Chapter 4

A calm wind blows the next morning. Lying at the bottom of an embankment, a slope where she was deposited by the waves during the night, Daphne fainted when a gentle sun beat down on her face. Light waves gently caress her feet and, after more than an hour after sunrise, the survivor opens her eyes. Between mangroves, tall grass and thorns, Daphne is still a little groggy as she sits up straight with her body covered in mud. Coming back to her senses, she doesn't recognize anything around her.

- Where am I? she soliloquizes before standing up. I don't recognize anything from Heartland around here… Where are the others? she continues, constantly looking around her. My God, what's going on? I'm all alone on a desert island? I'm cold and covered in mud too... I can't stay here!

Even though she has no idea where she is, Daphne is still happy to still be alive. There are long, thick bushes lining the banks where she is, and the place is infested with insects. Fearing that there may be dangerous animals around, the damsel constantly monitors the surroundings, especially since she cannot see what is in the dark water. Thus, she tries to make her way through the bushes to regain solid ground but, as she takes a few steps, thorns and rigid branches claw her, hurting her. She therefore makes the decision to retrace her steps. Having no other choice, she walks along the embankment knowing that the risk of falling on large reptiles is great. As she advances, an unpleasant odor follows her. On top of that, the mud on her back and in her hair annoys her enormously. To make matters worse, she constantly has to be careful with every step she takes because the place is so slippery that she could fall at any moment. After walking about six hundred meters, she notices that the water is clearer. Seeing no reptiles, Daphne ventures into the water taking as much precaution as possible. As soon as she reaches a reasonable depth, she plunges her whole body, including her hair, to remove as much mud as possible. On leaving, it leaves behind muddy water, but it is more or less clean.

Not knowing what time it is, the survivor decides to speed up her pace to try to find a suitable place to spend the night. She walks an additional five hundred meters before contouring to continue following the bank. Eight hundred meters further on, she falls on mangroves made up of mangroves, whose roots she has to step over to keep going. She would have preferred not to be in this kind of place; the roots being good hiding places for all kinds of reptiles. Moreover, she even sees fish swimming and taking refuge between the roots when she advances in their direction. By dint of walking, she finds, a kilometer further on, a route that allows her to leave the swamp. However, rushing, she puts her foot on a slippery rock and she loses her balance before ending up in the water. Falling into a fairly deep part, Daphne struggles trying to find her footing, even swallowing a large quantity of water, but she finally manages to get up before taking great breaths of oxygen after coughing. Having hurt herself by falling, she is more careful this time going back through the route. Moreover, it clings to the branches that are within reach to climb. The young lady regrets having changed on the yacht. With nothing but a completely soaked half-sky blue, half-dark brown bikini to cover up, she walks on, shivering from the cold. On top of that, she has nothing to wipe off either. By taking part in this competition, she was far from suspecting that she would end up on her own. Immediately, a thought immediately turns to his mother who must be distraught at the moment. Hours pass, but she sees nothing but bushes, trees and brush. She essentially relies on the path to move forward when, suddenly, there is no more. She finds herself in the total unknown. Being barefoot, she injures herself walking on casuarina seeds and, as the grass is rather high, she cannot see where she puts them. By dint of moving forward, she begins to get exhausted and, to top it off, she no longer knows where to go. Being all filthy, she would have loved to take a shower and wash her hair, but she is aware that it will not be for now.

It's been more than two hours that Daphne no longer knows which direction to take. There is no house or path that would help him get to a village or anyone who could help him. To make matters worse, she hears all sorts of noises that are unfamiliar to her. In so many hours of walking, she hasn't come across any human and she doesn't even know where the others are. As misfortune never comes alone, she hears thunder rumbling a few moments later.

- Oh my God, it's not possible! Why must there be a storm now? Just when I'm surrounded by trees! she notices when another thunderstorm follows, startling her.

Almost instantly, a heavy rain begins to fall, soaking her completely once more. Disgusted, she sits on the floor and crosses her arms hoping to keep warm, but it doesn't have the desired effect.

The rain has been falling for fifteen minutes now and Daphne sees a stream of water making its way towards the lake on the little earth she finds. As soon as the rain stops, the survivor sets off again. A few meters further, Daphne reaches the end of the meadow and, to her dismay, she discovers that this time she will have to cross a dense forest. Not believing her eyes, tears come to her eyes, but she is aware that she has no choice but to cross it if she wants to try to find the others. Returning to the road, she doesn't look where she is stepping and, stepping in mud, she again slips and falls, once again covering herself in mud. Exasperated and pissed off, Daphne freaks out, but she resumes her journey, keeping in mind that she absolutely must find a suitable place to rest before starting to look for the other finalists.

Daphne doesn't know which part of the forest she is in, and in addition to being completely exhausted, she is also hungry and thirsty. Beginning to lose hope, Daphne hears the sound of waves in the distance. Realizing that the beach isn't far away, she finds a clear boost of energy and begins to walk again, putting her fatigue behind her. About twenty minutes later, she comes out of the forest when she sees the sea in front of her. For the first time since she is on this island, the young lady is in a place where she has visibility on what is happening around her. Having traveled a very long distance on foot, the young lady lies down on the beach, just to regain some strength. Appreciating this moment, she realizes that she won't go any further today and, annoyed by all the mud on her body, she gets up and goes into the sea. finds, she takes off her bikini and uses the top as a shower brush to remove the mud that is on her. Once she considers herself clean enough and has washed her hair, she washes her bikini and wrings it out before getting dressed. Since she is in the water, Daphne takes the opportunity to relax in the water.