Taken From Home

I caught the tree branch in my padded black hand, using my newfound strength to propel my body towards the sky. Swiftly latching onto the next branch of the overhead canopy's, I rolled in the air to leave myself dangling from only my tail. This left my hands free to swat at the juicy fruit hanging nearby. Just as my fingers were so nearly touching the prize, my best friend Miki flew past me in one giant leap, snatching the fruit from in front of my eyes and disappearing into the foliage. Despite being the same age, he was larger, faster and stronger than me in everything we did together. We had both just recently passed the one year mark, and our Mothers allowed us a certain amount of freedom in the forest together. Consequently, we spent our juvenile days foolishly chasing each other, leaping from great heights and bouncing from tree to tree, competing to find the very best fruit and seeds. We spent hours on the alluring forest floor, desperately attempting to copy our older group members in their remarkable skill of cracking nuts on the rocks we found around us. We were never quite able to replicate this talent, but we had such entertaining times trying. Sometimes we would play fight and wrestle boisterously amongst the bushes; Miki always winning, until our energy would waver and we would rest together, enjoying the paradise around us.

Despite pushing the boundaries of what our Mothers would deem acceptable behaviour, there were certain rules that we followed as the law, for we had been told of the deadly consequences. The elders and highest ranking males and females of the group strictly forbid us from venturing towards the new coastal resorts near to our Atlantic Forest. The recent gigantic development on the coast that we had forever called home had happened before I was born, but the elders had terrifying tales and memories of the human folk. We would never know why the humans decided to take this land from us, but the structures they built were hideous and seemingly pointless, taking up vast amounts of our space. No longer were there the endless trees and canopy's and swamps that our ancestors had enjoyed; we were confined to a much smaller sparse homestead. Always we had to mournfully look out upon the human destruction of our paradise.

Later that afternoon, Miki decided to entice me into a game of chase. Although my lazy brain wanted to wait with the group and be groomed, I could not resist. He took off at speed and I saw a flash of his ginger tail as he disappeared into the trees. I followed dutifully, all of my senses coming alive as I followed his shrieks and calls to play. The smell of the fruit in the trees above my head were nearly enough to tempt me away, but I darted after him, picking up speed as I negotiated between my hands and my tail; throwing me faster and faster through the forest. This time I would catch him and I would prove to him how capable I was.

I followed his calls for a while, not yet catching sight of my friend. Then my ears picked up on the change in sound, and I tilted my head in bewilderment as I halted on a branch. Miki's calls seemed to be getting further away. I looked around hurriedly, annoyed at myself for losing once again. I let out a hoot and waited impatiently for his call in return. There was no answer from my friend, just the vibrant sounds of the rainforest around me. The birds darting from the trees and then off into the vast sky, and the hum and vibrations of the lower forest levels of small beasts and insects living unknown lives.

I decided to head back in the direction I had come, hoping to catch a sight of the slightly larger capuchin and be mocked for losing face yet again. My brows furrowed in annoyance, I took my time heading back, not ready for the domineering mockery from Miki. I headed towards the forest floor, expecting to come across him lazily picking at plants just off the ground.

With an explosion of noise and frantic energy, a golden blur shot out from a nearby cluster of bushes and leaves. My muscles tensed and readied my body to take chase, before I noticed the size and familiar shape of the creature. My mother! She let out a quick succession of high pitched warning screams as she leapt into the air with her arms reaching out, heading for the nearest branch to lift herself back up to the trees. The world blurred and slowed to an almost complete stop as her leap took a decline and her body fell just short of the branches. I noticed the deep red smears across her shiny golden coat as I stared at her transfixed and puzzled.

