The Bucket List
~ Prologue ~
Prologue… honestly, I’m not sure what a ‘prologue’ is. The internet defines it as “a separate introductory section of a literary or musical work” but I don’t really know how to write one of those. Lets just start with this, Hi my name is Johnifer (best name right? I know) , I live in Esterland, Maine. At this time I’m camping alone for a week. But it’s a lot harder than it seems. Oh yeah and by camping I mean REAL camping, not the pansy camping for kids where they basically get to live in a cottage for a week. I mean tents, fires, and bears! Ok, maybe not bears, but you get the point. I’m on day three or so and I don’t know how much longer I can go. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea, but dearest reader please know that this is NOT the end of my story. By that, I mean the author is probably going to write more stories about me and my friends so I’m probably not going to die. I feel like this should be longer but I don’t know what else to add… do people eat ketchup or drink it?
This signals the end of the Prologue.

Chapter All
About five days ago in Johnifer’s garage…

“Learn to play an instrument, check, write a prologue, check, buy eggs, check! Hey Adam I’m almost done with the first half of the first half of my bucket list,” I exclaimed, “ what should we do after I’m done with this?”
“I like how you think you’re ever going to finish that,” Adam remarked.
I snickered, “Thanks for the encouragement buddy.”
“No problem.”
I walked over to the second half of the first half of their list, that is to say the middle area, and muttered, “So . . . what next?”
“Well what seems the most available one right now? You can’t try to do the pizza one again because the last time you tried you almost burned down Chuck E Cheese's.”
“Yeah I know, I know, but you have to agree that was pretty sick!”
“I agree, in fact I think I’m getting sick thinking about that greasy mess.”
“That's just your opinion.”
I speedily skimmed through the list looking for something, “AH HA,” I shouted, “it’s perfect.”
“I am afraid to ask what’s happening next.”
“Oh you’ll be ‘PINE-ing’ to be as cool as me after this is done,” I hinted.

I packed my things and got into the car. I was going for challenge #124, I had decided to try and camp alone for a week.
“I hope you packed well,” said Adam.
“Oh don’t worry I always do,” I replied
“Well call me when you need me to pick you up I guess,” He said
“... uh yeah sure...”
I said sure, but they didn’t really mean it. When I said alone I meant it. No help from ANYONE… well unless I get bitten by a snake, or mauled by a bear, or fall into a hole, or get eaten by a giant flytrap… or stung by a bee. I’m allergic to bees.
“We’re almost there.  I hope you enjoy a week without toilet paper,” Adam joked.
“Nah I’ve got it covered,”I remarked, hiding a pile of TP I had stolen from Adam’s apartment. I pulled out my notebook and started writing a list of things I should try to get done first. First fire, then shelter, then food. No wait, then water then food. I had watched many nature documentaries before this so I felt pretty prepared.  I sat there in silence doodling little ants in my journal and thinking about how I should’ve gotten more bug spray when when Adam hit the brakes. We’re here! We finally reached Elwynn Forest!

This place was beautiful, colorful lanterns hung on the branches of the trees. But that beauty only went so deep and as I crept towards the center It slowly got darker and lonelier. This should be fun I thought to myself. It had recently rained so the air was humid and the ground was wet and squishy; it was like a marsh except less bugs and life threatening alligators. The trees were tall,and their branches reached out to block the light from the setting sun. I had to choose a good place to set up so I started walking around. It was dark but I could still see but every once in awhile I would bump into a tree. I walked forward not knowing what I was doing or where I was when I found myself in a large clearing tripping over a the roots of a very old looking tree. I fell right into a stagnant pond in the middle of the clearing with a huge “SPLASH”. The water was gelid. It had algae in it and it looked like what would happen to a pool if you didn’t clean it, like ever. All my stuff and my clothes got soaked! It was pretty gross but at least it woke me up a bit. This seemed like a good spot to stay. It was surrounded with trees that I could use for firewood and it was a great source for water… well, after I clean it.

I was wet from falling into the pond and it was starting to get cold so I decided to find some tinder so that I could start a fire. I went around grabbing the driest sticks I could find and got to work; Whipping  out my lucky lighter, it was stainless steel with a golden dragon design on it. Flick, flick, flick, that was the noise the lighter made as I set the sticks ablaze, ah yes fire, truly man’s greatest invention. The fire was cozy but not large enough, it flickered as it struggled to fight the light breeze that tried to blow it out. I better get some more fuel, and quick. I ran up to a nearby tree, grabbed the biggest branch and tried chopping it off with a survival knife I brought with me. I hacked and sawed away at it but it didn’t budge. This is a lot harder than it looks! I pulled and I turned but it just sat there taking it. Maybe I should go for something smaller? I snapped a few twigs off and threw them into the fire, It ate them all up. I’m such a good fire parent. To reward myself I pulled out a granola bar I had in my backpack then I hung everything on a branch to dry and fell asleep.

