I was running through the Everglades, struggling to find a good place to hide from the snake, inching closer and closer to me. It was a cottonmouth, also known as a water moccasin. It is one of the most poisonous snakes on earth, heavily populated in Florida. So, there I was, running away from the most deadly snake in Florida. I felt myself slowing, the energy melting away from my body. I looked back at the snake, it’s yellow eyes staring into my soul.
I felt something wet on the side of my face and a dog barking. Then, I woke up. I realized how dumb I was for thinking I could outrun a water moccasin. I laughed as I remembered that a water moccasin is one of the fastest snakes in the USA.
“Good morning gramps, ” I lightly shouted to my grandpa.
“Hi Majol,” My grandpa exclaimed, reading his newspaper. I had just realized that I’d fallen asleep on the couch. I lived in the villages Florida. The villages are close to the middle of Florida. It is a little known town to kids because the villages consist of mostly senior citizens. Since my parents died, I live with my grandma and grandpa. Most people would live with their aunts and uncles, but both of my parents were the only children of their family. Therefore, when they died, I went to live with my grandparents. Before my mother died, she gave me a pocket knife that I had been begging her to get for years. The best voted tailing edge blade. A cold steel Talwar. It was $115 and great for carving trees.
“Come look at this,” my grandpa called.
“What is it?” I asked, though I knew exactly what he was calling me for. He always shows me the newspaper comics. It was one of my favorite things to do with him. I looked over to it. It had a yak walking near a human while sneezing. The yak said that he felt horrible. The human says if he’s sick, why doesn’t the yak stay home. The yak goes like, and waste a perfectly good sick day? So dumb yet so funny.
I went to the living room where my dog was. The living room was a room that had windows all along two of the four corners of the room. There was a slide door leading to the porch. The porch was all glass with a hot tub in it. The porch led to three different rooms. My dog’s name was graham, named after my dad. He was just a puppy but he always loved us, no matter if we called him bad, he always showed love for us. It was impossible to be mad at him for more than ten seconds. He was a Belgian malinois. A little known breed of dog. It looks like a German Shepherd but smaller. They were both very good police dogs, having a very keen sense of smell. This allows them to find people faster and easier. I went over to graham and started scratching his neck. He craned his neck to the side, his wet, black mouth smiling the widest smile I had ever seen. Graham’s black-brown fur was nice and smooth. It was like scratching the clouds in the sky. I wished he could go to the Everglades with me and my grandparents. “Hey buddy,” I quietly whispered to graham. His ears perked up at the slight notice of love from me. I looked over at his food bowl, finally noticing he had no food or water. I walked over to the kitchen. I got graham’s bowl and gave him food and water.
“Go and get breakfast before school,” my grandpa chimed. “You’re right, I should get breakfast,” I said as I looked at the time.
“Wow, eight o clock already?” I asked.
“Did you forget daylight savings time?” My grandma asked out of nowhere.
“Yeah, still getting used to it,” I told her, although I just wanted to have something to talk about. I never got to talk to my grandparents enough these days. I quickly got breakfast and got dressed. My teeth were perfectly white, so I figured I would just skip brushing my teeth today. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? Would it magically turn all my teeth black? I don’t think so. I got out of the house two minutes early. I got my bike and went to the villages private middle. It was an eleven minute bike ride to the school. I was in sixth grade and it was the last school day of the school year. I went into the school. I saw my friend Max.
“Ready for the last day of the school year?” Max questioned.
“Why wouldn’t I? I mean, I like school but I’m going to the Everglades,” I said.
“The Everglades has the most interesting animals on earth,” I said to him.
“Not really, but I see what you’re getting at,” Max replied. Of course Max said that. He always thought the most interesting animals were in the Savanna. I almost believed that he was right. Except for the fact that the Everglades has gators. Alligators are my favorite animals on the earth. Period.
“You know that I think that because gators are my favorite animals,” I said.
“Oh my god, I just had the best idea,” “You could ask your grandpa if I could go to the Everglades with you guys,” Max exclaimed, clearly excited.
“Yeah, but we’re going to need to get through the last day of school first,” I said. “You’d have to pack two weeks worth of clothes, actually, make that four, you’ll wet your pants at least once a week,” I said to Max. He was actually terrified of wild animals after he got bitten by a wild dog four years ago. Luckily, the dog did not have rabies but he got a pretty deep gash in his arm. A whole chunk of his skin off in seconds. I had rushed over to the dog and tackled it down long enough to get Max over to his house and call animal control on his home phone. Animal control came over five minutes, along with Max. That was how me and Max met.
