The Panther In Me by lillymoon55 (the unexpected everything .TXT) 📕

The Panther in Me


Prologue

The panther slunk forward, entirely focused. A man stood, his dazed expression fixated on her deep opal eyes. He tried to look away, he really did, but then he was falling into their hypnotic depths. Now she moved forward hungrily, and all the young man saw was vast beastly beauty. She was the hunter and he was her prey. In two minutes he had been reduced to that.
His mind briefly flashed to running, but he soon gave up on the idea. How could he, the mere prey, escape this cold deathly beauty? And, at that moment, the young man gave up hope in life. But that’s the thing about life, as soon as you give up on life it gives up you.


Chapter 1
I watched from the safety of my perch, captivated. Could death be beautiful? I couldn’t help but wonder. Then again, a panther’s practically walking death, and they were drop dead gorgeous, no pun intended. I figured it would take this panther, what, two seconds to finish this guy? I had no intention to stop his death. I’d made friends with the panthers, or rather a pact: I don’t bother you, you don’t bother me. Plus, I stayed out of their way. A hungry panther’s a senseless one.
The man in front of me, fell to the ground, and convulsed. I refocused on the scene, fascinated. The panther hadn’t even touched him yet. The panther paused thrown off its game. The prey didn’t give up and die, it ran. Confused, the panther lifted its huge head and surveyed the forest around it. Clearly, it believed its prey had been targeted by some unseen force. Realizing I was the only creature within a ten mile radius, I knew it was time to go. Silently swinging off my branch and onto the next, I crept away, leaving the dazed man to die.
As soon as I got home, I knew something was wrong. My home was a large tree with a hollowed trunk that was covered in lichen. I slept in the hollowed part of the tree, and since it never got cold in the jungle, I was quite comfortable in my home. Not now I wasn’t. I took a hesitant step forward, and was rewarded with eye watering panther pee stench. Through the fumes, I staggered forward, attempting to make it to my tree. As soon as I got within 4 feet of my tree, I realized it was the mother lode of smell. No! Oh no! My safe haven, my comfortable home had been taken by panthers!
Initially, I would have turned tail, and run the other way, [If I had a tail] but for some reason, I felt an impulse to creep closer... just like this... 2 feet... 1 and a half feet... 1 foot... almost there...
“AHHHH!” I screamed as I jumped back. A huge, clawed paw was a few inches from my face... panther. Without a moment’s hesitation, I raced in the other direction, deeper into the dangerous jungle.
The picture of that deathly paw flashing out, with the intention of scratching my face off, fuelled my fear. As my shaking subsided, I began to feel less afraid, until I caught the rare sight of the sun; on the horizon and going down. My stomach fell to my feet. I was never far from my tree after sunset. I gulped realizing, just how serious my situation was. I was alone, no shelter, no food, and a panther that was probably stalking me. My mind raced to a thousand different possibilities, none of them ending well. I forced myself to think about what I would do next, what I would do to survive.
Turns out, surviving is easier said than done. First of all, snakes, tons of them. Cobras, Boa’s, Red Hissing Venom’s and many more, I had no name for. Surviving, I reminded myself. First, get away from the ground. I told myself this fiercely in my head. All I had to do was climb the nearest tree, an easy task for me, with all my expertise.
I was sitting on a lower branch, when two brownish orange snakes began creeping up my tree, out of the under growth. I desperately scrambled backwards, higher into the tree. I continued climbing higher and higher. The snakes were catching up though, fast. Finally I reached the end of the line. I burst out of the top leaves, and was breathless at the sight. A never ending sea of green leaves bleached grey in the starlight. No moon. Strange, I thought. All of a sudden I felt a cold, uncomfortable sensation of a thin string slithering up my right leg. Accept that wasn’t a string. Shakily, I reached down, attempting to rip the snake from my leg, but the harder I pulled, the more the snake tightened its scaly grip on my leg. Now, my other leg was getting a constrictive snake wrapping around it too. Just like that the feeling in my legs was gone. With no feeling in my legs, I couldn’t stand on the branch below. My hands, which were franticly searching for a handhold, had to support me or else- and then I was falling. The lower branches whipped my face and torso, and probably my legs, though I couldn’t feel it of course. I did the only thing I could do, shut my eyes and hold my arms out in submission. Yes I was giving up. Then I heard a loud thump as my legs hit the forest floor, and my world was plunged into darkness.
