Chapter 1 Clarissa's Story

Many strange stories have been told of these jungles of India, but none so strange as a small boy and girl named Mowgli and Clarissa.

Many years ago, in 1880s Croatia, there once lived a lovely couple named Josip and Karla. The two had been childhood friends for years and after getting married, the two were about to welcome another member into their small family, a child of their own.

Josip worked as a railroad builder while Karla worked at home and took care of the house, and due to the couple not having a lot of money, they decided to move out of Croatia, which at the time was not an independent country, and move to another European country in hopes of finding a better life.

Karla was still pregnant at the time of saving up money to travel across the Mediterranean sea and even if they planned on moving to another European country, the two always wanted to explore the world since they were both very fascinated in the world around them. They wanted to explore land outside of Europe and hoped that maybe saving up money would help them travel the entire world, even if they both knew it would be dangerous to cross the sea, especially with a child.

After 6 months of saving up enough money, Josip and Karla were finally able to buy a ship, and Karla also gave birth to a healthy baby girl, who she and Josip named Clarissa. After getting the ship and leaving their home, Josip and Karla left Croatia and set sail for the world, along with their baby girl Clarissa.

The first couple months of travels were fine and the family didn't run into any trouble along the way. But one night, as the family was trying to sail around the borders of Africa and cross the Indian ocean, a terrible storm had struck and due to the lighting and rain pouring down heavily, the family's ship had caught on fire!

Josip and Karla couldn't believe the natural disaster and had to make it out of their ship quickly or else they would be burned or drowned alive. Karla was able to make it out of the burning ship alive, along with her baby girl, Clarissa, and she sat in a lifeboat waiting for Josip to make it out of the ship as well.

But time was running out for him and just before her eyes, the ship started to sink, and the faster it sank, the harder it got for Josip to make it out alive. Karla held Clarissa close to her, as she prayed for her husband and the girl's father to make it out alive. But just before her eyes, Josip came jumping out of the ship and into the water alive!

It was a miracle since the couple barely had a chance of surviving. After Josip swam over and made it into their lifeboat while watching their ship left in the water to burn and sink, Josip and Karla rowed their life boat all night until they finally reached land.

However, it wasn't only land that the couple had found, but also the jungles of India. It was India where Josip and Karla ended up in and they weren't even in the villages of India, but the jungle.

Josip and Karla didn't really know what to do since there were no signs of humanity in the Indian jungle, and because there were wild animals, the two would have to be very careful and make sure to keep Clarissa as safe as possible since she was just a baby and couldn't lose her to anything harmful.

The night the family arrived in India was the night Josip and Karla made their home in a cave and slept there all night until the next morning, where they would start to make their own home in the jungle. The jungles of India were not the safest place in the world, especially while having children there, but Josip and Karla could have died in the ship accident, so if they had to make their way by surviving in the Indian jungle, then they would try their best.

The morning after the family arrived in the Indian jungle, Josip and Karla started to get to work by building a shelter of their own. Josip knew a lot about building due to him being a former railroad builder, and since the jungle had plenty of materials to use for building and still had remains from their lifeboat, it made it easier for the couple to make a nice shelter of their own.

The couple had spent a good few months trying to make the shelter and while they were doing so, they didn't come across any wild animals along the way, not even while getting the materials they needed. It was surprising since the jungles of India were known to have dangerous animals and while Josip told his wife that he was once warned about a deadly tiger named Shere Khan who lived in the jungle, they didn't encounter the so-called tiger once.

While Josip and Karla teamed up together to build the shelter, Karla still made sure to watch over her daughter, Clarissa, since she was still a baby girl at the time. Since the little baby really liked her mother's amethyst stone necklace, she decided to give it to her since they were going through some interesting times together.

"Here, Clarissa. Do you like it?" Karla asked her daughter while holding out the purple stoned necklace.

Clarissa held out her hands as if she were trying to grab the necklace, and Karla smiled as she watched her daughter so innocently want the necklace.

"Here you go then. It's yours my little angel." Karla took off her necklace and put it around Clarissa's neck, causing the baby to laugh along with her mother.

Josip then stopped what he was doing for a bit to see what his wife and daughter were up to, and smiled while watching the two bond.

"Is little Clarissa having a good time?" Josip asked while walking over and sitting down next to his wife.

"Yes, she loves her mother's necklace," Karla said while watching her daughter play with the pendent.

Clarissa then began to giggle and coo, and both Josip and Karla smiled down at Clarissa since nothing could ever tear them apart from their beautiful daughter.