As I was trying to comprehend the meaning of this strange situation, I heard the familiar terrors of humans approaching. Heavy footsteps as they came hurtling towards us on their clumsy two feet, deep shouts back and to. A group of men screaming in their foreign tongue. This could only mean trouble. I watched as my Mother lay still on the lively canopy. I listened for her calls to me, but they never came. The sounds of man drew closer still, yet I could not look away from the lifeless body of my Mother. Then, the world around me grew unnaturally small. I tried to leap backwards to reassure myself of reality, but I fell against a strange contraption. I appeared to be caught in a bizarre nest made of something I had never felt before. How I had got myself stuck in this thing was a puzzle to me. There was surely a way out so I thrashed and twirled and became only more trapped. Then a sharp pain in my lower back taught me that I had somehow injured myself in the fight against this new part of the rainforest. I pushed against the net with arms that grew heavier by the second. The brilliant greens and browns of my rainforest home blurred into one giant lake of life. I tried to scream a final fruitless warning to my Mother but my mouth was numb and made no sound, or my ears were not working and I couldn't hear my own desperation.

I realised that this was the moment the elders had all warned us of. Those rumours that our kind were being hunted for food and youngsters were being taken from the safety of their family's for reasons we would never know.

My eyelids drooped as I wondered why I had been chosen for death when in all the story's we knew, the young were taken far far away. In my nonsensical drowsy state, I remembered a time when my brother Toko had become sufficiently independent and left our group for good. I had never seen him again but I knew he had found happiness, for he was strong and wilful and would likely have children of his own by now. Reassured by this, I took several deep breaths and readied my mind for that same wonderful future for myself.

I awoke some time after. Slowly, I became shocked at the presence of my limbs and my slow beating heart and my working mind. Life still held me. My head rested awkwardly against a hard surface and my legs touched the opposite side of the very same shape. The smell of a damp wet animal covering the cold box jolted my senses. My eyes shot open to complete darkness, before rolling back into my head and once again offering me to death.

For the second time in my short memory, I awoke abruptly. This time to a bright light that my eyes refused to open fully for. The smell of faeces and chemicals was overpowering and my empty stomach rolled upon itself, threatening to release the contents that were not there. I was prodded suddenly in the side of my body and my ears became quickly aware to the sounds of human men grunting to one another. My mouth was too dry to scream at them and scare them away. So I lay there like a plant on the rainforest floor and I existed alongside all the noises of this strange new world. The human smells were overpowering and their language was extensive but made little sense. They spoke of a human man called America; seemingly their dominant elder as their voices cooed with respect and awe. My barely operational mind assured me that he must be a great and important leader challenged by no one. The rocking motion of whatever beast was carrying us away from my natural home lulled me to sleep as I waited to meet this great human man.

After many hours of prodding and rolling my aching body, the monsters had left me alone and I slowly recovered. Before long I realised I was being held in the arms of a foul smelling human. Too scared to open my eyes and discover what strange new fate beheld me, I lay there like a rock and hoped they would assume me dead. I was painstakingly caressed for almost an eternity as what sounded like a crowd of humans spoke in low, purring voices and carried me like the new born infant monkey that I was not. I was highly affronted by this, yet too tired and sore to warn them away.

With an overwhelming feeling of dread and resignation, I opened my weary eyes and took in the scene around me. Four bright white faces peered down at me, showing pearly sharp teeth that promised attack in soothing voices. I realised that the lower half of my body was wrapped in a bundle of white plastic material, ensuring that I couldn't do as nature commanded for the man-made trap would capture everything that left my body. What strange logic this was to take away everything natural and coat it in artificial wrappings to deny what Mother Nature had gifted us.

The humans conversed in their mysterious tongue whilst not once removing their eyes from my terrified face, repeating the same word over and over like some kind of tribal chant. Family. Family. Family. Sure that this had been given as my new name, I realised that yes I had been taken. Our elders were perpetually correct and I would forever be told as a warning story to all the young blond capuchins that would come after me. I came to learn that my other name was Pet Monkey, for they held me up to many a new face and proudly presented me under this false human name. I was no longer me, and my world was not sane. A new commodity to man made life was what I became. A life of unsettling unease and unnatural attacks on every sense I possessed. Peeling my eyes from the glowing box that painted strange images and shouted obscenities, I closed my eyes and smelt the rainforest, felt my Mothers touch and tried to forget my new name.