Jungle Survivors

• Sylvia Tristram, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2022

It was a dark and stormy night when we were taken. My brother and I were snatched from our beds and shoved into a cold metal truck. It didn’t bother us as much as you’d expect.
You see, my brother Carlos and I were orphans. We weren’t treated well at the orphanage, and we thought wherever we were going must be better. Well, I guess we were wrong. Carlos and I were dumped in the jungle, freezing cold and all alone. It was too dark to do anything so we huddled together, shivering in a hollow tree.
The next day, we were adopted by gorillas.
Since then, we have lived with our troop and forgotten everything except what I just told you.
Today when I woke up, I instantly knew something was amiss. I could hear loud moans. Carlos woke up, frightened. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “I don’t know,” I replied. To tell the truth, I was scared too. I had never heard this noise before. Our mother climbed up to talk to us. She said that gorillas were sick with a mysterious disease. The only thing that could help was an ancient gemstone with special healing powers, kept safe in a lost temple.
As soon as we heard that, Carlos and I made up our minds to get the gem. We knew our mum wouldn’t let us, so we waited until night to go. It was a tense day waiting.
Finally, after feasting on fruits and nuts, we set off; later, exhausted, sleeping in a tree. The next day, we ventured further into the jungle. There was no sign of the lost temple.
The canopy was getting denser, and we had almost given up, when Carlos had an idea. “I’ll ask the chimps to help us!” he exclaimed. The chimps told us that the temple was straight ahead. Carlos and I carried on until we came to a beautiful temple. It was intricately carved with amazing patterns.
The door opened with a grinding noise. All we could see inside was black. I lit a torch and used it to try to see inside.
Nothing.
With hearts beating, we tiptoed inside. The light from my torch flickered on the damp, stone walls. Suddenly, I heard another strange grinding noise. The walls were moving closer towards us. “Eeek!” Carlos screamed. We exchanged panicked glances. “Run!!” We yelled. We ran and leapt onto a rock as the walls crunched together. Faces sweaty, we looked around and saw it just within reach, the healing gem. I grabbed it. Carlos found a door we could escape from, and we hightailed it home.
When we arrived all of our troop were sick. Carlos started to cry when he saw the limp black shapes lying on the ground. I gently hung the gem round each gorilla’s neck in turn and watched them make a miraculous recovery.
Our gorilla mum embraced us, and we knew, in that moment, the value of family.