Enclosure

My dark fur was whirling in the wind as I crossed the streets of the big city. The buildings hung over me as l glanced back behind the large muscles caving over my back. They were coming for me, I should have never freed the others from the soul draining complex what the homo sapiens call a zoo, I should’ve just let things be the way they are. If I take just once glance behind me this perception of me spread out on a hard wooden death bed approaches my mind like a tornado souring through a family home.

“GET BACK HERE NOW!” The officer yelled bringing his uvula into flight as the vibrations made it propel like my aunt swinging on a tree. His posture stood tall with his head up high, even though you can see clearly into his wrinkled eyes that fear is taking control over his physique. He won’t let others see his weak, fragile side underneath his titanium barrier hiding what others may think is a major flaw. The belly of the officer hung over his belt smiling at the ground. Isn’t he supposed to be fit and healthy to keep everyone safe? Well, some objects are just not where they are supposed to be, in the wrong place, during the wrong time, with the wrong peers, obviously.

Memories flooded my consciousness while I simultaneously remember the day I was born, as I run, I picture past moments, memories, it’s a coping mechanism. If you escape reality the present pain doesn’t dig into your heart very deep, as deep as it could do. The image of the warmth of my mother’s body hugged me. It was the only place that I’ve ever felt like I was truly home. I tried to grip onto that memory as long as I could and prolong the positive sensations fuelling my body to inspire me to keep running as fatigue was taking over my body, but the battle of bleak and fatalistic thoughts took over as if I didn’t have control of my own mind. The grip of the keeper’s hand invaded my mind as his rubber coated hands dug into the soft, thick skin of my stomach, making an imprint to last, the realization occupied my mind while I discovered that this was the moment, I knew life would be inadequate, and it has been ever since. I needed her; I needed my mother. The jealousy infuriates inside of me as the others get that comforting and reassuring feeling of their mothers and companions to always be around. Just because I don’t look like them doesn’t mean I am not equal to them. I get treated differently, wrongly, as I spend my days like the bottom of the kelvin scale, at my happiness levels at absolute zero.

The officer is still chasing me, barely keeping up with my powerful gallop. Perspiration covers his large body as he tries to keep his homo sapiens safe. The idea of being a conquering hero feeds his hungry soul as the image of me in cage is indented in his imagination. My two front legs implanted into the hard chemical surface which they made, with my behind legs following, replacing the front ones. The others, my acquaintances following me. All different kinds of us, ‘others’ referring to ones who look different, have different features to the homo sapiens. Some of us have long tails, or large ears or even a nozzle that touches the floor as they walk. My heart was thumping da doom, da doom to the beat of my footsteps quickly changing places to gain the greatest amount of distance possible infront of the officer. I could feel them beginning to become un-synced like a piercing song. I perceived a sense of a specific body’s eyes watching me. I turned my head slightly to left and locked eyes with a human being. Her eyes sparkled like a night’s sky, with her eyebrows caved inwards and her posture lacking control of her confidence. Her eyes had liquid running down the cracks of her cheekbones combining with liquid running out of her nozzle.

Back at the enclosure when a human that is small that has liquid running down their smooth face from not getting the snack they wanted or their little sister getting to hold their mother’s hand and not them, I want to help them. I raise my hand up to the clear, scratched, surface that separates and tears us animals apart. Their hand is always smaller than mine and contains less fur. They have such clean and hygienic hands as if they are afraid of every single microorganism that can hurt them. They are so similar in appearance yet so different. As they look at my hand it always brings about a smile. Their smiles contain such cute and small teeth compared to mine with contain much larger canines. They are afraid if I smile, just like they do, so I tend to just give a nod to show my interest in them. I’m a herbivore and they are omnivores yet they are scared of me, they eat meat I do not. Shouldn’t be the other way around? I always think if I can spread happiness to them, they just might do the civil, veracious deed to release my companionless soul.

