This is the Compo from Chantel Tan.
That was it. The day in which I got to go trekking with my big brother. I sprang out of bed, waking up every tense muscle there was in my body. I did my usual routine of washing up, and bounded down the stairs gleefully. My big brother was already downstairs, all up and ready to go. I grabbed my rucksack, which contained my trekking tools and of course, packed lunch, and yelled a quick goodbye to Mother before leaving the house, that was, not before stuffing a toast into my mouth.
The site of trekking, or so my big brother and I called it, was not too far away from home, but then again, it was not too near either. Whichever it was, all I know was that Mother never allowed me to go there myself. The site of trekking was a mountain, not a barren one with only rocks and cliffs, but one that had lush vegetation growing on it, so it king of resembled a mini forest sloping upwards. The moist air blew against my face the moment I approached it. All kinds of smells and noises tingled my nose and rang through my ears, and my adventurous self could not help but be awoken at that moment. I charged into the site of trekking, all excited and energetic, not knowing that I had just trampled onto the tail of a snake. The snake was basking in a pool of sunlight, and felt very disturbed when I throdded onto its tail, thus it turned and lunged at me. I wanted to scream, but no voice came out, for I was too afraid. My big brother reacted though. He reached out to grab the snake, but missed. Anyway, the snake landed onto a patch of moss and slithered away, and if snakes could speak, I swore it would have cursed me by then. That snake incident was pretty scary, but I would not give up and head home just like that. We continued trekking, although my big brother was nagging at me for that next five minutes.
My big brother and I headed north, with me following clumsily behind him, tripping over fallen branches and disturbing insect nests. I was starting to pant from exhaustion when my big brother spotted a wide stream nearby with some spots under some trees. I was feeling quite tired then, and the spot looked inviting, but just in case there was another snake, or worse, a big cat lying there, hidden, waiting for any unfortunate prey to pass by, I decided to just follow behind my big brother. We sat down on the soft grass patch and began taking out the packed lunch. Cheese with ham sandwiches, my favourite. I was just about to sink my teeth into one when I noticed a piece of driftwood drifting closer to us, and I knew what it was immediately. I alerted my big brother and we left. I left a piece of ham on the spot in which we just sat on, to double check what I assumed it was, and walked a little faster to catch up with my big brother. A loud splashing and deep moaning sound followed, and when I turned back to look, the piece of ham was gone. It was a crocodile, no doubt.
Dark clouds grew ominously, and it started to rain like there was no tomorrow, soon after. My big brother and I happened to be in luck as we found a cave that looked sturdy enough to be treated as a shelter. I was staring at the mesmerizing raindrops when I heard a low rumbling sound. My big brother must have heard it too, for he looked around, searching for the source of the sound, until his eyes rested upon something and widened. This, among all the incidents, must be the most dangerous one that day. We had actually came upon the home of a grizzly bear. The bear was sleeping, so it must not have heard us entering, but its snores were loud and scary enough to send a shiver down my spine.
The rain let up some time after, and the grizzly bear started to stir in its sleep, so my big brother and I left at that very moment. The raindrops still hung onto the tips of leaves, and a damp mist engulfed the whole area, making the place looked almost like a fantasy storybook come alive. I noticed that the trees and plants were thinning as we went higher up the mountain. Somewhere through, my big brother smiled and sped up ahead, so I guessed we must have reached the summit, and I could not help but ran behind him as well. Sure enough, it was the summit.
The view from the top was so brilliant, that I laughed, out of joy, not of something funny. My big brother took a few pictures of the captivating scenery, while I tried to see if I could spot our house from up here. At last, I saw the distinguishable blue-roofed house of ours, and gave a squeal of delight. We spent some time up there, until it was going to be late afternoon soon, and we were feeling hungry. We turned back, and stared at the road ahead of us, and I heard a sigh leaving my mouth. It was a long journey ahead.