Pitter patter pitter patter, it’s was early in the morning and it was starting to sprinkle. A drop of water fell on my face that woke me up. The sun was coming up but the storm clouds slowly blocked it out oh no I thought, I better get some shelter before all my stuff gets soaked again. I ran over to my backpack and pulled out the rolled up tent, it was still kind of wet from the pond water but it was better than having no protection at all. I began unpacking, unfolding, and staking down the corners as the rainfall began to pick up. I swiftly connected the tent poles and began assembling the shape of it. The pond started expanding as the sky darkened. And soon as I finished I hopped in. the pond grew and grew inching towards the tent. I hadn’t realized it but I left my backpack outside of the tent by the tree it was hanging on and the pond water was slowly creeping towards it. I watched as the pond ate up my backpack and put out my fire. You monster! Zipping up the tent’s door I waited as the the water rose.

The rain soon stopped and I walked out to retrieve my backpack. Everything in it was completely SOAKED, my sleeping bag, my notebook, my phone... Wait, MY PHONE! Without my phone I couldn’t call for help or check where I was! Also, how else am I going to play angry birds?  I groaned and dropped the bag onto the muddy floor. What can I do now? I couldn’t play on my phone, doodle, or take a nap! Well I wouldn’t take a nap, I literally just woke up but I digress. I picked the backpack back up, now dirty from the mud, and threw it over the branch again to dry it out. Then I walked around to look for something to do.
“CAW CAW,” a bird yelled at me.
“Oh hi little buddy,” I said back in a high pitched voice that you use to talk to kids with.
“CAW CAW.”
“I see, the rain got you too didn’t it?”
“CAW CAW.”
“Awww what a cute little birdy.”
“CAW CAW,” the bird flapped its wings wildly. But it's two wings were too wet to fly. I decided to take action! On the tips of my toes I reached for the bird, but I was too short. I know, I started stacking rocks as a stool and grabbed the bird.
“Gotcha,” I murmured. Suddenly the bird freaked out! I must’ve been a mom or something because It came at me with the power of ten angry gods! Reactively, I jerked backwards, falling down and hitting my head on the ground.

I woke up the next day lying wet in a puddle. next to me were some rocks that fell on me. Ouch I thought as I slowly got up, I must’ve passed out after I hit my head, stupid bird. I heard my stomach growl, I was super hungry, like I haven’t eaten in like two days. I felt fatigued too. Believe it or not, sleeping more isn’t always better. I looked around for my tent but I couldn’t find it. Not on the ground anyways, the tent had floated into the pond and was floating there right outside of my reach. Great, I thought 4 days left and I already lost my tent. I needed to calm down. I was acting too pessimistic. I grabbed my bag and walked away from the tent so I could relax. Then I reached into the bag and pulled out some berries in a ziplock bag, an apple, s’mores materials, some hot dogs without buns, and an unopenable can of beans. Why did I bring this with me? I realised how unprepared I was as I opened the bag of marshmallows and started setting up my s’mores making station. Lighting a fire I heard the noise of twigs breaking behind me followed by a sniffing sort of noise.
I turned to looked towards the direction of the noise and not very triumphantly squealed, “Hello?”
The sniffing continued when suddenly a black bear came out of the bushes (yes black bears live in Maine).
“GROAR!”
“AHHHH!”
“Grunt”
“Oh, errr... hi there.”
“Growl”
I backed away to try and disengage with the bear when it.. perambulates towards me and starts sniffing my stuff. I had to think, what do bears like? Food! I grabbed a handful of berries from the ziplock bag and threw them towards the bear. It sniffed then and the  smacked them up with it’s ginormous mouth. I fed it to try and gain it’s trust and it totally worked! I spent time playing and petting the bear. I rushed this story to finish it quicker. And I rode it home.

Epilouge
So, looks like I survived! I got a pet bear too, until it left. To go back to the forest. Because my phone was destroyed in the rain I went to the grapefruit store and bought a new phone… with the bear.