Tao by John Newman Page B

harder and harder to follow the windy river. There were rocks and brambles along its edge, and the mountain I was climbing, which seemed middle-sized when I looked at it from the house, was getting steeper and steeper. I couldn’t help it. I started to cry.
    Maybe I should have tried to go on a bit further, but I was getting panicky. I had to get across that river. Now or never. There were some rocks in it that I could jump onto.
    My first jump was nearly my last. I just about reached the edge of a flat rock sticking out of the rushing water but I almost fell backwards. I took a moment to get my nerve back and then jumped onto the next rock. This was a much shorter jump, but there was slimy, green stuff on the rock that was very slippy and my feet slid off it. I had to grab on with both hands, my legs hanging in the river. Frantically, I pulled myself up onto the slippery, green stone. My legs were bleeding and I was soaking.
    I made a last big jump for the other side and managed to catch hold of the grassy edge with my hands and dragged myself up out of the river.
    I had made it! I was a complete mess, but I was safely across. It was straightforward now. Down the mountain I ran. I couldn’t wait to get home. They must be sick with worry. Kate was probably screaming her head off. Dad says she doesn’t know the meaning of calm. Paul would be beside himself, whatever that means, and Mimi and Conor were probably running around like headless chickens shouting, “Tao Tao!” Sally … well, Sally was probably reading in her bedroom with her headphones on.
    You shouldn’t run down a mountain. Even when you can’t wait to get home. Because you can trip and twist your ankle or maybe even break your leg. Without warning, my left foot went into a hole and I tumbled forward and hit my head hard on a rock. I didn’t remember anything after that.

Chapter 24
    When I woke up, I didn’t know where I was. There was a bad pain shooting all around my head and I closed my eyes again. It wasn’t just my head that ached. My foot was in agony too. Slowly I opened my eyes again and a big fat yellow moon was looking down at me. It was night-time and I was lying on the side of a mountain and I was all on my own. Oh, God!
    I tried to stand up, but my foot wouldn’t hold me. I screamed in pain and fell back down again. I was so frightened. My tummy felt like it was being squeezed by giant hands and I thought that I would throw up. Then a cloud covered the moon and I couldn’t even see my own hands.
    “Helphelphelp! Someonehelpme!” I screamed and screamed but no one answered. “Help me, please!” I cried and my face was all wet with tears. I felt so little and so lonely. And so scared.
    There was a noise in the grass near me. The moon still hadn’t come out, but my eyes were getting a bit used to the blackness – I could just make out the dark shapes of big trees waving their branches in the wind as if they were alive. I never knew that trees could be scary. Then there was that noise in the grass again. A small animal noise. Were there snakes in Ireland? I didn’t know. I stayed dead still. The noise stopped, but what did that mean? Was I about to be bitten by a viper or an anaconda that I couldn’t even see? A long time passed. I was sweating, but I was very cold too. And wet.
    There was something moving about over there near the trees. It was an animal. I couldn’t see it, but I could hear it. I wished Kate was here to give me a hug … even if she wasn’t cool in a crisis. But nobody was here. Except me. They were all home in their beds. Except me. I had never felt so terrified in all my life. There were wild animals prowling around. And snakes in the grass. Probably rats, too.
    Hours passed. Well, it felt like hours. I got colder and colder. The moon went in and out of the clouds and I kept falling asleep and waking up. This night was going to go on for ever. I didn’t hear the snake anymore. Perhaps it had gone away. Or was it