Once Upon a Timon - ENGLISH

Chapter 10: Leaving the past behind

Timon shifted in bed, his eyes still closed. He accidentally gave Tesma a little push, sleeping next to her, and she woke up. She saw the meerkat's face and remembered what had happened the night before.

She felt totally happy for a minute, imagining that this was just how she wanted each day to start for the rest of her life. And then, as the reality of her dawned again, the terrible feeling that she had been the victim of for the last few years came back to haunt her. She moved closer to him to feel the warmth of his body, hugging him tightly, as if she feared that at any moment he would disappear and turn out to be all a dream, and she snuggled in so she could watch him sleep. She knew it would be dawn soon, and he would have to leave before someone discovered them like this. She wished with all her might that things could be, for once, the way she wanted. But not all her willpower was enough to change reality. That was her condemnation, and she was not even sure why.

A tear slipped down her cheek, and she wiped it away with the back of her hand before it fell to the grass. She would already have time to cry in the future.

Timon moved again. He opened his eyes slowly, meeting Tesma's attentive gaze, her arms surrounding him. She smiled at him.

"Hi," she whispered.

"Hi. What time is it?"

"I do not know. The sun hasn't risen yet."

"Then I think we can stay another minute like this," he hugged her.

Tesma nestled her head under the male's chin. Right at that moment, her life was perfect.

Outside the storm had stopped. The air was cool and the ground moist, and thick drops of clear water dripped from the leaves of the trees. Wild birds fluffed their feathers to dry them, one by one, and the small spiders that lived among the branches of the vegetation returned to their webs, now pearled by the rain. The first rays of the sun offered a dim light that with difficulty penetrated the clouds that still remained in the sky. Its heat gradually evaporated the water from the ground and formed a light continuum of white mist.

In the midst of it all, Pumbaa wandered around not knowing where he was headed. Timon had not shown up all night. And while that didn't bother him at first, as soon as he opened his eyes, he'd learned a good reason to go looking for him.

"Timon!" he called out to nothing, as he had been doing for several minutes now.

And as in all those past occasions, there was no answer.

Pumbaa was not even sure where himself was. He had lost his way several meters ago, and he had not run into a single animal the entire way. It was as if they had all been swallowed up by the mist.

"Timon!" he shouted again, and without giving time to see if someone finally answered him, he continued walking among the humid plants.

His footsteps took him to a ridge. He approached the shore carefully, intending to find out where he was, but the mist thickened so low below that he couldn't see beyond the treetops.

Pumbaa yelled once more. His voice carried to Kuba's hearth, not far from his position, and Timon poked his head out the window. The warthog was sitting outside the castle, looking at the morning scenery.

As he could, Timon climbed the window frame and jumped in the direction of the nearest tree, hanging from one of its vines. He quickly descended with the help of it, and trotted over to his friend.

"Timon!" Pumbaa called once more, before the meerkat made him shut up with a joke.

"You'll wake up the whole jungle," he complained.

"Timon, where have you been?" Pumbaa asked in a brittle voice.

"Oh come on, Pumbaa. You're not going to make a drama just because I didn't go to sleep, are you?