The Contents Of The Mysterious Basket

A basket instead of the monster? Where did it go? Did it turn into the basket?

She shook her head to erase that thought. There's no way it'd turn into a basket. This wasn't a fantasy movie. It was reality

Avril sat up on the forest floor and looked around. No sign of the monster. She also looked up at the trees but it had completely disappeared. Her heart raced. She was certain it would pop out of her mouth any second. She gulped down and patted her chest to reduce her heart beat but it even increased.

She got on her feet and battled with her legs to stop shaking and stand upright. She wanted to turn the opposite direction and make a run for it but her curiosity got the better part of her. She began to walk towards the basket, limping as she went. She reached it and stooped low. She wanted to open it but so many 'what ifs' began to flow into her mind.

“what if this is a booby trap? A net could fall out from somewhere and have me trapped”

“what if there's a snake inside? I hate snakes!”

“what if this is some sort of Pandora Box?”

She closed her eyes and opened them almost immediately. She was so scared and didn't know what to do next.

A cold breeze blew and the trees began to swing their leaves. Some dried leaves flew in the breeze and fruits began to fall.

She shivered and hugged herself because she felt cold. That was when she realized that it was already sunset.

How would she find shelter? She already deduced that it was going to be a very cold night. How would she not freeze to death before sunrise?

Avril rubbed her arms and legs. She thought of going back to the cave she had woken up in earlier but she was scared. Scared that the monster would come back for her. She looked back at the basket and opened it without a second thought. She gasped when she saw what was in it

“blankets?” she exclaimed

She pulled it up and it was truly a blanket. A red, thick blanket.

How in the world did it get there?

She peeped into the basket again and saw that there were other things too. One by one, she brought them out.

One pack of crackers, a small bottle of water, a match box and one little chocolate candy.

Her confusion defied explanation. She didn't even know what to think. She wasn't sure whether she saw those things for real or it was hallucination since she wanted them.

She put them back into the basket and stood up with it. If it was her hallucinating, then she would hallucinate for the rest of the night.

She soon found a place where she could rest for the night. It was like a thick bush umbrella. A tree branch had intertwined with another branch of a tree and the leaves had made a thick roof just above the ground. The floor of it was covered with dried leaves and surprisingly, it was like someone deliberately plastered the ground with leaves. She used a stick to push all of them aside, she would use it to make fire.

She looked left and saw dried branches scattered around. She immediately picked them and arranged them in a stack.

Under the bush umbrella which was now very brown and neat, she spread the blanket. Then she made a fire using the dried branches and the dried leaves. Satisfied with her work, she sat on the blanket and smiled happily. The fire was bright and lit up the entire place. It was also very warm.

Avril picked up the pack of biscuits and stared at it.

“I don't care if you're not real. Neither do I care if you're poisoned. If you're going to kill me, fine. If you're going to turn me into a monster too, fine. All I care about is, I'm so going to crunch you!” she said and ripped the pack open. She took out about five at once and dropped the pack. She ate and drank water then took two more. She threw some more sticks into the fire and laid down.

She could see beautiful twinkling stars through the tree's leaves. She felt at peace. Totally forgetting her fears and where she was at. She was alone but not lonely.

She wanted to stay up and continue looking at the stars but sleep drifted in and she was soon sleeping soundly.

Few hours into her sleep, a cobra crawled up towards her leg. She unknowingly move it and touched the snake. The aggressive reptile jerked its head towards the leg but before it could strike, huge sharp claws pierced through its body and picked it up. Blood covered the claws and the snake began to wriggle aggressively and trying to bite whatever was hurting it.

Another claw ripped off its head from the body and threw them both into the hot coals.

It snarled and looked down at the Sleeping Beauty. After staring at her for long minutes, it turned and walked back into the darkness on all fours.

***

Freddie threw the blunt of his cigarette into the ash tray beside him. He had already smoked three sticks and was on to the fourth one. He was beyond frustrated. The past three days felt like hell for him on his own ship. He had lost five million dollars because of a stupid fight. A very stupid fight.

That anger almost made him throw those two men overboard too. But he needed them. He was short of men so he couldn't afford to loose two more.

He didn't let them go scot free though, they paid for it.

Freddie sighed and lit the fourth cigarette. He took a drag and puffed out thick smoke. Then he left the place he was standing and walked through different hallways until he got to the cell. He opened it and looked at his two men. They both had bloodied faces with swollen lips and cheek.

“boss” one of them managed to mumble

“you're hungry? Come eat chicken with me. I'll have chef Raph make some chicken soup” Freddie said and grinned at them. They looked at each other, scared he was just teasing them and was going to beat them up again.

“come on, it's been three days already. My anger has subsided. I won't hurt you anymore” he said and walked into the cell. He stretched out his hands to both of them.

“come on, I have something to discuss with you” he said and urged them both to grab his hand. They stared at each other again and he sighed. He was getting impatient.

They took his hand and he pulled them up.

“go get yourself cleaned up and treated. Get the girls to treat your wounds then tell them to assist Ralph in the kitchen. When you're all ready, meet me outside” he stated and walked away.

The two men limped away too. They were still not convinced he wasn't going to kill them but they were too scared to not do as he said.