I anxiously strapped in my seat belt as our plane left the ground and we flew over the Canadian wilderness. Fifteen minutes later my instructor Luke yelled, “Are you ready to jump?”

“Yes, let’s do this!” I shouted.

We double checked that our parachute and all of our skydiving gear was on properly, and jumped.

We jumped out together and instantly noticed a problem. We were getting blown into the wilderness and away from the field that we were supposed to land on! “HOLD ON!” Luke screamed, as he pulled the parachute cord and we slowly floated down and landed in the wilderness.

We looked for any signs of help, but there was nothing. “What are we going to do?” Luke asked.

 “We are going to have to try to survive until we get help,” I said, trying not to get scared and trying to stay positive about what might happen next.

Over the next few days we built a small hut and caught fish from the river. We cooked the fish on the fire that we lit with the matches Luke had in his pocket.  We drank cold water straight from the river to survive. We were cold, uncomfortable and just wanted to go home to see our families and everyone that cared for us.

The next morning, we were at the river having a drink when an odd bird landed on my shoulder. “Wow, what an amazing animal!” I exclaimed to Luke. “Yeah, pretty awesome,” Luke replied as he kneeled down to have a drink.  I suddenly realized maybe this smart bird could help us out of here. “Today is the day we need to try to get out of here,” we agreed.