The bald trees stood tall above us. Their branches made the shadows intermingle and light to scatter above us like a kaleidoscope.
Despite my reservations, I couldn’t deny there was a raw beauty to it. The few greens were muddled with brown and there weren’t colorful flowers, but there was dirty truth to the place.
Even if I could swear the trees were moving in the corner of my eyes, no matter how many times I told myself it was a trick of light.
Why did the feeling I was being watched keep settling deeper inside me?
Something slithered across my pant leg, and I froze. My stomach dropped when I tried to find what touched me, and I realized I couldn’t see through the muddy water. “Shannon.”
“Hmm?” She turned her head.
“Something touched me and I can’t tell what.” My breathing stuttered.
It’s probably a fish.
What if it’s not?
My heart banged against my breast bone like it was ready to burst out and run away.
Seriousness lined her mouth as she studied the water, but like me came up empty. “It’s probably nothing.”
I swallowed. “Probably, but not definitely. We’re still in alligator mating season.”
She scoffed. “Like we wouldn’t notice an alligator.”
I didn’t waste my breath telling her that they often rested at the bottom of the swamp. Obviously, she was thinking of some other threat. Like a Cottonmouth snake, perhaps.Fuck, don’t do that. Stay calm. Panicking won’t help.
I pulled some bravery out of my gut to take a cautious step forward. When I didn’t feel anything, I sighed.
That helped me take a few more cautious steps, only to realize the water was still sinking deeper. I’d bet that was a nice place for an alligator family to hang out.
Don’t thrash. Don’t panic.
“We should avoid traveling in the deep water in the future.” I hadn’t realized how deep this place was, and I was suddenly sure there was deeper.
She hummed in annoyed agreement, and I could almost feel her kicking herself again. At least she was just as quick to tear into herself as she was to other people. It always made her bearable.
I made a conscious effort to keep my movements calm and slow. If there was something around my feet, I wasn’t going to piss it off more. While Shannon stupidly crossed as quickly as possible, splashing her position to everything in the water.
“Slow down,” I told her.
“Fuck that.” Her breathing was ragged enough to tell me she was shaken as her boots squished when she stepped up onto solid-ish land.
“This isn’t a greenhouse. Plants might not bite if you disturb them, but the native creatures here will.” And they’ll bite hard.
She was too far away for me to interpret her grumbles, but since she wasn’t using a megaphone to tell me how stupid I was, I could only assume it was for her ears, not mine. “Hurry up.”
“This is where that field experience comes in handy.” I grunted, wishing the feeling that eyes were on me would go away. I didn’t want to be out here anymore than Shannon did. “Quit acting like food.”
“You’re so slow. Is this why all your other summer projects were failures?”
Her jab stabbed at the gaping hole that throbbed inside me. That I hadn’t been able to protect those creatures' homes, no matter how hard I tried.
“I mean, you had that South American jungle in the bag last year and still lost your sanctuary case.”
“Shut up,” I snapped before I could stop myself.
When a smirk tilted her lips I knew I’d fucked up. I’d shown a bully a weakness. “I’m going to keep going, because unlike you, I win my fights.”
