Haley sat in the darkness of her room with her knees pulled tightly against her chest and duvets wrapped around her twelve-year-old body like a cocoon. The thick material covered her in a suffocating heat, sweaty hair sticking to her forehead in noodle-like ropes of blonde locks, but she didn't budge to escape the warmth – she sat there, unmoving, like a statue.
It's been a week since apes from every resort, zoo, company, and cage stampeded through the city and to the forest in calculated groups, and Haley hasn't left her room since; in a way, she couldn't have, even if she wanted to. She barely had the chance to glimpse at the apes in the trees through the bars on her balcony and barely reached the front door in her rush to slip outside the house before her father acted and barricaded the exit with his own body. Since then, he kept the windows locked and made sure to take precautions on the front door, making it impossible for her to open it, even from the inside. In return, she refused to leave her room, acting like the child she was. Maybe, she wondered, if her mother was there, the woman would have understood and allowed Haley to go see her only friend, but she wasn't; her mother had her own, new family to take care of and cuddle after the scare on the Golden Gate Bridge. Even when Haley's father announced that he had to leave to go fly another bunch of people to some foreign land, she didn't move, nor graced him with a goodbye, or anything else.
Therefore, Haley gazed out of the glass doors to her balcony with lament eyes, and through a single gap in between the security bars and the decorative holes of the railing, she could see her father placing his suitcases in the trunk of his car.
"Haley?" Alice called carefully, poking her head into the room, "The babysitter is here."
Haley didn't say anything; she kept silent as she watched her father drive away in the tiny glimpses she was able to see, almost like the apes she had seen swinging through the trees a week ago, before helicopters and hunts were sent after them. Haley couldn't be sure if Caesar was still alive, but she had hope.
"Haley?" Her twin tried again, but interrupted herself with a sudden, nasty sneeze, finally compelling her sister to glance at her with worry. "I think I caught what dad has." She explained and chuckled sheepishly at Haley, but only to see her look away again, resting her cheek back on her knee, "Well… alright then. Sorry for bothering you."
Hearing the door close next to her, Haley sighed, her heart weighing even heavier with guilt, but she didn't call after her sister. Instead, she finally wormed out of her nest of blankets and slid her feet onto the floor beside her bed, the cool surface pleasantly tickling the bare soles like the cool air did the rest of her skin. With a slight wobble in her step thanks to refusing to eat a few times, she shuffled over to her desk and begun to search through her drawers and piles of picture books. It took her at least ten minutes to find what she was looking for and before a loud rip sounded across her bedroom. Using the tape she borrowed from her sister's room a few years ago, she stuck the picture to her wall, grateful that her father won't be there for a while to see it, get mad, and rip it off.
And so, she climbed back onto her bed and stood on top of it, swaying slightly on the springs inside of the mattress, and used her new height to jump to the ceiling with a small growl. With hands more desperate than ever, she grasped the wooden joist in the roof tightly, pulling her tiny body up and letting herself back down a few times before she swung to the next one, forcing her young arms to keep moving. "Use your shoulders, kick your legs, swing forward, and let go." She chanted like so many times before, all the while glancing towards the picture of the chimpanzee on her wall, as if hoping he will suddenly turn into Caesar and tell her if she's doing it correctly or not.
Maybe one day she will meet her friend again? In the many days following, where she repeated this taxing routine, she still wondered the same thing, again and again, fruitlessly.
Aaaaaand voila! Hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to like, follow, and/or review! You guys and your reviews are what make my day, after all - no joke. ^^