This place was a full-bore sensory assault. Noises, movement, and danger were a constant bombardment from every direction, making it almost too hard to comprehend the situation. And the fear growing inside me was starting to cloud my judgement, quickly forming into panic.
 I was lost in the Amazon River basin. It is one of the world’s last unexplored places, having millions of square miles of untouched rainforest. Sparing the few indigenous tribes, most not even named yet, these forests had never been set foot on by mankind. I had come here as a volunteer on a science expedition hoping for a little adventure. But getting separated from my group was not the adventure I had planned on.
~*~
 I didn’t even realize it had happened until it was too late. I was observing a rare species of beetle, taking notes and photographs like we were taught. We were to document any unknown flora and fauna we came across, along with location and description of habitat. But I suppose I was focusing a little too hard because the next time I looked around, no one from my group was within sight. But the foliage was so dense you couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of you at most times. Figuring my group mates weren’t far ahead, I wasn’t afraid. I started walking figuring I would catch up soon. But after about ten minutes, I was starting to worry. Surely they couldn’t have been so far ahead. I had only been studying the beetle for a few minutes and they would be doing the same as they moved along. At the speed I was walking I should have caught up sooner than this.
 I reached for the walkie-talkie that was attached to my belt. I pressed the intercom button, and asked the location of any surrounding person. But there was no response, either from person or even background static. In fact, the device was completely silent. Fiddling with the power knob, no sound or light alerted. Had the batteries died? When I opened the back compartment water ran out. That was not a good thing. All the wires and circuits would have been fried from the moisture, rendering the walkie-talkie useless. It was supposed to be waterproof, but there was a chance I hadn’t closed it properly the last time I changed batteries.Since I had no way to contact my team electronically, I only had one option. I began to scream out names of people I had been with. No answer. I tried again and again to no avail.
 Something wasn’t right. If you’ve ever been in a rainforest, you’d know that it was never silent. But the eery stillness that now roared in my ears was overpowering. Had I somehow walked in the wrong direction? I decided to retrace my footsteps and go back to where I started. I walked for about ten minutes, thinking I should soon be back at where I observed the beetle. I wasn’t there yet, but it looked familiar so I kept walking. I continued on for another ten minutes or so, and still I was not back to my original spot. I was getting a little more scared, but it looked so familiar. Surely I had to be close to something I had been at before. Who was I kidding? Everything looked familiar. A vine here, a palm frond there. The jungle was full of plants in every direction that looked the same. I fought the fear that was beginning to grip my stomach.
~*~
 That fear was now a full blown panic attack. I had been walking for hours since then, screaming the names of my group mates every few minutes. I would listen for any noise that I thought was them and start towards it, only to see more forest. And my voice was becoming hoarse due to all my yelling. Nobody would be able to hear me if I lost my voice, but what choice did I have but to keep trying? And it was beginning to get dark. Alone in the rainforest at night was not a situation you ever wanted to find yourself in. The horror stories of lost travelers were enough to keep you more than a little cautious, but I had been stupid. I hadn’t kept my bearings and worked from there. Instead I let my fear get the better of me and I had gone running in the wrong direction without thinking rationally. There was no one to blame but myself, and that didn’t make me feel any better. Surely the group had noticed my absence and were looking for me. But I could be miles from where they were now. Why had I not just stayed put?
 That was what I needed to do now. Walking might only take me father from them, and I had no idea where I was anyway. But the prospect of them finding me before dark was slim to none. I had to find some way to make it through the night, and I’d better do it soon with darkness quickly approaching. I looked around me for anything that might provide shelter. An old fallen tree seemed to be the only prospect. It was covered in ferns and lichen, and being eaten away slowly by termites. But it wasn’t like I could climb up in a live tree since their only branches were over one hundred feet off the ground. This would have to do.
  I leaned against it and rifled through my backpack. I wasn’t nearly prepared to spend the night out here, and had only packed enough items for the day. But I began to lay my supplies on the tree one by one and see what I had. By the time I was done, all I had were a half empty canteen of water, a tablet for my notes, various specimen vials and baggies, a small camp knife, a pen, a waterproof digital camera, bug spray, a lighter, and my broken walkie-talkie. This was not good on any terms. And that’s when the ever-present rain began to pour down.
 I quickly stuffed my supplies back into by my backpack and huddled against the fallen tree. I was soaked within seconds. As it got darker, the need for a fire was getting harder to ignore. But everything was wet and wouldn’t burn, including my tablet. But there were insects everywhere. They crawled on the trees, on the ground, and on me. The itch from their bites were starting to drive me crazy, but the bug spray was useless in the rain. But without a fire for any sort of protection, I was horribly exposed to any of the jungle’s deadly creatures. There were spiders and scorpions that could sting you, and even a rare moth that was known to land on you that could give you a fatal parasite. There had been cases of people being killed by fire ants or killer bees. And besides those, there were an array of poisonous snakes, and large predators such as jaguars. Even the plants weren’t safe since many of them held deadly toxins. It’s no wonder that the Amazon had been known to be called “The Green Hell”.
 Dehydration was also an issue with my limited water supply. As ironic as it is to be sitting in the middle of the rainforest with water falling all around you, it’s easy to dehydrate from lack of clean water. I could use the knife to cut a whole in one of my baggies and place it around my canteen to collect rain. At least that would be safer than water from a stream or puddle, so that’s what I did. By the time the rain had finally let up, my canteen was nearly full. But this only helped my situation by the slightest of margins.
 It was almost completely dark now, and the sounds of nocturnal creatures wondering about were becoming more apparent. This was the first I let myself break down as tears streamed down my face. Sobs shook my body in my fit of crying.
 All at once, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I’m not sure what alerted me, but there was a very faint rustle in the undergrowth. It was so dark, I could barely see anything. I reached in my bag for my camera. The flash on it could let me see momentarily. I quickly turned it on, and pressed the button, holding it in the direction on the noise. What I seen made me freeze. At a distance, a large jaguar had been padding quietly towards me. The flash from my camera had make it stop, but it hadn’t run away either. My throat felt like it was closing and I could barely breathe. What could I do? I couldn’t run, it could easily catch me. But it was unthinkable to just sit here and wait for it to come forward. I slowly reached in my bag once again and my hand closed around the lighter. And idea started to form in my mind, and I quickly felt around for the can of bug spray. I had heard of people doing it with hairspray, and right now I didn’t have a better option. I popped the lid off the can and flicked the lighter. Startled, I seen the jaguar had crept closer and was now less than fifteen feet from me. It could leap at any moment and I would have no hope of survival. It was coming closer by the second. I couldn’t wait anymore. I held the can of bug spray up near the lighter and pressed on the nozzle. Instantly the spray ignited in a ball of flame and worked as a torch. The flame shot forward enough that I thought maybe it had singed the hair on the large cat. Whether it had or not, the jaguar turned and fled in the opposite direction.
Finally I let myself breathe and took my finger off the nozzle, letting the flame go out. I would have to stay alert through the night. I had scared the cat off, but it might be back, or possibly a different animal. I was determined I would do everything I possibly could to survive, but I knew this would be a very long night.