We were seven years old back then. We were in the same school. In those three years of being in the same grade, we hadn’t talked until that day. He had thanked me for saving his life. I don’t think I saved his life because there was a high possibility that he wouldn’t die. He probably would have only died if the dog had rabies. The dog was a doberman. If you knew anything about dobermans, then you would know that they are very territorial.
“Remember the time that you saved me from a Doberman?” Max asked me, remembering why he was afraid of wild animals.
“How would I not? That was the time that we became friends,” I said, thinking that he was being stupid. Why would I not think he was stupid? I mean, who in the right mind would forget how they met their friend?
I went to my locker and opened it. I put my book, Supergifted in my locker. I put my backpack in immediately afterwards.
“Hey dork.” I heard the voice and closed my locker and ran. It was the school bully, Hank Henderson. “Get back here!” He shouted. I turned the corner and felt something grab my shirt. I felt a powerful fist on the back of my head almost immediately afterwards. My vision blurred. I saw red and tasted blood. I hit the floor and blacked out.
I woke up in the emergency room. People with white masks covering their mouths were hovering above me. My eyesight was blurry still from the blow. I guessed I had a concussion because he had punched my head hard enough to draw blood. I had opened my eves for only a few seconds and I closed them again.
The doctors seemed to notice. “He’s awake, Robert,” One of the nurses said. That was my grandpas name. He rushed over and hugged me. The first thing I asked was, “How long was I out for?” I saw my grandpa put his pointer finger to his lips. I was agitated about that. “Tell me!” I screamed. My grandpa sighed.
“Sixteen days,” he said. “It’s fifteen days from when we were supposed to leave for the everglades” I couldn’t believe it. That idiot knocked me out for sixteen days. I never even thought that anybody could get knocked out for sixteen days. That’s probably because I never did any research about that type of stuff. I never really found it interesting. “What happened to Hank? He has to have some type of punishment for knocking me out,” I said.
“Nobody thought he did anything. People believed his story at first. They thought they called the police for nothing. Then the police inspected the inside of the lockers and saw no blood on any of them. They decided to blame the person closest to you.” My grandpa said. “Since he punched you in the head, he has to do the whole summer worth of community service,” I was surprised.
“I have known him long enough to know that he hates community service.” I said.
“And a whole entire summers worth, he’s going to despise every second of it,” I said. It was a good thing that we were going to the Everglades. He would literally kill me. “Surprisingly,” one of the nurses chimed. “You have no concussion,” I was bewildered. How in the world could I not have a concussion after a powerful strike to the head? He was a pro athlete. The best wrestler, football player, and lacrosse player in our school, and they’re telling me that I had no concussion. Unbelievable. When I was finally out of the hospital, we went home. My grandpa hadn’t said to my grandma that I was awake.
When we got inside, my grandma was right there.
“Why didn’t you tell me that he was awake?” She demanded. “I wanted it to be a surprise,” my grandpa said. “I didn’t think you would be mad,” he said. “I’m not mad, I was just surprised to hear that he was awake,” she said. “Especially the fact that he had no concussion. I never even thought that it was possible to survive that type of blow from that kid,” she said.
“That’s what I thought!” I exclaimed. You guys ready for the road?” She asked. “Not me,” I said. “I didn’t pack one piece of clothing yet,” I said. “Did you forget that I was out for sixteen days?”
“I packed you all the clothes you need,” she said. Normally, a regular kids parents would pack them things that you would never want to wear, but my grandparents were surprisingly cool. Luckily, they have good taste in cool clothes. I went upstairs and got my suitcase. I looked in my suitcase to see what my grandma packed for me. Thank the lord! She packed every single one of my favorite clothes. She even packed my sunglasses and my liquid hat. I got the liquid hat in Delaware when my parents were still alive. I closed my suitcase and went downstairs. My grandparents were in the car. We were going in their friend’s car. The reason for this was that I wanted to take the boat out.
My parents taught me how to drive a boat a year before they died. I would drive the boat in the Delaware bay every day of the summer. I was going to take the boat out at the Swoop Site Boat Ramp. I was going to go to a boat ramp in the Everglades. The whole trip to the Swoop Site Boat Ramp took an hour and forty seven minutes. We had previously bought four gas canisters for our boat. We knew it would be a long boat ride to the next boat ramp.
When we got out on the water, we went at least one hundred feet away from the land. I went another a mile until I drove into a canal. “Where are you going?” my grandma demanded.
“Just exploring for two minutes,” I shouted over the roaring engine of the boat. We were going fast, so I slowed the boat. “Grandma,” I said quietly.
