In the dense forest full of man-eaters,
I ran wild and free.
"Apex!" I heard Grandpa shout.
I turned to see him standing beneath the shade of the giant trees. I was high up in the treetops, leaping from branch to branch — my favorite hobby, though Grandpa hated it.
I sky-dived from the canopy, grabbing a handful of thick vines to soften my landing. My feet hit the ground with perfect precision, stopping right before him.
He looked angry, but I had bigger problems.
Slowly approaching from behind him was a wolf named Trevor.
I finally understood how Grandpa always found me, no matter where I ran in the forest.
Trevor.
The traitor.
Grandpa tossed him a steak. Trevor snatched it mid-air, pinned it to the ground, and started feasting.
I was furious. I raised that idiot from a cub — abandoned by his mother and stuck with me because she couldn't handle his daily chaos.
And today, he betrayed me… for a piece of meat.
Was that steak worth my trust?
I could hunt two of those in a day. I was the best at tracking prey.
Trevor kept chewing while Grandpa looked at me and sighed, noticing my murderous glare.
"Stop trying to bully the wolf," he said. "I told you, Apex — this forest isn't a place for a child. I want you to go to Oma. I need you to join society and meet other humans. You'll have more fun with kids your age than trying to befriend every man-eating animal in this jungle."
I hated it every time Grandpa brought up the idea of sending me to Oma.
I loved the Forest of Predators — even if most animals wanted to eat me.
Just yesterday I befriended Wallace the Snake.
"Grandpa, why are you always in a rush to send me away?" I asked. "My parents left me with you to go to Oma… but they never came back. If Oma was so great, Papa and Mum would've returned."
He saw me fighting my tears.
"Apex," he said softly. "Your parents loved you. They left for Oma on a rainy day that turned into a stormy night. They never made it. The Apex Predator got them. The only beast our family has never tamed is Mother Nature. Her worst monster was the spinning wind."
He sighed heavily.
"No one survives that. I don't want you facing that fate alone in this forest. I want you safe. I want you to live."
I knew Grandpa meant well, so I didn't argue. We headed home. I helped him walk — his bones weren't what they used to be.
That night he went to bed early, and by midnight a violent storm formed outside. A spinning wind was born, tearing its way toward our hut.
I tried to wake him… but he wouldn't move.
That's when I realized he was dead.
What could a ten-year-old possibly do? Absolutely nothing.
In despair and rage, I ran outside and presented myself to the spinning wind.
It killed my parents.
It could kill me too.
I had nothing left to lose.
It lifted me, spun me, smashed me around until I blacked out.
But somehow, I woke up the next day — in a place I didn't recognize — alive, barely injured, and confused.
Well… except for the deep cuts on my chest, the many broken bones, and the pain I couldn't describe. But I wasn't bleeding out. My blood had clotted. So I forced myself to walk.
If the animals saw me like this, half of them would've gone berserk from the scent of my blood. I had no choice — I had to reach Oma.
I walked for a whole day.
No food, no water, no rest.
I was starving, thirsty, and exhausted, but I refused to stop. If I fell asleep, I might die like Grandpa — or wake up inside some predator's stomach.
Then I started hallucinating. Or at least I thought I was.
A girl around my age was running — chased by Wallace the Snake.
I shouted, hoping Wallace was real. "Wallace! Stop playing around!"
He heard my voice, gave up the chase, and slithered off. Probably still shy of me. I did threaten to pull out his fangs if he ever bit me again.
The art of befriending predators demanded dominance on the first meeting — that's how you earned respect, and sometimes fear.
But the girl… wasn't a hallucination. She walked toward my barely standing body. I collapsed beside her, assuming I'd die for real this time.
Yet again, I woke up by a fire, smelling cooked food.
Wait.
She was real.
I scrambled back. My sudden movement terrified her and she screamed:
"Please don't run away! I'm scared of being alone in this jungle of monsters!"
Those words alone kept me sitting beside her. The desperation in her voice was impossible to ignore.
I wondered what a beautiful girl like her was doing in the Forest of Predators. She was even nice and gentle. She bandaged and treated my wounds.
When I asked her who taught her such skill, she turned sad. She told me her grandmother had died, and her people tried to take her away without letting her bury her. She ran into the forest to escape them.
She sympathized with me when I told her I had lost Grandpa the night before.
Our shared grief bonded us instantly.
She was shocked that I loved the forest. Her one day here felt like a living hell. My family had mastered surviving the jungle of monsters — it was our way of staying far from people, because we were extremely introverted and sometimes outright antisocial.
She relaxed when she realized I spoke her language.
"I'm from Oma," she explained. "I only ran because the palace guards chased me. I knew they wouldn't follow me in here. But I didn't understand why this place was so dangerous. Every animal I met tried to eat me. And that snake chased me for an hour — all because I accidentally leaned on his tree."
I listened while eating the sun-dried meal she cooked.
She was a great cook.
"You cook well," I said. "I want more."
She laughed softly. I had never seen anyone laugh so beautifully.
In fact, she was the first human I'd seen besides Grandpa.
"My name is Rose," she said. "But my food is finished. I didn't plan to stay long. If I hadn't gotten lost, I'd already be back in Oma."
I realized I hadn't even asked her name until now. Grandpa was right — the forest took all my manners.
I told her I was heading to Oma too. We decided to walk together and reach Oma by the next day.
I promised to protect her from the monsters. She promised to cook for me once we arrived.
In just one day, we became best friends.
I would've fought the guards at Oma's gate, but they bribed me with food and told Rose she was destined to be the Queen of Oma. They only came to bring her home — and they'd given her grandmother a proper burial after all.
They didn't do funerals in Oma.
The dead were buried, acknowledged, and added to history.
She asked me to come with her to the palace.
And I did.
Dear Grandpa,
Society turned out to be the disappointment I expected.
But one girl named Rose made all of it worth it.
There were days I wanted to run back into the forest…
but a young woman who became Queen kept me grounded in Oma.
And I loved her for it.