Birth of the Planet of the Apes

Can't Sleep

Blue Eyes refused to go to sleep. He couldn't go to sleep. There wasn't any way he was going to risk the safety of these humans on his lack of control. He knew his breaks always seemed to happen when he was surprised, so he would make sure the humans didn't have that chance.

It had been three days since he left home. Three days since he had had an outburst. But, as with the rest of his life, just as he was starting to raise his hopes that everything was getting better, this happened. Why was he always the one that ran into humans? He wrinkled his nose and growled internally at his bad luck.

Running into humans, none-the-less a human he knew, was never part of his plans at all. He was dangerous, and now that he was stuck in a small tent with humans, he felt even more so. His father and other apes told him how weak humans were. And if he could do that much damage to Oliver, how much damage could he do to a human? The thought terrified him.

He made the decision to leave in the morning and keep going to wherever he was going. They wanted to go to the colony. He couldn't go back. Not yet.

Riley turned a page of the book she was reading, the crinkle of the paper mixing in with the patter of rain on the fabric of the tent. Blue Eyes stared at the back of her sand colored head suspiciously. Why did they want to go to the colony? What purpose did they have with his father? He remembered Riley saying something about fixing everything. Fix what? Apart from a very select few, most humans hated apes and most apes hated humans. His father had made that clear to Malcolm hadn't he? That's why they left.

As the girl's head started to nod in fatigue as she read, Blue Eyes hoped she was finally falling asleep. Watching over both humans while they were asleep would be a lot less stressful than worrying about what they were doing while awake.

He watched as her head sank lower and lower until it fell into her elbow, other hand still lying on the pages of her book. Blue Eyes waited a few more minutes before he risked moving.

Once confident both wouldn't wake, he snuck his way over Alex to where Riley slept, praising his long arms for keeping him over the boy. He then slowly stretched a hand over the girl and slipped the book out from under her hand, pausing with every inch so he wouldn't jar her awake. When he had it free, he edged his way back to his corner.

He cursed his curiosity when he sat down, but he wanted to know what she was reading, and after one glance at the cover, his curiosity was piqued even more. It was Andy, one of the apes that his father had freed from the cages with Maurice and Rocket! He quickly flipped through the thin book until he saw more pictures of apes, then strange pictures of lines going up and down more lines, then even stranger drawings of the insides of the heads of two apes and one human, covered with different colors where their brains were supposed to be. One of the apes' brain colors appeared more like the human, so Blue Eyes assumed that this ape was a smart ape, since, well, humans were smart. What all the colors meant he didn't know, but he secretly hoped his brain didn't look like that on the inside.

There were more pictures of apes, then other pictures of things Blue Eyes assumed the apes had made, like a knife carved from rock or one of the original watch towers they built at the front of the old colony.

How had a human gotten so close? He tried to read some of the words that covered the pages to find out. However, he never really learned to read past the basics that Maurice and his father had taught him. His father was always the best reader in the colony, but there had never been too much need for reading as they learned most things through sign and demonstration.

He felt his body sigh as he thought back to the lessons Maurice and his father taught him. Then his eyes fell to a mother ape holding her baby and his heart wrenched.

He missed them, all of them. He had been so relieved at how free he was that it never really sunk in just how truly lonely it was to be by yourself. His heart ached to see his mother and brother again. He never even said good-bye.

It was then that the tears came back.

He tried to stay quiet, lying down facing the wall of the tent to keep the humans from hearing him through the rain. He could feel his sobs getting stronger and louder when a heavy weight slowly fell over him. Initially surprised that he hadn't jumped more than he did, he glanced over his shoulder and saw Alex.

Alex's smile was sympathetic, "Thought you could use that. My...dad always told me that a blanket was like a mother's arms. Silly I know. But...it helps."

Blue Eyes sat up and pulled the blanket tight around his shoulders like a cocoon. Alex was right, he did feel strangely safer. He nodded to Alex in thanks and gave him a small, appreciative smile.

Alex smiled back then faded back into concern. "You really do need to get some sleep," he said, "You look like you haven't slept in days."

Alex was right. Free or not, he hadn't slept well at all since he left home and the exhaustion was quickly catching up to him. He sunk himself lower in the blanket and instinctively looked over at Riley. What if she woke up and scared him by accident? What if Alex did? No, he couldn't put them in that kind of danger.

Alex looked over at Riley as well then turned back to him with an understanding grin, "Once she's asleep, she's asleep. She won't wake up until she wants to wake up."

That wasn't the problem. It was them waking him up.

"I'll make her leave you alone if you want?"

Blue Eyes gave a small nod then pointed at him through the blanket, "You...to."

Alex seemed a little disheartened but he nodded, "Okay, I'll leave you alone to."

Blue Eyes waited until Alex had turned off the solar lantern and settled back into his sleeping bag before he lay down, wrapped himself tight in the blanket, and hesitantly closed his eyes, hoping that Alex would keep his word.