“Yeah?” She asked, clearly confused.
“Pull out your camera,” I whispered to her.
“What for?”
“Look,” I said. I gestured toward the bald eagle nest, at least fifteen feet above us.
“Oh my god,” my grandparents said in sync. They saw what I saw now. Right when my grandma saw the nest, she pulled out her camera in a nanosecond. I just stared in awe at the two birds feeding the long, slimy worm to their baby. The baby hadn’t grown its stomach feathers and neck feathers. It was sure bald, but not in the ways I thought.
The adult birds were at least twenty seven times cooler. Their large feathers glistening in the sun. The love that they showed toward their baby was impeccable. It was almost human. The beak looked like gold was molded onto it. The feathers were at least one inch. The baby had such small feathers, it looked like a white lab’s fur.
After about two minutes of looking, I asked my grandma if we could move on. She said that we should because her pictures were filling up her storage. We were on our way, trying not to cause too much noise. Once we got a good distance away, we started speeding for three hours. I liked the small drops of water brushing on my face. It was like a nice, smooth cloth brushing my face.
Immediately after we got to the boat ramp, my grandpa called up his friend. Tino, his friend lived five minutes away from the boat ramp. Tino came over to us in his car. He got close enough to hook our boat. He had a Chevrolet Silverado so it was powerful. He took us to the hotel and then took our boat to his house. The ride took twenty seven minutes. The hotel had a good impression on the outside. I took a deep breath and entered the building.
The hotel was nice and luxurious. We checked in and oh boy, was it expensive! Four hundred seventy seven dollars a night. That’s six thousand six hundred seventy eight for the whole time we were there. Luckily, I was getting a small job that payed decently. I could get that money in one year. Since my grandpa worked for FEMA for more than thirty years, he got thirty grand a month.
It didn’t affect our wallet much, but my grandpa was strict about budget. He only wanted to spend twenty grand a month. He keeps lowering the budget more and more. This was good because we would spend less and less. Before you say that I’m spoiled, most of the money focuses towards taxes and vacations. Things to benefit our whole family. Mostly, it’s not just grandma, grandpa, or me, it’s me, my grandma, and my grandpa all together.
Our apartment was room 1068 on the second floor. We went in the elevator only because my grandparent’s legs get sore very easily. I volunteered to take our luggage to the elevator, so I did. One thing I liked was doing community service. I liked doing stuff without getting paid. It was like my job to do community service.
When I was four years old, I went to Lewes beach in 2011 to clean the beach with my parents and a man I didn’t know. We walked ten miles and cleaned up five tons of trash. There were trash cans all over the beach, so we used that to our advantage. Every trash can for ten miles was filled. We even got on the Cape Gazette.
When we got to the second floor, I asked what room we were supposed to go to because I hadn’t been told directly, I’d just overheard. There was a sign on the door that said NO SMOKING! When we entered, it looked worse than I expected, though my expectations were too high. To a normal person, it would be amazing but to me, it was decent.
You see, my grandparents take me to vacations all over the world. I had gone to at least seventeen countries. We mostly traveled by plane, so I saw a lot of hotels and cruise ships. I had gone to six countries so much that it was like living in six countries all at once. I had almost been in a plane crash. Thank god I had missed the flight. Just to clarify, only one person died. People on the plane said that he looked like he was having a seizure.
When we entered the room, I looked around. I was choosing who got what bed. It was a hard decision because they were all pretty nice. I had to physically go in the bed and se which ones were the most comfortable. They all felt the same. A nice, soft, light blanket. The mattress felt amazing, nothing I had ever felt before. It was by far the most comfortable bed I had ever been in and I had been in hundreds of hotels.
The night had fallen fast, which was weird because it should have felt slow because of the ride. I had picked the bed furthest from my grandparents. They got separate beds, but they were at least two feet away. Mine was in a different room. The room had a brown oak door separating it from the other rooms. The kitchen had a window overlooking my grandparent’s room. It was the only room that didn’t have a door leading to it.
When I woke up, I was drenched in sweat. I didn’t think I had dreamed that night. At least I didn’t remember it. I went to the thermostat and saw eighty nine degrees. I put it back down to seventy. I went outside to cool off. It was a perfect temperature with no wind at all.
It felt like the wind was massaging my face. It was about sixty five degrees out, which was perfect for me. I went back inside after fifteen minutes. My grandparents weren’t there. They left a note saying: Went on a walk! See you in an hour.
