Her Hut

After several minutes I feel the woman carrying me shift and I look up. We're inside a rustic hut. The materials of the interior look mostly handcrafted and she sets me down on a bed. Unfortunately, the motion jostles my leg and I do my best to suppress a wince.

Beside me I hear, "You did take quite the fall, no shame in surviving that."

"I know, its just..." I try to think through the discomfort for an excuse, "I shouldn't have fallen in the first place."

"But you did" I hear her respond matter-of-factly as I feel my face flush.

"I know that, I..." I start to respond.

"Can rest." She finishes and gives me a look as she rolls back her shoulders. "You were heavy, you know. You're enough to deal with without posturing."

I look at my rescuer, inside this hut, tired from the long walk, she looks almost normal. Like a LARPer who spent a rough day in the woods. I almost forget the events of the past hour until I pause after my gaze meets her eyes, there is a muted intensity there that isn't normal. She notices the pause and looks me over over in return, the hint of a grin on her face, “I don't see to many mainlanders this far into the jungle. So, what's your name?"

"My name is Sam. Um, thanks again for helping me, but who are you?"

She pauses for a moment and answers, "I’m Nadya. And… not done helping you yet, need to splint your leg.”

“Nadya, yes please help me with that.”

Her slight grin gives way to a mischievous smile, “Well then. I'm going to need you to take off your pants... so I can examine the wound".

"I'm not sure that's nessac..." I reply as she takes out a knife and starts to slice the jeans across my thighs. The handle is carved from bone, and I’m reminded again that I haven’t seen anything modern on Nadya. I feel a shiver run down my spine as her cut is much higher up my thigh than I’d like.

I hear her coo, "Ohhh, you’re going to be fun."

"None of the local men are brave enough to take my advances, but I think fate may have brought us together" she says as she trails the cool flat of her knifes blade against my skin. She's crazy, definitely crazy. Nadya looks down at the strained remainder of my pants, "I know at least part of you agrees." I try to respond but I’m at a loss of words with the cool pressure of the knife on my thigh.

When she lifts the blade I blurt, "Yes..." but quickly catch myself, “I mean what… Do you treat every patient like this? Where are we even?"

“My home, obviously. And... just the cute ones.” She winks.

“I…” Begin but she leans in and I feel her breath on my ear.

"Are going to let me take care of your leg?"

I nod, and she begins work on a bamboo splint while I use water and cloth to clean the wound.

"Thank you", I say having had a moment to collect myself. "You've really helped me today"

"Don't mention it" she responds as she finishes the splint, "I could use an extra set of hands around the place over the next week"

"Now we just need to bind this" she says as she ties the splint to my legs.

I gulp as I notice her knot work is ‘advanced’.

She gives me a look and then wraps up the binding, "This should hold up. I need to take care of some things, you good for a while?"

"Yeah I'm good. Thanks for, helping me out." I reply.

The hut door flaps shut and I lean back against the wall of the hut. My mind is racing with the events of the day, who is Nadya? How did Nadya end up here? What am I doing here? What happens now: do I finish my trip? Go home? The feeling of vertigo that started with tumbling off makes my heart hammer in my chest. I hug my good leg to my chest and look down, trying to anchor myself In this movement alone. I notice my book on the nightstand table. Nadya must have found it in the remains of my jacket.

The hardcover is waterlogged but the pages inside are mostly dry. I let myself get lost in the pages, escaping from this moment for a while.