Kim Pov
A promise has many meanings but they are all the same.
It happened before I was born, my mother was a veterinarian and my father was a science teacher at the College of Marin, they saved two little chimpanzees from a laboratory in San Francisco where they experimented with them, due to a problem with a chimpanzee that attacked the Instead, my uncle Andrei boss, Steven Jacobs, ordered the chimpanzees keeper sacrifice all the test subjects. My uncle was one of the scientists of that place and he was afraid for the life of two small chimpanzees that were born there and took care of them, he could not allow them to be killed. My uncle called my parents and the three managed to save them in time.
My parents took care of them, especially my mother since she was born in Africa and my grandmother and my great grandparents were primatologists.
Over time, they grew fond of them and decided to keep them and so that the chimpanzees could have freedom and so many trees to play, they moved to the outskirts of Marin City
They called them Milo and Lisa, but for me they were Papa Milo and Mama Lisa.
Over time, my parents and older brothers James and Alex noticed that Lisa and Milo were too smart, more than normal, in addition to their eyes were green. Thanks to my uncle, they discovered that all the apes in that lab were used in experiments to find a cure for Alzheimer's, but as a side effect the eyes become green and very smart.
Knowing the truth, my family did not care, but knowing that they were not normal apes, my parents decided that the best way to communicate was through sign language, first my parents and siblings learned that language and then taught Lisa and Milo.
A year later I was born, Milo and Lisa were the ones who took care of me, while my brothers ignored me because they wanted a brother and not a sister. They took care of me, they taught me how to walk, eat, climb trees, speak sign language and many things.
When they turned 8 years old, Milo and Lisa had twin brothers, they were called Tarzan and Flynt and two years later their third son was born and they called him Akut, the three of them inherited the intelligence of their parents, so we had to be careful not to expose them to people like them. They would be scared or worse.
My mother taught us to speak Swahili, sang songs with that language, stories, creatures that live in Africa and her childhood before moving to the United States, taught us to use the bow that my great-grandfather built and the arrow, although the expert in that weapon was Papa Milo. My father taught us to hunt, explore, medicine and even natural medicines and to cultivate.
My family on my father's side was military, except for the family of my paternal grandmother who were farmers, my grandfather and another brother of my father are military men who consider that my father and my uncle Andrei were black sheep because they did not want to continue their steps. I only saw them three times in my life, they were not friendly visits, they know the existence of Papa Milo, Mama Lisa and their children, but they never saw them in person, since my uncle and my grandfather hate animals, luckily they never knew where we lived.
I was very happy, my friends showed their dogs and cats, but they felt envious of my apes, but they were not pets ... they were my family.
We were very happy, we had everything we could wish for ... but ... one day everything changed.
In 2011, when I was five years old, we saw on the news how a group of Apes attacked the city of San Francisco to cross the Golden Gate Bridge and reach the forest terrorizing humans, my family and I were worried because we knew that these apes they were not normal, they were very intelligent since they managed to escape from the police and cross the bridge into the forest ... those apes were test subjects of the GEN-SYS laboratory, the same laboratory where Mama Lisa and Papá Milo were born.
Flynt was surprised by what the apes did, especially the leader, he wanted to go meet him, but Mama Lisa forbade it, she forbade us all to talk about it and the forest where those apes are, she said that what they did it could bring serious consequences for all the apes in the world, she was very scared.
Unfortunately, Mama Lisa was right, but not for the apes ... the consequences came to the world.
Days after that news, a horrible disease that spread throughout the world and killed many people and then revealed the origin of the virus: GEN-SYS, and the virus was called Simian Flu
While the humans died, the apes began to become intelligent thanks to the virus, but unfortunately they ended up being sacrificed, the humans went crazy because of the fear that started attacking each other also for fear of being infected.
There I saw the nature of the people, I understood them because they were desperate, but to kill creatures that are the real victims ... it was too cruel.
The last time I went to the city, the teachers denied us entrance to the school, they said that until further notice that the classes would be suspended, the father of a classmate told me that many had fallen ill, among them my friends. James spent days trying to communicate with his girlfriend, but learned that she was a victim of the disease and Alex learned that some of his teachers and friends are dead. The city was chaotic, that was the last time we went there.
The days turned into weeks and weeks into months and everything got worse, my mother said we were safe because we lived outside of civilization, so the virus never reached us, they tried to contact my uncle Andrei, who was helping other scientists to find the cure but after weeks we could not communicate with him, my father went to San Francisco to look for him and take him home, that was the last time I saw him.
A year after my father left, my brother James began to have symptoms and soon after my mother, Mama Lisa and Papa Milo locked me up with Alex in a room so that we would not get sick, they tried to cure them, but they realized that they could not do anything, my mother and James died while they slept. We buried them in front of a blooming tree, the favorite tree of Mama Lisa and my mother.
Alex started taking care of me, but not only him, also Mama Lisa and Papa Milo, since both were in charge of the family, but thanks to my father's teachings, we were all in charge of growing our food and, if It was necessary, we also hunted.
A year after the death of my mother and James, our family grew back with the birth of my little sister, Ari. Surprisingly, she was born with violet eyes, one of the least common eye tones in the world, since we were born, we both became inseparable.