I went in the kitchen to get some tea. I got three tea cups so grandma and grandpa could get some when they came home. I put the water in the kettle. I heated it up and put a tea bag in it. I put two teaspoons of honey in. I went to the counter and drank it. After I was done, I went on grandpa’s laptop to see bike stores in the Everglades. I don’t have a phone because I usually spend only three hours inside every day.
I found a bike shop that had bike rentals, which was exactly what I needed. There was a bike trail that was only a mile away. I wanted to go on the trail and enjoy the scenery. I waited an hour for them to come back. They didn’t. I figured that they were just a few minutes late. It turned out I was right. I asked them if they could get Tino to drive me to the bike shop. They said Tino was able to drive me. They also said I could just buy one.
It felt weird being in Tino’s car again. I didn’t engage in conversation. It would turn out too awkward. Plus, I didn’t know where to start. I brought 300 dollars, hoping that would be enough. When we got there, I bought a red bike with a soft, comfortable seat. I rode it back to the hotel, following Tino’s car to get there. I went inside once again, being the second time I had entered in twelve hours. I darted up the stairs to our room. I sped down the hall, looking for our room.
1065…1066…1067…1068! I took the key out of my pocket, unlocking the door as fast as I could. I told them how long I planned to be out. I wanted to enjoy the nature for about six hours. They took a look at my bike for a while. I told them I was going to set a timer right when I got on the trail. I would first set the timer for two and a half hours and then set it for three and a half hours.
I went along the trail, admiring the scenery. There were so many nice looking palm trees, their leaves glistening in the sunlight. I got a little paranoid when I was over the first section. I was at least ten feet off the ground. I saw a gator eyeing me down, following my bike. At least it couldn’t get me.
I was getting to the point where there was no palm trees and a lot of branches getting close to scratching my face. I went close to the middle of the trail so I didn’t fall. I wasn’t paying attention to what was behind me. Somebody crashed into me. I caught a glimpse of his face. He looked scared. He stopped his bike as fast as they could.
Lucky for him, he wasn’t hurtling off the bridge. I was only a few feet away from being safe and sound too, which made the situation even unluckier. My legs slammed into the wooden fences. Pain struck my body like a bullet. That was just the beginning of my pain. The fences only slowed me down. I went airborne and flew off the trail.
I tried to spot anything that would break my fall, but it was too late. I saw a tree stump and I was falling right towards it. I thought about trying to fall on the dirt but I knew I wouldn’t make it. I did it anyway, hoping for the best. I tried to “fly” to the dirt, knowing that was my best chance to survive. I mostly made it, but my right arm slammed into the stump.
The rest of my body wasn’t much better. I had fallen into a pile of wood. I wondered how there was a conveniently placed piled of wood, but there was no time for complaining. Tears burned my eyes. I couldn’t help it, I had to cry. Before you call me pathetic, how would you feel if you fell onto a ton of wood? I guarantee that you wouldn’t just walk it off.
After all that, it kept getting worse. I saw somebody pointing behind me. It hurt so much to even turn around. To make matters worse, I was bleeding. I was scared to turn around. When I did, I was glad I did. It was an alligator. It was ten feet behind me. I grabbed one of the sticks I landed on.
Each were five feet long. I stood up and looked at the gator. It was slowly inching towards me. Suddenly, it jumped toward me. I quickly gripped the stick and stuck it in the alligator’s eye. It had taken a small bite in my leg. People cheered all around me, but they didn’t see what I saw. It was blending in with the trees.
It was an Eastern Diamondback. Dang it, this day keeps getting better and better. I thought. I checked my pocket to see if I had my knife. The Cold Steel Talwar was in my pocket, along with a roll of electric tape. It was from the middle of the school year. I had taped Max’s locker shut.
When I spied on him, I realized the tape hadn’t been strong enough. I took the knife and tape out of my pocket. I walked over to the stick. I wrapped the tape around the stick and the knife. I did this so I had a longer distance from the snake. If it went towards me, I would strike its head with the knife and hope I hit it.
I slowly wrapped the tape around the stick because of my injuries, as I would have done it fast as possible without them. I heard mutters of people saying, “What is this kid doing?” They stopped cheering. The whole place fell into silence. I knew the snake was close. What I didn’t know was that in was 3 feet behind me.
I heard the rattle and ran into the forest. I once heard a National Geographic documentary about rattlesnakes. When they rattle, the best thing to do was run. I grabbed the stick and unwrapped the tape. The only downside to running was the pain in my legs. I was running as fast as possible, tripping multiple times. I didn’t know where I was going. The thick leaves were covering my view of the trail. I way as well have been in China.
