The Lost Girl

Rude Awakening

I wake up at around 6:30 am, the sun is just rising. There is a rustling in the grass below me. It is too dark to see whats beneath me, but I just know that there is something there. I daren't go down there though as it could be a snake or a big cat (something very deadly).

I silently walk down a couple of branches to my food stash and grab a handful of berries. I gently throw them to the ground to try and lure the creature out into the clearing. The rustling increases and I gasp with shock at the sight of this close encounter...

A baby gorilla emerges from the undergrowth and eats the sweet fruit. I look for a mother or a troop (a group of gorillas). There is nothing else in sight. I steadily walk down the branches to the tiny little gorilla 'orphan', with another handful of berries extended for the offering for trust. The orphan shuffled inch by inch closer to my handful of fruit, eyes looking directly at mine suspiciously.

The orphan reaches out and takes the berries gently, and shuffles back a few steps. When it finished, it moves a few feet closer again. This time, its eyes are full of sadness. I have a pretty good guess of why, it has most likely lost its mother to poachers. I feel so bad for it, it has no one to look after it.

I put both arms out to it, and it shuffles over to me. I have earned its trust. She stands between each hand and I pick her up and cradle it in my arms. I carefully wrap it in a palm leaf and the orphan falls asleep immediately. I lay her down next to me and we fell asleep. I found out that the orphan was a girl (I wont go into detail, older people will know why).

This morning, my gorilla girl is going wandering, and I need a name to call her back if she wandered too far away, so I am going to call her Dawn, since I found her at dawn! I'm taking her to the river to get a drink, and there are a few salmons swimming downstream. Dawn jumps in and catches one of the salmon. I clap and she turns around and jumps around excitedly. We cross the river and whilst I am making a fire to cook the fish, Dawn is catching more fish.

Once I cooked the first salmon, Dawn has brought back around 14 more fish. I finish up cooking the rest of the salmon for our dinner tonight and Dawn is playing in the water. 10 minutes later, Dawn comes back to eat and she is dripping wet. I get her my jacket and I dry her with it and then wrap it round her.

We go off to bed and I pick her up and put her on a smaller, sturdy branch a little higher than mine and give her a handful of berries to eat before bed. I lay down, and I think about my Angus again. Is he okay? Is he being looked after? Is he still even alive? He is most likely alive and being looked after by my parents or the people at the stables. I fall asleep and I dream about him, me and Dawn, playing in his field.