My head was aching. Was this... what a hangover feels like?
I groaned and blinked my eyes open. Very little light filtered through the leafy canopy above. I figured I must be in a deeper part of the jungle, much deeper than the tribal village.
I tried to move, but my arms and torso didn't react properly. Was I... tied up?
Thinking back, the last thing I remembered was eating around the campfire with a native tribe. They had rescued me after my plane went down in the rainforest. I was the only survivor on the tour, as far as I could tell, and I was glad my girlfriend had decided not to join me on the trip.
After her tribe had brought me to their village, a girl named Mila was able to translate for me. She was 19 years old, and the only one in the tribe who could speak my language, though it was with a very thick accent. Despite being a year younger than me, she had seemed to be somehow more mature.
Now here I was in the darkest part of the rainforest I had ever seen. I struggled against the ropes binding my torso against what must be a tree trunk. "Where's my shirt?"
I heard a small voice speak a word I didn't know, and Mila's face swam into view, illuminated by a flickering torch. "Mila?" I gasped. "What's going on?"
She looked a little concerned, but at the mention of her name, her eyes lit up and a look of anxious relief spilled over her.
The girl before me giggled and took a step forward. "You don't need your shirt today. It's not important."
Mila herself was dressed in what was unmistakably some sort of ceremonial or celebratory garment, though a little less elaborate than what she wore around the campfire, where she had insisted that I drink my entire baracol or whatever she called that drink. She herself wasn't allowed to drink, though everyone in the village seemed to speak specifically to her in very excited tones, bordering on congratulations.
My head was still pounding. "Look, can you untie me?"
Mila put up a single finger in a shushing gesture and then shook her head.
"What? Why not?"
"Because it is forbidden to untie you before the ceremony is completed."
"Forbidden to... ceremony? What ceremony?"
"We are to be wed today," she said with a sweet smile.
I scoffed. "Wed? Like, married? Why? We barely know each other." My argument was sort of dulled by my headache. I tried to move against the ropes, but it was just as futile as before.
And Mila was undeterred. "This is the wedding site of all of my ancestors." She waved her hand around, and at this point I saw dozens of stone figures, some clearly male, some clearly female, and several that looked like they might be half snake. "I have chosen you, and we are to be wed today."
Before I could object, she reached into a basket and withdrew a vibrant purple snake, which coiled gently around her hand.
"You're confused, Mila," I said, eying the snake warily. "Why would I marry you? We just met yesterday."
She reached toward my shoulder. I tried to push her hand away, but ropes around my wrists bound me from moving too far.
With a soft hiss, the snake sunk its fangs into my shoulder. I gasped and tried to recoil, but the ropes limited my movement.