An Unconventional Safari

A/N: Yes, this is based on a true story but my mother tells me it was an ostrich, not a lion. I remember lion, but who knows? XD

My brother whimpered in the back seat and I rolled my eyes, exasperated. "Oh stop being such a-" I turned around. There was a lion outside my door and it looked ready for its next meal.

            Now, you're probably wondering how I got here. It was a pretty crazy story, I'll tell you that. It started off as a regular trip to the zoo on my cousin's birthday. Or so we thought...

            "How much longer?" I asked, refusing to revert to the classic: "Are we there yet?" Nonetheless, I had asked the question far too many times and my mother's patience was wearing thin.

            "I don't know!" she exclaimed for at least the fifteenth time. At the age of 10, I was not a patient person. My seven-year-old brother, on the other hand, was completely occupied and oblivious to my complaining. So, when we pulled up at the zoo, he looked up for the first time in two hours and grinned, "Well, that didn't take long!" I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Of course he had to be better than me.

            We quickly bought tickets and wandered around the zoo, oblivious to our impending doom. I would follow my parents and go towards a cage, where animals roamed around peacefully in the only habitat they had ever known, and just watch them contently. While we were gazing into the Asia section as wrinkled gray elephants slurped from a pool of water, a zoo official spotted my cousin's birthday badge and offered her a blue birthday hat, along with a coupon for 50% off up to ten tickets for the safari. Always ones to accept a coupon, my parents decided to take us to the safari.

            Little did we know that this was a roam-free safari, so when we reached the area and saw no bus or cart, we were surprised. Still, we decided to go, because how bad could it really be?

            It started out okay. We began driving through the barren fields, and spotted a few monkeys and a few birds. Even a feathery gray emu wandered near our car with its beak curved in a confused smile. My aunt and uncle's cameras were snapping away as my parents were driving as slowly as possible. My cousin was Snapchatting the event and my brother watched the scenes. I constantly peered out the window, fascinated by the proximity and life of the animals. Birds gliding in the hot summer air, monkeys swinging on the leafy green trees, frogs croaking a melody near the cool blue water. My eyes stretched to take it all in.

Unfortunately, the magical effect only lasted for a few minutes. As mentioned before, I did not have a very long attention span, so when my brother offered to trade seats with me, I complied, allowing him the better view.

            For a while I just dawdled around, drawing a few trees I had spotted outside, listening to the music softly playing in our car. I was extremely restless, sitting around, doing anything that came to my mind as I tried to pass the time. My mother urged me to look outside multiple times, but I only looked for a moment until she had her back to me again. I was bored out of my mind.

            It turns out that wishing for something exciting to happen isn't always the best idea. My brother had momentarily turned his head towards my window, now rolled closed, when he saw it. It was funny I didn't notice such a large figure looming over me, but I was rather engrossed in my book and at the moment nothing else mattered. I turned to my brother, suspecting he was being his overdramatic self again and began to chew him out for it. But all he did was point to my window. Soon the rest of my family had terrified looks on their faces. I turned around not knowing what to expect.

            It was a lion. A beautiful one with glistening fur in the glaring sun and a golden mane. I had little time to marvel at its beauty when the fear kicked in. A lion! There was a lion outside my window!

    It bared its teeth cruelly, a shadow looming over me. Its razor sharp claws gleamed in the sun, ready for their next victim. I looked into its eyes. Pitch black like an endless abyss. It opened its mouth, revealing a blood red tongue and roared. The deep rumbling hit my ears, even through the closed window.

            I scrambled to the floor and saw my life flash before my eyes. My heart beat loudly, threatening to burst out of my chest. My blood pounded in my ears and my breaths became short and shallow. A bead of sweat slowly rolled down my forehead. Some rational part of me reasoned that this area must be regulated, that the lion couldn't possible harm me. See, it's one thing to see a lion all caged in at a zoo and another thing to see it free, right outside your window. Unspeakable horrors flashed through my mind as my hands trembled. Suddenly, I heard the clatter of a bowl and a small scream. My annoying cousin had just spotted the lion.

            "Oh my gods!" she shrieked. "Get that thing away from me!" Even in such a desperate situation, I simply rolled my eyes, promising myself I would never be as dramatic as her. To this day, I have kept that promise.

            The thick doors and glass of the window seemed to grin at me, mischievously suggesting that one wrong move could end me. As the lion moved out of the way and the sun blinded our eyes, a moment of rationale seemed to kick us in the face. My dad floored the accelerator and we sped away, not once looking back.

            I still remember that moment, from the fear that coursed through my veins to my irritation at my cousin's drama. It was one of the few moments I felt real fear and felt like something was out of my control. It taught me to be fearless and daring and never let an emotion control me again. From that day, I have done it all. I have tightrope-walked over fifty feet in the air. I have gone on an extremely steep water slide in the Bahamas. I have snorkeled in waters over 20 feet deep. Someday, I plan to go skydiving. I never let fear control me after that day. And to think it was all because of a partially tranquilized lion in a regulated safari.

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