8 Days

“I cannot believe this is the eighth day of me being stuck here.” Matrix muttered and hung a prawn onto her fish hook and set it into the deeper part of the lake. She watched the sun slowly rise up out of the lake, like a light yellow balloon floating up, up, and up. Immediately, she felt the warmth of the sun shining on her, chasing away any chillness she felt before. Matrix gave a sad smile, wondering how her life had changed irrevocably.

Focusing back on her fish hook, she observed the jumping frogs that seemed to be moaning at her. She smiled back. The frogs seemed to understand something, jumped towards her, blinked twice, and disappeared again. It brought Matrix back to the memories of when she visited the Zoo as a child. Unlike the other kids her age who enjoyed watching dolphins performing tricks, giraffes flexing their necks, or peacocks showing their fans, Matrix had always spent hours observing frogs. She observed the pattern of their skin, the way they chewed, and the specific way they leaped. That interest and fascination couldn’t stop leaking from her eyes whenever she saw a frog. Perhaps this was one good thing of being stuck here, Matrix thought, unlimited frog-watching.

Underneath the leaf the frogs poached on were thick layers of algae. The blue-green, slimy algae fitted in perfectly with the whole lake, as if perfecting a picture. As time passed little by little, the sun gradually turned boiling and heavy, so Matrix reached for the algae to refresh. The algae cooled her temperature and soothed her impatient heart for fish. It had an unusual texture to it, almost like melted ice cream but slimier and greener. But it neither smelled nor tasted like ice cream at all. It emanated a strong aroma of rotten eggs and tasted like the most horrid things one could think of. Matrix immediately regretted tasting it and gulped a mouthful of lake water. Giving up on trying to entertain herself, she laid down, head facing the opposite of the lake, her fish hook still in sight. She rested.

Every hour passing by felt like a century passing by. Matrix was craving for food so badly that her hunger was accumulating into a ball of greed and impatience, slowly grinding her down. Thinking of the food at home only made matters ten times worse for her. She would give anything just for a piece of cheese to savor; Matrix missed that salty rich taste on her buds so much.

“Oh crap! Now my head is full of cheese!” she grumbled at the thought.

Giving up on craving for cheese, she started to observe the waters. Over the deep shadows of the lake, Matrix watched the orange sun fade into the dark waters, slowly swallowing the sun entirely until there was no more. The desperation was leaking through her eyes. Soon enough, the sky left its pale blue color and started to turn into darker shades. It was a breath-taking, beautiful night, more silent and tranquil than it had been since Matrix had been washed up here. Scrutinizing, she noticed there were metallic dots glittering in the sky. 

Despite the alluring view, Matrix wasn’t pleased or even bothered to admire the difference. She was so intensely weak that she needed to lean on a tree to impede herself from collapsing into a heap. It took all of her willpower to convince herself to stay here, promising herself that there would be a fish to come no matter how long it might take. But her feet were now wrinkled like an old lady’s, after being exposed to the water for several hours, and yet no fish had come. A while longer and her feet would be far sorer than she could handle. She sighed. Her stomach was uncontrollably howling at her for something to eat, moaning desperately in starvation. Matrix thought of eating leaves. 

*Find the full story in Issue 2 (May/Jun 2022) of The PVLSE