There are moments that unfold like hours, and then there are those that hold a lifetime.
“Get in the jungle,” her father screamed from the stairs of the plane.
She looked down. Her mother’s body lay lifeless on the tarmac, a pool of blood where her trademark dandelion puff of blond hair should be. Her mother; a deck of images flashed through Tracy’s mind: the church in Charleston, the lemon cake Mom made for birthdays, her singing hush, little baby; her mother, gone. The men and their guns out of sight for now.
“Run.” His face was frantic. She turned. Her sister was running into the thick of it—the jungle that had seemed so frightening when they got there—the jungle full of centipedes and snakes and jaguars. The jungle as thick with danger as it was with darkness—even during the day.
It was the safest place to be.
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151 words
This has been an edition of What Pegman Saw. To read more stories inspired by the prompt, click here.