A woman stands upon a rocky hill, tendrils of scarlet wild in the wind. She holds a hand out, yet it is never taken, for the one she waits for on the other side will never reach her. "How long have you been waiting?" asks a husky voice, wise and ancient. The woman turns to the source, looking upon the chimpanzee's sage-green eyes. She shakes her head ever so softly. He asks again, "How long are you willing to wait?"
"Until the last of my kind disappears and I am left behind as only a wink within this universe."
"You are more than just skin and bones," he says, coming to stand at her side. The sun is stretching across the earth, blood-soaked and yet thriving. So many have died.
"I was a mere notch in this massive tree that is our kind," she reflects. "I am nothing more than a breath to them, a pause, a beat in the natural rhythm." She lowers her hand. "Perhaps he has forgotten me. Perhaps they all have."
The wise simian nodded his broad head. "Those who are gentle are remembered with compassion and love," he regards, turning his attention back to the woman at his side. "Their memory lives on in peaceful silence. It is sad, but true." He watches as her face tilts in his direction. "Those who are greedy and search only to sate their own satisfaction for power, to reach their goals through treachery are remembered through fables and tales, serving as role-models for the damned, as life-lessons for the broken and lost." His soulful eyes studied her inquisitive expression. "But those who were brave... They truly live, and proceed to, even after death. All are remembered alike, some for their kindness, some for their blood-thirst, and some for their gallantry."
"Do you believe that he will come, Caesar?"
"He will, Alice. Be patient," the ape reassured. "He is lost and must find his way to you."
Alice stirs, eyes of alexandrite distant yet worried. "Did he suffer?"
"For some time, yes." The apparition raises a hand that enveloped one of her slender shoulders. Ripples of heat quivered within the air, much like a mirage rising over the desert hillside. An inky frame staggered forward as it broke through the barrier, knees colliding with the hot sand beneath as the new arrival fell. He clutches his head, desperate to understand, feeling for his throat once cut clean. Alice and Caesar marvelled at the ape before them.
The rosette had been waiting for somebody, but she hadn't been expecting him. Crouching, her gentle hands cup either sides of the animal's powerful jaw, gazing deep into marbled depths. Her heart breaks. "Pine?"
The bonobo-cross gapes, vision seemingly repaired and woundless; in this realm, he appears untouched by the cruelty of the other side. He was a handsome male at one time.
Trembling hands grace to clutch at her wrists and he signs with one free hand. 'Mother?'
YOU ARE READING
Not Like You (The Simian Forest Saga: Vol. I)
Adventure"The rain grew colder, the canopy enamoured and blushing even deeper shades of auburn and gold. The tension was growing and the entirety of the large ape colony knew that it would snap at a moment's notice. They were all waiting-- waiting for someth...
