As he rubbed sleep from his eyes he couldn’t help but look over at the wreck. His heart wrenched at the sight of Rodney’s body and he looked away, swallowing the lump in his throat. He needed to relieve himself and walked to a towering gum tree that had to be at least four stories high. The tree’s smooth bark was like velvet. Random, thin strips of it had peeled and curled back, their edges darkening as they had dried out. On the way back to the plane he noticed shafts of sunlight spearing through the overcrowded treetops. When he held his palm up to one of them he was amazed that he could actually feel its heat. He followed the light up to the canopy where only small patches of pale blue sky were visible and a new reality hit him. If I can’t see the sky, how’s a rescue party going to see me? Returning to the now dead fire he kicked at the remains of a log and it snapped in half and fell into the cold grey ash.