The officer, still up my back but soon beginning to slow down. His breath nearly mirrored my footsteps, with not enough oxygen supplied to his muscles and too much carbon dioxide filling them with his heart beating as fast as it ever as. He began to slow down, it was not his choice it was his body forcing him to, to try and protect him from injury. Your body will try and do anything to survive even if it means letting go of what’s going to make you happy. His hands rested on his knees for one second, two seconds and on the third second his hand made its way down to his belt to grab a weapon. I had no idea the officer had stopped so I kept running imagining past scenarios in my head, ones that want to make me run from the homo sapiens and distract me from the reality that I cannot stand anymore. An arrow zoomed past my nozzle as the wind cascaded into my eyes. Blood dripped down the black fur on my neck. At this point I couldn’t even feel my heart, is it because I couldn’t hear it? My ear placed on the floor as my only right was taken away from me. I cannot speak, hear, or act against what I deserve, I am nothing, stolen from the life I want to live, unobtrusive is who I am. I feel nothing, I hear nothing, I can do, nothing. I am still standing and my mind wonders… what did I ever do to hurt them? I help them and show nothing more than kindness and respect. My consciousness drifts back to when a little homo sapien fell into my enclosure.

I watched as the tiny human places their soft claws onto section two of my enclosure. This section had deep walls where I lay meters down so no one can interact with me. He lifted his leg as his parents were distracted by the site of food in a structure on wheels. His feet stood over the barricade and now the only thing separating him, and I was the fall. We locked eyes as he turned his head towards his mother who was still distracted. I heard him call out towards her but the only thing I could understand is what they tend to call me.

“Gorilla!” Her hair separated and flung outwards to discover the sight of her child on the boundary wall, she ran. The little human turned back around with only the intention to take on last glance at me before he reaches the warmth of his mother’s arms. But the rubber covering and enclosing his foot like me in this enclosure slipped like life suddenly ending, a gunshot to a heart, over the edge causing the wind to press upwards on him as gravity pulled him towards my soul. I sprinted across and predicted where he was going to land to try and break his fall. And it worked, his body dug into the soft, thick skin of my stomach making an imprint to last. Flashbacks utilized my brain of when the keepers took me away, I froze. My conscious thought had drifted off to a whole different situation and the fact that he was lying on me didn’t trigger an action potential towards my brain. My brain didn’t respond, not even my reflexes, I took it as a sign from the universe that I was in no harm.

The human is terrified because of me as I am terrified of him. The stares of the homo sapiens are so powerful that the light waves dived so deep into my vision that I look away from him. They think I am a predator towards him, they are worried that I will harm them, they look at me like I’m a monster, they think I’m a beast. Where did they get this idea from? I don’t even consume meat. All the things the homo sapiens have done to me I will not act badly upon, instead I will help the mammal as I am one too. We are equal and I will respect that, they might not and that’s ok. His dark brown eyes with a cream sword like characteristic met my dark brown eyes with a black ring surrounding my iris. His neck muscles pulled on one side causing his ear to become closer to his shoulder as he sat on me. We are both still for a few moments in sync. I think he realizes that I have protected him, that I would never do anything thing to hurt him. A few seconds passed by, and the connection grew. His smooth hand about half the size of mine was now on my chest as his touch receptors and ears tuned into the beating of my heart. He let out a sound

“Jeremy…” Is what I think it was. But before I could respond a sharp dart like structure entered my frontal lobe of my brain. My head hit the floor.

My head hit the floor. The officer had shot my ear off as me as I just released a lot of us from the enclosures. I gained my consciousness back and woke up to my exhausted body lying on the smoothest leather seats. By far the nicest fabric I have ever physically touched. I look around, I seem to be in a moving vehicle. I reach my fingers to my smooth side of my left head where my ear is missing. A bandage covers the damage, with my right ear still in heathy condition. I glance out of the clear surface as the vehicle is moving and the most beautiful sight occupies my vision. A sense of peace enters my body and I feel safe for the second time in my life. Trees cover each square inch of land and the colours of sunlight radiate off the green leaves into the never ending far distance. I slowly turn my head forwards and I see a human who is driving the vehicle, he looks familiar, but I don’t think I know him. We come to a stop. He walks with me to a log in the middle of the forest. We sit, I stare deeply into his eyes and notice his dark brown eyes with a cream sword like characteristic look back at me. I know those eyes, I know him, he has saved me, he is my hero.