Chapter 2
Tired and hungry, my head lolled to one side, and my vision bleared. Where was I? Then I felt it. The pain! Many cuts screamed in pain and I remembered. The TREE! First I stared around in panic, then wonder. I was alive! I had fallen from the upper branches of a giant, jungle tree, and lived. It was a miracle! However, just shortly after this joyous understanding, I felt anything but joy. Pain, painful pain, ripped through my legs. I tried to stand up anyway, and was compensated with more even more pain. I crumpled to the ground. My breathing was laboured. Oh great my legs were broken. Both of them, I was sure.
Groaning, I began dragging myself back to my tree, and stopped. It wasn’t my tree anymore. I sniffled. Well, what did it matter? I was going to die anyway, so why not in a place I knew and loved? I’d made my decision. I’d never been one to set goals before, but now I had one: Get to my tree... before I died.
I dragged myself through the course leaves on the forest floor. My legs were a constant ache, my lungs felt like bursting from effort, and yet I dragged on. I was going to make it.
In the middle of this horrendous journey, I heard a sound. Not just a jungle sound. Not like the giant locusts chirping, nor the bark of a tree creaking from the weight of the jungle sloth. This was a human sound. No jungle animal would be that noisy. No jungle animal would make an accident like that. A branch snapping. It was like an alert call. One little sound like that could cost you your life.
I looked up, and there he was, staring at me, astonished. Why shouldn’t he be? I was a young, human girl, sprawled out on the forest floor, looking wild. Truth is, I was wild. I studied him harder, and found he was only a boy, maybe my age...16. He didn’t offer his help, and I didn’t expect him to. “Who are you?” he whispered. I was taken aback at his voice, a human voice, here in my jungle. I used my own voice, and it sounded like a baby horse trying out its new legs for the first time. “I am Feva.” I flinched at the sound of my voice. I swallowed, in attempt to clear my under used throat. The boy said nothing more. He just, picked me up, and threw me over his shoulder. Just like before, I passed out.
I felt... heavy. My eyelids refused to open, but I was awake, sort of. I smelt him. I knew it was him immediately. Living in the jungle for most of my life, made me quite accustomed to observing everything around me. “I-I-think she’s waking up!” he exclaimed.
Struggling, I managed to open my eyes. A clean-cut nurse smiled a phony smile down at me. Weakly, I cursed at her. The smile disappeared. “Pardon me?” The nurse was annoyed. She then cleared her throat, and proceeded to add some drugs to my IV. “Is that really necessary?” He asked anxiously. The nurse turned to him with a pessimistic smile. “Do not question my judgement, young man.” She seemed to want to make sure that we knew she was older, so she was in charge, even though she looked only a few years older than me. At that point, the drugs kicked in, and when I fell asleep, the last thing I saw was his face, staring at me in fear.

Chapter 3
I couldn’t believe she was here. Even in sleep, she looked like a jungle goddess. Maybe she was, I couldn’t tell. With her long, black hair, big, green eyes, perfectly tanned skin, and muscular build, I really didn’t know. One thing I did know was that she didn’t belong here in this clean, white hospital that smelled strongly of anaesthetic. I looked at her stupidly. She was so still! I don’t know why I felt such deep worry for a total stranger. I mean, all I knew about her was her name-Feva. I guess that’s not true. I knew what she wanted: To get out of here. Somehow I just knew she belonged in the jungle. How could she go back? The nurse had already told me the extent of the damage. Both legs were broken... badly. I t would take her months, maybe even years, to completely recover. She wasn’t getting up and walking anytime soon.
Since he found her, he felt responsible for her, and he was determined to take care of her. Being taken care of was the last thing she wanted. Later, she made that point clear. The nightmare began when she threw off her blankets, and tried to stand. That resulted in her screaming out in pain, and falling back on the hospital