My name is Fred. I live in a rich, small town in England, with giant mansions with big gardens,

Acknowledgments

Images from these internet sites have been used to make the front and back cover:

www.casarioblanco.com

www.travelsfy.com

This Story is dedicated to:

Mom, Dad and Amelia

My name is Fred. I live in a small and rich town with small narrow streets, and a lot of expensive

cars, big mansions and gardens. One day my mom woke me up and told me that we were going

on holiday. We were going to Brazil. I asked her if I could take my friends with me and she said

yes. So, it was all planned: tomorrow we were going to Brazil with my friends. Today there was

no school, but my mom still forced me to come down 3 flights of stairs and “eat breakfast”. I

loved eating. It was not just normal eating, it was more like this: I would play my PSP

(PlayStation-portable), listen to music in my beats headphones and my mom would feed me

with whatever was on the table, trying prevent my Justin Bieber-like black hair getting into the

food. Yeah, I am twelve, you might call me immature, but I do not CARE. After eating I came up

the staircases and into bed. Then I watched 2 episodes of Star-Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

and Return Of The Jedi. Then I went to play paintball with my friends and did not come home

until dinner, in McDonald’s. A Sunday like every other.

Next morning, we slept till eleven, and then my dad drove us to the mini airport in his porche. At

the airport there was a private jet waiting for us. We took off. On the flight mom read me the

Ultimate Brazil Guide especially about the risks, it said: that it is dangerous around the jungle,

and that driving really fast near the jungle might risk the life of animals in the jungle and of

course the reader of the guide. It also said about Mafia, piranhas, poisonous frogs, wild animals

and literally all the worst things that could happen. Mom and I grew nervous that something

might go wrong, but dad told mom that she was overly dramatic, which calmed me down. The

12-hour flight went pretty smooth. In Brazil we bought visas, reclaimed our luggage and went

outside of the airport.

When we finally got out of the airport, my friends were already waiting for us in a silver

Mercedes mini-van. We set off.

I and my friends were chatting, playing games and we were all having a great time. We drove

for 5 hours without stopping on this narrow road, on one side of it was the Amazon jungle; on

the other were fields where wheat grew. For some reason no one was working here. I was day-

dreaming and staring outside the window, the trees of the jungle went faster and faster, so did

the crops. Suddenly something hit us and all fell silent.

I woke up from a long sleep, not knowing what happened. The first thing that I noticed was that I

was laying on the floor of what was earlier a mini-van. Beside me lay the family curse, The

Ultimate Brazil Guide, torn, stained in blood and opened on the Risks page. I jumped and

screamed, then quickly, kicked away the chair that was piled on top of me, which caused me a

lot of pain. Next I got rid of The “Ultimate” Brazil Guide. “THIS is SO not TRUE” I thought “THIS

CAN’T just be HAPPENING”. Unfortunately it was. I examined my clothing: My Abercrombie t-

shirt was stained with blood, my hands were all red and there were pieces of glass stuck in

them. On my legs lied another seat and my friend, unconscious or what’s worse, dead. To make

matters worse the mini-van was lying on its side (on the side where the entrance was). Knowing

I could not use the exit to get out I scanned my surroundings. Seats were loose, lying on the

ground, the big plasma TV was broken lying in pieces, there was no glass in the windows. UNO

cards, pieces of monopoly, and chess and other games were scattered all around the mini van,

mixed with blood and other scraps. The worst thing that I thought was that I was the only

conscious person in the next 30 kilometers, at least. Everyone else was not showing ANY signs

of life. I thought for a moment that I have lost everything and I am three days away from losing

myself. I put my head down and cried, trying to take pieces of glass off my body.