Mama Lisa and Papa Milo feared that my grandfather and my uncle J. Wesley McCullough survived and that they came for Alex and me and then they would kill them together with their children just because they were apes, we lived in fear. We knew that the apes and humans would not understand our family and would do anything to separate us and we could not allow it, we were a family and the family had to be united.
But despite the fear that we lived and enjoyed every day, Mama Lisa always hummed my mother's song, but I sang it to Ari to sleep.
We lived like this for almost three years, until one night the misfortune returned to our lives.
One night, while sleeping with Alex, a group of apes came to our house with guns and shotguns, the chimpanzees were surprised to live there, my brother and I woke up because of the noise and went to see what happened, the apes saw us and the leader, an ape full of scars, as if he had been crushed or was a laboratory subject, he saw us with hatred, he asked Papa Milo for us and he answered that we are his children. That angered the apes.
Papa Milo, Mama Lisa tried to calm them, Tarzan, Flynt and Akut tried to help them, but the apes did not care and they started shooting at us all. I saw how Mother Lisa fell to the ground with her bleeding head, I wanted to go help, but Alex stopped me, took me out of the back of the house and told me to hide in the forest, which would then reach me.
I hid in the trees, I was so scared, I was afraid for my family and I prayed that they would be well and that they would come to look for me. I heard the shots and the screams ... until at some point they stopped listening.
I was slowly approaching the house, although I wanted something inside of me. I heard a noise and it terrified me until I saw my brother with Ari in his arms.
"ALEX!" I screamed in terror as I ran towards him.
Alex approached me and the three of us fell on the dry leaves, my brother breathed with difficulty as he placed Ari, who was scared, and when he saw me, he hugged me.
"Are you all right? Where are Papa Milo, Mama Lisa, Akut and the others?" I ask desperately while I watch with my eyes
"Calm, calm the two ... everything is fine". Alex whispers something weak, he checks his hip and I saw that he was bleeding but he quickly hides his wound.
"It hurt?"
"I'm fine, calm down." Alex smiles and looks at Ari who was still shaking. "Poor Little girl, she lost her parents and siblings... She saw them die."
I started crying as soon as I heard that, Papa Milo and Mama Lisa along with Tarzan, Flynt and Akut were gone, I knew that my brother would also die, but no matter how much I tried to deny it, I could not. My brother tried to calm me, although it was almost impossible.
"She now has you." Alex caresses my cheek. "Promise me you'll find a place where you and Ari can be safe."
"I promise."
"And if Ari comes to hate her kind, make her forgive them, humans were the cause of the suffering of the apes with so many experiments, hunting and ... capturing them and separating them from their families ... promise me that Ari never lives with hate in her heart. " Alex weakened each time. "Do not let any human and ape separate you from Ari, and let no human find you two, especially our uncle and our grandfather, since they will kill Ari as soon as they see her, do not let them find you."
"I promise." crying.
Alex hugs me hard and kisses me on the forehead, also embraces Ari who clung to us.
Imba wimbo
Wa upepo
Wakati unajua na
Imba wimbo
Wa upepo
Wakati ndoto tamu
Lala mpaka usiku isha
Upepo wa usiku
Wimbo wako na
Wimbo wangu inaendelea
Upepo wa usiku
Wimbo wako na
Imba wimbo
Wa upepo
Wakati unajua na
I stopped singing when I realized that Alex was no longer singing, I shook him a little, but he did not wake up, he was dead.
The next day we returned to the house, took my brother to drag, the house was a disaster, the windows broken, many furniture destroyed and there was no food. We found the bodies of Mama Lisa, Papa Milo and their children in the room, the other apes had already left.
We both buried them next to the grave of my mother and James, we prayed some prayers and we collected what remains and remains intact from the house: photos, clothes and even grab the clothes of my brothers and my mother, the hairbrush and my favorite doll , I put everything in a backpack. Ari found the bow and arrow of my great-grandfather, Papa Milo taught her to use it despite the negativity of Mama Lisa, grab the bow and wait with arrows. We both could not continue in that house, not after what happened last night, Ari and I returned to see the house for the last time and then we went wherever they were away from humans.
During the trip we found abandoned houses and villages and spent little time there to rest, eat and learn something of what the world was like before, I almost do not remember what civilization was like before. We find guns in the houses, we may not like both, but we keep them to use them if necessary, although we hope it never happens.
After a while, Ari started talking slowly, I do not deny that she was scared, but she was very happy, I taught her how to say the words correctly and over time she began to speak well without stuttering and making efforts, we only used the language of signs only for emergency.
I always talk to Ari about her parents and siblings, I talk to her about the whole family so she will not forget them, not even those she never met.
Over time, Ari began to feel a hatred towards apes, she knows what happened years ago in San Francisco and believes that they are to blame for the death of our family. I try Ari to see that it is not true but it is difficult, my sister's hatred is immense.
Humans and apes killed our family, but I only blame the humans because they are responsible for everything, but I do not hate them, but I am afraid of them, especially my uncle ... I just hope that Ari understands and stops having hatred, I promised my brother and I will fulfill it somehow.
The song is in Swahili language, it speaks scenes where my characters will speak that language but do not worry I will translate it. The scene of Alex's death is a bit based on the movie Mighty Joe Young, one of the best movies I recommend.
I hope you like this story
Bye