On January 24th, 1965, I went to the store and purchased camping equipment with my buddies Matthew, Mark, Lucy, and Sarah. I was extremely happy about this camping trip since spending time with my friends was a lot of fun and being away from home for a while will be priceless. No more pestering from my younger brother, and no more tasks for a while. Another reason we decided to go camping was because we had read that this spot had the most spectacular sunset ever witnessed.
After much anticipation, the day arrived, and it was time to leave. I’ll miss the privacy of my own room for a few days, but I’m grateful to be going on the trip. We made it to the edge of the forest and checked in at the campsite office before setting off to our camp site. We were so excited and started singing and laughing on our wat there. Suddenly we hear a loud bang, quite an unusual bang which did frighten me. but Matthew told us not to think too much about it.
Mark and I were not comfortable and somewhat curious about the bang and were eager to find out what it was. Over the next two days the bang continued and seemed to be coming closer to our campsite. My stomach would drop every time I heard the bang and always said a silent prayer for our safety. Mark attempted to reassure me every time that nothing was going on, but his reassurance did not help me.
On the third evening, while everyone was sleeping, I needed to use the loo. On the drive there, I swear I saw something move from the corner of my eye in the sky, and it moved extremely quickly. It suddenly descended, and I understood it was a bomb. I spun around and went back to my pals, screaming, ”GUYS GUYS!!! There is a bomb, they are dropping bombs near to us. We are under attack. “We need to go!” My friends awoke in surprise and ran out of the tents, following me into the wilderness.
But it was too late; in the dead of night, bombs exploded all around us as we cried wildly for aid amidst the panic and uncertainty. We had no idea which way to run, and Mark and Lucy were quickly engulfed by a mysterious light in front of us. We knew we needed to keep moving. Was that a dream? How can this be happening? We discovered a drain and decided to take cover inside to figure out what was going on. It was now just Matthew and me, and we needed to get each other out of this situation.
It’s been months if not a year that we have been trapped in the forest. There has no communication with the outside world. We lost all communication. We haven’t lost hope and continue to move. We are alone and live each day as it comes.