This is when this unique part of my body told me that I should come out, that I should find help

and that I need to survive. I got myself out of the vehicle, which was hard. It was a kind of a

buffalo that hit us, now dead and in an even worse condition than the van. I took my mom’s

phone out of the van. The phone was working. I tried to call everyone that was in the contacts

but only some kind of robot responded by saying no signal. I waited near the remains of the

mini-van thinking of a plan to escape death until it became dark, then I slept. Next morning I was

woken by the smell of rotten meat. “I need to get myself out of HERE” I thought. My parents

were still there, I tried to decide what to do next. I finished making the plan. I knew that if I wait

near the place of the accident I was soon going to die. This long period of waiting made me

hungry and tired (maybe because of blood loss).I saw a path leading into the jungle. I decided to

follow the path. Now that I have decided, I took a blanket out of the car, and my friend’s pocket

knife (I figured he does not need it anymore), and my family’s food and water. I also took the

GPS that was in our car. I slowly and sadly went into the jungle almost forcing myself to go

forward.

In the jungle the air seemed heavy with moisture, it was dark, it started raining, I was scared

that something might eat me. I walked for a long time, working my way through the plants,

sometimes chopping them down with my knife, not knowing where I was. I was hoping that I

would find some civilization, help, shelter, or at least some food, but there were only trees,

plants and scary noises. Time passed and I grew more and more tired. It became darker and

darker. I climbed up a tree, rolled myself up in a blanket that I took from our car and tried to

sleep. I could not sleep because of the noises and the darkness, I was used to my comfortable

bed in my big mansion. Finally I managed to fall asleep for a couple of hours but was woken by

rain.

When I woke up I ate some of the food, only enough to stay alive. I also tried to activate the

GPS. I knew that somewhere near me was the Amazon River, and on the river were tourists.

That is what I typed into the GPS: Amazon river, Brazil. The GPS established a route for me to

follow. I followed the GPS route, trying my best for it not to get wet. I walked around the jungle,

and when the rain passed, this jungle was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. There was

more sun coming through the thick layer of trees now, and I could see more, there were

beautiful birds flying and I could see many insects eating on the decomposing vegetation. My

friends, back home would die of jealousy if I brought one of them to school. There were

monkeys up high on the tree tops. At one point I came to this waterfall and even went into the

water after seeing nothing lived in there. The palm trees were swinging a bit from side to side.

Later that day, when it got dark, I ate a tiny bit of the food and went to sleep.

The next morning was the beginning of the first day in the jungle. I followed the GPS route

following the path. About mid-afternoon the path finished and I had to follow the satellite,

through the plants. Ever since the path finished I went slower and slower, getting more tired and

hungry with every step. When I was so tired I could not continue walking I cut the plants around

me, lit a fire with my dad’s lighter (burning a finger), to scare the animals away and slept near it.

When I woke up the fire was still burning. I set off again along my GPS route. I felt lonely, mad

at everything as I sadly walked through the jungle. The more I thought about my story, the more

sad and scared I felt. After my humble lunch I realized that I was running out of food and water.

At five, Brazilian time, I came upon a new small path where less plants grew which let me catch

up a few kilometers that I lost the day before. I ended the second day in the jungle by eating one

of my last sandwiches and drinking a few last gulps of water.

When I woke up on the third day, there was no water in my water bottles. I ate my last sandwich

for breakfast and set off. An hour into the third day my GPS got out of battery. All hope was lost.

I was lost too. For the rest of the day it rained and I simply walked on for the rest of the day

trying to find some food.

On the fourth day I was hungry and thirsty. My life now turned into an enormous race with time. I

had to eat before my time is up. I forced my legs to go on. When the path finished I was about to

give up and just die when the gods smiled upon me at last. Not only did the sun come out, but I

saw a small stream of WATER simply CROSSING my way. I laid myself on top of the running

water, opened my mouth and gulped as much of the water as I could. When I finally killed the

thirst I walked on, carefully cutting down the plants so I could find the stream if I were to come

back. And then ANOTHER MIRACLE happened: I was cutting through the plants when I saw a

banana tree, covered in yellow delights. I had a feast by the banana tree and then happily,

unhungrilly fell asleep under it.