Losing my way was the least of my problems. I looked back to see the Diamondback chasing me. It was way faster than me. I unwrapped the tape faster and finally unraveled the knife and stick. I stopped, turned around and charged at the Diamondback. I jumped over the snake, almost getting bitten. It didn’t have enough time to turn around before I flipped it over and stabbed it.
I ran back the way that I came and saw six news vans. I tried to get up to the bridge. It was too steep. I only got halfway up. It was like American Ninja Warrior when someone tried to get over the ramp but was not athletic enough.
I went back to the forest and tried to find an exit. I had zero luck. That meant there was a small chance that I would never find my family. I heard a news helicopter and tried to find my way out of the forest. I was lost now with no hope of coming back home. I thought about how my family would react.
I heard a beep. Oh no. That was the first alarm that went off. I had only been off my bike for fifteen minutes only. I had to find an exit and get home in less than 4 hours. I had an injured arm, leg, and the worst headache of human history.
How was I going to get back? I was lost in the middle of the Everglades. Now, I believed Max about the fact that the savanna having the best animals. But I only believed him because they were putting my whole life at risk. Then, I heard grandpa’s voice.
He watched the news. I was almost certain of it. I tried to track the voice. It was way too hard. His voice was bouncing across my head. It was impossible to track. I was walking to where I first heard the voice. It was at the trail. I went over to it. He was gone. I trudged through the woods, thinking I would never see my family ever again.
Three days Later
I was going back to my camp that I made. I found the alligator that I killed and set camp there, knowing I wouldn’t be able to carry it, especially because of my right arm. I knew it was broken. So were my legs. When I was using my legs to defend myself, they were practically getting tortured from the slightest movement.
If that’s wasn’t broken, I don’t know what is. I heated up the fire. It took me two hours to get the fire really going. I cut a chunk off the gator with my knife. I heated it above the fire and left it for two minutes and came back. It was perfectly cooked. I ate it and surprisingly, it tasted great. I had only taken a small nibble, but that was enough to cure my hunger. It was like a five star buffet. I had hesitated to eat it because it might have a disease. I washed it off at the water and cooked it again.
I went to the “bed” that I made for myself. It was uncomfortable but it would have to do. I woke up and checked my watch. It was 10:42 AM. I looked around and saw a helicopter. I waved my hands above my head. They saw me and came over. I gathered my supplies. I quickly got the parts of the alligator that I was going to save. I put as much as possible in my makeshift basket. I asked for a few plastic bags. They gave me six and helped me load the bags in the helicopter.
I had cooked every edible part before I went to bed. I told them the hotel I had been staying at. I went into the hotel and asked if the people in the helicopter could help me with the alligator parts. I had realized one thing with one of the people. He was leading the way.
I hadn’t told them the room number. I hadn’t gotten a good look at their faces before, so I went ahead to see his face. “Tino?” I asked.
“Yeah?” He asked.
“Since when did you become a pilot?” “I asked him.
“I was in the US Air Force,” he said. Then, I knew how he was leading the way. Grandma or grandpa must have told him our room number in case he found me. We reached the room. I found my grandpa biting his nails. I hid behind Tino. My legs were practically dead. “Any luck?” he asked.
“What do you think?” Tino asked. That was when I popped out from behind him.
“What are those bags for?” He asked.
“You’ll see,” I said as I took it out of the bag. “It had a 24 foot area,” I said.
“That would be 60 dollars if we bought it,” he said.
“And all it cost was an arm and two legs,” I said. “Literally.”
We unpacked the gator parts and put them in our fridge. I went to the ER to get my legs and arm checked. Turns out that I had broken each bone in two spots. I would need to stay in a wheelchair for two months. The cast was about the same amount of time.
Eight weeks (two months) later
I had just gotten my cast and boots off. I was getting interviewed every day. I was excited for today. Today, we were going home. We had to stay at the Everglades for eight extra weeks. We were there for eight weeks and four days.
I couldn’t drive in a wheelchair so we stayed at Toni’s house. (Mostly to save money.) It was a long few weeks. I couldn’t bare sleeping in my wheelchair but I had to. My legs were too broken for me to move them. Until today. I got my casts off. I could finally go home. See Graham. Never go to the freaking Everglades ever again. Not in a million years. I was free to walk, run, and climb again. It was like starting a whole new life.
When we got to grandma’s friend’s house, Graham was so happy. He sprinted over to me, tripping a lot. I couldn’t help but think about myself. It was like me running from the snake. I could almost imagine a snake behind him. He got to me in what felt like hours. He tackled me in his sixteenth and final trip. He climbed up my leg and licked my face.
I picked him up and brought him to their friend’s car. He continued to lick my face as we drove home.
The End For now…