Or so they thought.

As the two watched their daughter play around, they began to hear something coming from behind them and Karla wondered if it may have been a wild animal.

"Is that…" she tried to say before hearing another noise again. "A wild animal?" Josip held her close to him.

It was just then when the noise started to get louder, and Karla came even closer to her husband as she began to hear the sound of footsteps coming towards her and Josip.

"Karla, get the baby," Josip told her as Karla left him to get Clarissa, who was still in her basket playing with the necklace she just gave her.

But as Karla grabbed the baby and ran back over to her husband, the couple began to hear the sound of growling, and Josip could tell he and Kar;a were not going to be safe if they continued to stand around in the jungle.

"Karla, hide the baby, hide Clarissa!" Josip demanded as Karla began to run away with the baby, but she couldn't leave her husband behind.

"But what about you? You'll be killed!" Karla warned him as the growling became louder. "Don't worry about me, just run! Hide! I'll take care of everything, just go!" Josip demanded as Karla ran away from her husband while holding Clarissa's basket in her hands.

Josip made sure his wife and child were out of his sight before turning back around to face where the noise was coming from. The closer and louder the growling got, the more Josip was ready to fight back. He very quickly ran back over to his resting spot, and grabbed a spear. He then pointed it to the direction the noise was coming from.

"Alright you beast. Come out wherever you are! I'm not afraid of you and I'm ready to fight back!" Josip called out as the growling began to stop.

Karla quit running and turned around for a bit after hearing the noise stop, and Josip believed the animal eying him and his wife must have left. That meant the two were now safe.

Karla gave a sigh of relief along with Josip, and the young woman began to walk back over to her husband while carrying Clarissa's basket.

But that wasn't the case, since after Josip turned back around to where the growling was coming from, the growling could be heard again, and what the growling was coming from was a bengal tiger that jumped out of its hiding place and on top of Josip!

"JOSIP!" Karla screamed as she watched her husband be brutally killed by the tiger, and even the young man's spear was broken in half by the furious animal!

Karla's face had become horrified and full of tears after seeing her husband's death, and after the tiger was done with Josip, the animal stared down Karla and her baby, ready to come after it's next victim!

Karla gasped in alarm before looking down at Clarissa, and began to run away as fast as she could while holding Clarissa's basket in her arms.

While running as fast as she could past the cave she and Josip stayed in before building the shelter, she noticed the tiger hadn't come up to where she was yet and ran into the cave to hide herself and Clarissa in there.

However, Karla knew that the tiger would find her eventually since there were no other hiding places, but she knew she might have a chance of saving her daughter since she was much smaller and the tiger may have been unaware of her existence. So, Karla did something brave and decided to set her daughter's basket down to hide her from the tiger since she cared about Clarissa's safety more than her own, and knew the tiger wouldn't find the baby girl if she was hidden deep away.

Karla ran into the very back of the cave, which was far from the entrance and set Clarissa's basket down before taking a final look at her baby girl, who was still as happy as always since she didn't know what was going on.

Karla smiled as she watched her baby giggle and reach out for her mother, but after hearing the growls of the tiger, she knew it was time for her to leave. She gave one final kiss on the head to Clarissa before telling her some final words.

"Clarissa, your father and I might never see you again after this very horrible day, but as long as your safe, that's all that matters. Remember that your necklace is special, and that it will always remind you of me." Karla tearfully smiled down at her daughter while holding the baby's little hands.

She wanted to stay with Clarissa, but she had to leave her if she wanted to keep her safe. She then began to slowly break away from Clarissa's hands and the baby looked at her with confusion before seeing her mother running out of the cave. Due to the tiger looking in another place, the tiger didn't notice Karla had hid the baby inside the cave.

The tiger then turned around and saw the young woman run out of the cave in horror as she tried to get away from the tiger as far as she could. The tiger ran past the cave Clarissa was hiding in, and after Karla tripped and fell to the ground, she screamed with horror after the tiger came jumping onto her, ending the young woman's life as well!

After the tiger was done with Karla, the animal walked away from the sight, along with walking past the cave, and left as Clarissa cried in the cave, now being left orphaned after the murder of her parents.

Hey Guys! I'd like to note that this is my first Jungle Book fanfic and that I'll continue this story as long as you enjoy it and my OC Clarissa. A lot of scenes were inspiried by Disney's Tarzan for this chapter and you may also notice more references in later chapters to come. Please Review!