Just out of reach

Words 269

Traversing the harsh terrain was made even more difficult for the explorer by the thorny bushes and clinging,’Wait a While’ vine, which reached out as if to keep him from moving on. Undeterred, he hacked his way through the rain forest where the tree canopy was so thick in places, the sun couldn’t penetrate the forest floor, leaving it in total darkness.
Sweat poured from the man’s body, drenching and weakening him. Still he persisted in his quest.
He sought a creature so rare people thought it must be mythical. No one had seen it and yet the intrepid explorer knew in his heart it did exist.
Raising his eyes into the branches he searched. He listened intently for the call, his camera poised.
Weeks passed, debilitated by mosquitoes bites, exhaustion, and blood loss from leeches which clung firmly to his limbs as he crossed streams. They sucked blood from his body before releasing their grip, dropping sated, back to their watery homes.
And yet he persisted. Determined to be the first man to see this creature, to capture an image to prove it did exist and he wasn’t crazy.
The exhausted man always sensed it was close by, and it was that strong belief which allowed his body to continue to place one foot in front of the other for miles upon miles. At last he dropped to the ground, unable to take another step.
Watching him from high above, following silently, just out of sight, the Amazonian Umbrella bird, dropped a large stone from her curved purple beak onto her dying pursuer, before letting out out a mournful cry.