Yazmin and Herbert

One drop of hair dye slid down her back leaving behind numberless goose bumps.

Her name was Yazmin.  She was five and a half feet tall, with light brown skin and shoulder-length black hair.  Currently she was tired, lost, and alone, swinging her machete through the rain forest trying desperately to find her camp before nightfall.  How could she have been so stupid?

There was a familiar scent ahead and Yazmin thought she heard the sound of rushing water.  Her heartbeat quickened and she hoped it was the river, which would surely lead her back to safety.

Presently, a furious swarm of butterflies burst from the foliage and surrounded her.  She screamed and flailed her arms, trying to brush them aside.  The swarm relentlessly attacked her for a few long moments, and then in unison, they abruptly left her gasping for breath.

“Effin’ butterflies,” she muttered, wiping sweat from her brow and continuing to cut her way through the rain forest.

Suddenly, a harsh and deafening buzzing sound pierced through the thick humid air.  Yazmin’s ears hurt from the intrusive, almost rhythmic sound that seemed to penetrate into her brain.  The sound was mechanical, relentless, and in a way, ominous.  Dread filled Yazmin’s heart for reasons she couldn’t quite place.

And then, Yazmin was not Yazmin but was Herbert, a thirteen-year-old redheaded boy who woke up in his parents’ house in the suburbs, frantically turning off his alarm clock to stop the buzzing before it woke up his cat.  Herbert scrambled to put on his glasses and look at the time.  It was seven-thirty, and if he did not get up quickly, he would be late for school.  He got dressed, gathered his schoolbooks, and started walking towards the bus stop.

However, right as the bus was about to arrive, it was thrown off course by a giant gorilla that leapt onto it from a nearby treetop.  The bus crumpled under the weight of the mighty silverback.  The ape snarled, thumped its chest, and looked right at Herbert.

Herbert yelped, and the gorilla attacked.  As soon as it knocked the poor boy to the ground, though, everything was different.  The street was now a campfire, the traffic light a nearby tree.

Yazmin woke up from her nightmare and discovered she had fallen asleep upon returning to her camp.  All was well in the jungle.

-Chris W.