The terrifying journey
(Adventure writing style)
There was nothing for it. Juan had stayed too long. He had to go. Almost all of his brothers and sisters had gone. His mother and father were nowhere to be seen, and one of his elder brothers had already made it quite clear that this was to be his patch. So, it was fight for the patch or find another home that no-one else was using.
Juan raised his head over the edge of the bromeliad leaf where he had been hiding. Then he brought up one small orange foot and curled it around the leaf edge. He opened on eyelid and his red eye swivelled around, looking out over a terrifying sea of green leaves.
No this was definitely not the right time to go. It was broad daylight and anything could see him. He would have to wait until nightfall. So, he pulled his little orange toes back out of sight, closed his eye and waited.
As dusk fell in the rainforest, Juan heard the evening chorus of insects, frogs and all manner of amazing creatures. Now he would have to make a dash for it. But a dash to where? He had spent all of his life in this little pond inside the bromeliad leaves, and so he knew nothing about what was out there. Perhaps there was no 'out there'. He might fall off the leaf into nothingness and be lost forever.
Still, that was the chance he was going to have to take. So he lifted one orange foot over the edge, shifted the weight of his body and moved another leg, then another and finally the last leg until at last he was perched across the top of the leaf edge. Of course, Juan could see in the dark with his great red eyes, but he still did not know where to go.
He mad a small, tentative, hop down on to what turned out to be a branch. So there was more world out there! But if he had learned one thing in his short life as a frog, it was that you had to be careful. So he paused and looked about for any sign of movement. He definitely did not want to be eaten yet, not when he had not see anything of the world.
The coast seemed clear, so he hopped long the branch until he found leaves. These were big, broad leaves and, curiously enough, they were more or less the same colour as him. That might come in handy.
But just then, a small harsh croak from nearby told him in no uncertain terms that this leaf was already taken.
He was so frightened by this unexpected turn of events that he did a great hop. Big mistake. He had hopped right off the edge of the leaf and now he fell uncontrollably down and down and down. Juan turned his body over so that all of his legs faced the unknown. His legs might take the shock of the impact when he reached – well, he didn't know exactly what he would reach, but it seemed to him that it might well be hard, whatever it was.
And then it happened. The ground suddenly zoomed closer, but it was covered with a kind of spongy moss. Juan landed – plop. His legs bowed, his head spun, but he still seemed all in one piece.
He paused. That had been a terrifying journey from the high branch to the forest floor. He waited for a croak telling him that he had to move on. But there was no croak. "Well," thought Juan, "that is quite enough of a journey for one night, perhaps I will make this moss my home, at least for the moment." And he closed his big red eyes and snoozed.
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