The next day, I packed some bananas, and set off. An hour into the journey something within

me said: refill. Then I understood: I did not refill my water tank. I came back all the way, almost

accidentally finding my stream. I refilled. Then as soon as I set off I started thinking:”Fred, how

is it that you remembered, I have finally ate, and drank and even packed food for myself. HOW

COULD THIS BE?” I walked forward faster than ever before. At about 5pm I saw a clearing. I

started running, this could just be THE River. I soon climbed up the hill at the edge of the

clearing and saw the river bellow me. There were no tourists but this did not stop me from

screaming and crying, and dancing with joy. I got a huge dose of adrenaline that day. In fact I

was so happy I could not sleep. I have made it, WITHOUT a GPS. I could not believe myself.

Now a brilliant idea hit me: I will make a boat and float down the river. With that thought I fell

asleep.

I woke up at 6am. I stabbed my pocket knife into a gigantic tree and cut out a big piece of thick

bark. Then I took a pole to push myself thinking that: “I am different, a lot different. I have

changed.” I climbed onto the piece of bark pushed it into the water and floated down river. 30

minutes later I pasted a plantation, then another, I paddled to get close to them on the third

plantation I saw people. They were wearing Mexican hats and dirty clothing. When I was Close

to them I started to call them in Spanish: “Amigos! Amigos!” and then in English: “HELP! ,

PLEASE HELP!”. They heard me, and pulled me to the shore, and then they handed me over to

the manager of the plantation. After hearing my story the manager called the Red Cross. They

picked me up and drove me to the headquarters.

In the headquarters one young Red Cross member with black hair and a red uniform (I would

later find out that he was Jim) called somewhere over a device called a “satellite-phone”, he

said that he found a white boy that says his parents died in a car accident and that he spent the

last couple of days in the jungle. They responded that there is a missing boy from the UK, last

seen in the Amazon jungle. The Red Cross member contacted his boss about me. He got a

mission to hand me over to an orphanage in England, send me to school and wait for someone

to claim me. To full-fill the mission he had to take me to Rio De Jeneiro first.

Rio de Jeneiro was a big city with many streets, with the traffic so loud it made my head ache.

The Red Cross member bought me new clothes and two plane tickets across the ocean, all the

way to London. In the evening we went on the plane. We flew for a really long time.

When we arrived in London I was happier than ever before, I was skipping at the side of the

Red Cross member. He led me into a pub where we ate dinner. In the pub there was a big

plasma TV and in between the advertisements it showed the missing children. I was surprised

when I saw my name. It said:

Name: Fred Adams If Seen call: 112 or 990 856 735 Age: 12 Reward: 100 000 pounds Missing since: June 12 2011.

My picture was on it. The phone number looked like my parents’. And the REWARD, 100 000

POUNDS. If they were alive, why should I go to the ORPHANAGE? I asked him if I could get adopted in my small, rich town hoping to see my old house, and maybe

my parents’ grave. He said yes, he would still be getting the reward as long as he full-filled his mission, which he would. The Red Cross member drove me to the small town in

which I grew up. I panicked because of the orphanage all the way. I tried to tell myself that I

survived 5 days in a jungle and an orphanage will not be a problem for me, but it was no use.

He parked the car. We went past the mansion I used to live in, turned left, then turned right by

the church, then a few houses away from us, stood the gloomy building of the orphanage which

was even scarier in the darkness. We slowed down, I started to panic even more. “PLEASE,

NOT the ORPHANAGE.....WHY... WHY ME. Life CAN’T just be so STUPID” I wanted to say,

but because of all my fear of the orphanage nothing came out. I was 80 meters away from the

orphanage now, 75, 70, 65, 60. To my right I saw the restaurant my family and I always ate at. I

looked away. We were getting closer to DOOM. Suddenly something made me look back at the

restaurant. And then, through the big glass window, I saw them!!! I saw my parents.