to there.” remarked Mrs. Satim, worriedly

“Jona, we can’t go in this pouring rain.” said Mrs. Ashil

“Yes, Sunitha is right,” said Mr. Kayla “The circumstances will be grave if we fall into a ditch or such.”

“Oh” said Mr. Satim “I guess we have to get her once the rain stops”

“But she’s out there” protested Mrs. Satim “In the pouring rain. She’ll catch a dreadful cold, she’s all alone, hungry and tired.”

“I know, dear” sighed Mr. Satim “But see, the rain will stop soon”

But he was wrong. So wrong. The rain poured all more heavily.

Mrs. Ashil, Mrs. Kayla and Mrs. Satim were freaking out.

“I’m going to go myself over there” said Mrs. Satim, finally.

“You can’t.” said Mr. Kayla “Firstly, the walk will take 2 – 3 days. Second, we don’t have any raincoat or umbrellas and we can’t buy them since all shops are closed. She might be hungry and all, but she’s old, guess she can manage... [to himself softly] in this horrible rain and lightning!”

“Okay…I guess we will have to go tomorrow...” said Mrs. Satim, giving up, gazing out of the window worriedly, thinking whether her poor daughter was alright.

*

Seeing whether the rain stopped or not, Prisha peered out of the tent. But it was much worse. It was pouring down so, so heavily that she couldn’t see anything at all.

“Brr…curse this rain!” she thought, shivering uncontrollably

“Achoo!” she sneezed “Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!”

She groaned.

Suddenly a huge gust of wind swept by. The tent flew away, leaving her in the darkness and pouring rain.

“What rotten luck!” she said, cursing under her breath

“Br…Achoo!”

She tried to find shelter. She had sharp eyes. Despite the pouring rain, she could make out a dim figure of a cave.

She started towards it.

“Ow!” she cried as a sharp branch made a cut on her finger.

“Ow, ow, ow!” she cried limping on her left leg, sucking her bleeding finger. She approached the cave cautiously.

She went in the cave. How nice it was to be safe from the pouring rain! The sand on the cave floor was nice and warm.

“Ah...!” she sighed in content, laying on the cave floor.

“What’s this?” A paper which appeared to be written on was lying on the cave floor. It seemed very old. Here and there were finger prints which were not hers. She read it, curiously. This what was written on it:

Dear Willas,

I hope this letter came across you. I don’t want you to starve! For your expedition and exploration, I have kept some food for you, in the cave. It’s stored inside a carved stone. I also kept in a mattress and a lamp. Have a nice time!

Yours,

Vyshna

Prisha had no idea of who Willas and Vyshna were, but she knew one thing. Food! She was going to find it. The thought of food at last, wiped all her exhaustion. She couldn’t see in the darkness, so she groped her way through the cave, touching the big rocks. She seemed to have found it. There was a big rock with a hole carved in it. It was brimming with food.

“How could Vyshi or whatever her name was, thought this was not enough?” said Prisha in content, digging her hand in the “treasure!”

“This is heaven!”

After eating her fill, she lay on the floor and drifted off to sleep.

*

The weather had ceased.

Mrs. Satim, Mr. Satim, Mrs Kayla, Mr. Kyla, Mrs. Ashil, Mr. Ashil and Anitha were clambering into the car.

Mr. Satim at the wheel, he said

“Put on your seat belts. It might be a rough ride.”

It was a very bumpy one indeed.

The holes were filled with water, and Mr. Satim had to steer out of the way, the others jerked in their places.

They kept a steady pace, not stopping. They were desperate to find Prisha. Who knows what could have happened to her?

They, after a long time, arrived at their picnic spot. They split up, in different direction.

“Hey!” called Anitha “There’s something here!”

The others came towards her.

“Why, it’s the tent!” exclaimed Mr. Kayla, surprised “It’s the one we brought!

“Now let’s not get distracted,” said Mrs. Satim “We’ll first find Prisha and then we can come back.”

“This weather torn apart the tent in some parts” said Mrs. Kayla, looking at the tent

“Yeah, it must have been fierce.”

“Poor Prisha. All alone, having a cold...”

“Wait!” said Anitha suddenly “Don’t you think she would seek for shelter?”

“Oh, yeah!” exclaimed Mrs. Kayla “I remember seeing a cave, over there.” she pointed in a direction.

“Then what are we waiting for?!”

*

“The rain must have stopped” said Prisha, who woke up “I can’t hear the noise of it anymore.”

She went out to check whether the rain had stopped or not.

“Mom! Dad!” she cried out in surprise and joy, and she spotted them

“Prisha!” Everyone flung themselves at Prisha and hugged her tightly, delighted.

“I’m so sorry we left you behind,” said Mrs. Satim, sobbing. It was hard to know whether it was out of shame or out of happiness “So sorry.”

“You don’t need to say sorry to me, mom,” said Prisha, wrenching herself from the others “I’m the one to say sorry. I shouldn’t have wandered away without telling you.”

“Oh, Prisha,” said Mr. Satim “All of us make mistakes. Now do you understand the importance of listening to grown - ups?”

“Now, shall we go home?” asked Mrs. Kayla “You must be starving.”

“Actually,” said Prisha “I’m not. I’m filled up! I discovered some – I mean, a lot of food in the cave.”

“Good for you,” said Mr. Ashil

“Hey, what’s that?” asked Prisha, noticing the tent

“It’s the tent” replied Anitha

“But – but I thought it flew away!”

“I guess it came back.” said Anitha

“Now, let’s get home.”

“All okay for it!” said Anitha, approvingly

“You mean, Oak – Kay”

Everyone laughed.

As Prisha clambered into the car, she was determined to obey her parents and not wander away again, even a second.