Amanda // Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Chapter 5

         If you were wondering, it's been three years. I'm 11 now, in 7th grade. Things are pretty much the same around here, except Daddy spends a lot of time in his study, documenting Caesar's behavior or something called the ALZ-112. To he honest, I really have no idea what it is, I've just heard him talking about it.
Caesar is doing very well. By 18 months, he could sign up to 24 words! By age two, he could complete puzzles and models made for children 8+. Now, at age 3, he continues to excel academically and is smarter than most of the kids I know. He also plays chess pretty well.
Anyway, back to life:

I was in my room with Caesar when I heard shouting from downstairs and something crashing.

"Stay here." I signed to Caesar, walking out of my room and to the stairwell.

I saw Grandpa and Sarah arguing and fighting over a lamp. It crashed to the floor, and Sarah ran to throw her stuff together.

"I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore." She stated, grabbing her coat and running out.

"He belongs in a home, this is no way for him to live." She called.

That made my stomach turn. I turned and ran back up the stairs and to my room, slamming the door behind me and making Caesar jump.

"Are you okay?" He signed.

"No," I cried breathlessly, throwing myself onto my bed.

"Grandpa's really sick, Caesar." I said. "Sarah just left and Grandpa broke a lamp."

He hopped up beside me.

"It will be okay."

I hugged him, smiling. He always knew how to make me smile.

"Thank you, Caesar." I signed.

He got up and went to pick up paper and crayons from my desk.

"I will draw you a picture."

He started to draw lines. Then, a circle. As he finished, I realized that it was the window that he had in the attic. We would always look out of it together. At the high trees with the leaves that covered the view of the sky on our street. At the cars passing. At the kids playing and riding bikes. I smiled and nodded at the picture. We had been doing that for years.

"Amanda!" A voice rang out.

I groaned and got up to walk downstairs to see what Daddy wanted.

"You forgot to take your pills this morning," He said, sliding them over to me with a glass of water.

Two years ago, doctors prescribed me pills that I have to take daily for depression and bipolar disorder. I don't even have either one, but the doctors said that I needed to take them anyway because I'm at the age where people start having depression and bipolar disorder, and that there's a 95% chance that I'll get it in the future.

So, their basically pills to keep me sane.

(Sorry if I offended anyone, I take the pills myself and I'm just sharing my personal thoughts on them.)

Depression is why I was an orphan. Because my mom decided to commit suicide. I didn't really know her, though. The only thing I remember is her leaving me all alone while she would go get high. I guess that helped keep her from committing suicide earlier. But one day, she forgot to take HER pills, and the depression all came back, so she decided to throw herself off a bridge. Leaving me alone once again. The only person there was my abusive aunt, who would bang my head against walls to stop me from crying when I was hungry. Pretty soon, she got cancer and died. Now, I was seriously alone, and cold. Until the cops came to take me away to a "better place" which was actually worse than living with my aunt or mom. They hated me for my "smart" comments and my age. They thought the younger ones got adopted first. However, people came and came, but no one paid me any attention until I was two. Then, Will came to my rescue.

I swallowed the pills and folded up the paper, which was still in my hands.

"What's that?" Daddy asked, gesturing to the paper.

"Something Caesar drew me," I mumbled.

I heard Caesar hoot behind me happily.

"Yes.Thank you, Caesar."

A/N: So yeah, this will be it for today because I'm super tired now because it's 1:21 am in NC where I live, so... Well anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it!