Chapter 7:
The wind lightly blew into a cave and brushed against a meerkat sleeping in a tangled nest of vines. The meerkat seemed to be not sleeping well, given his facial expression. His eyebrows were creased, showing that whatever he was dreaming wasn't pleasant. With a start he woke up, breath catching in his chest. He then rubbed his face with a paw, trying to wipe the reminder of sleep from his mind.
"Why me? Why every night?" he mumbled.
He then pulled himself from his nest of vines and stretched. He was a member of a meerkat colony that took residence inside a sort of cave, so light was a rarity at night. There were one or two skylights, so he could see the position of the moon, which was high overhead. He grimaced, seeing the night would stick around for quite a few more hours. He looked around to see if anyone nearby was still awake, for insomnia or otherwise. But the meerkats he could see were sleeping soundly. One or two snored, and there was an occasional word or two mumbled. He sighed and scurried up an old root up to one of the skylights.
"I remember when I could sleep all through the night, when I understood things better. Those were happier times." The meerkat climbed out of the skylight and sat at the edge. He let his feet dangle over the edge of the skylight, at first looking down from where he came from, and then he looked up at the stars and moon.
He closed his eyes as he felt the wind brush past him, ruffling his dark hair. "Those were the days." The meerkat sighed as he rubbed his eyes, "What I wouldn't give for a full night's sleep."
"Hey, Sly. What's with all the serious muttering to yourself?" a perky female voice behind the male asked.
The male, Sly, open his eyes and rolled them slightly. "What are you doing up, Yasmin?"
"I couldn't sleep. What about you?" the pretty female asked with a smile as she sat down next to Sly.
"Old dreams," Sly replied with a yawn.
Yasmin frowned a little as she put a little flower in her hair. "Those dreams?"
"Those dreams."
"I would've figured after three years of being apart and knowing me, you'd forget about her."
"I could never forget her," Sly said as he hiked his leg up and rested his elbow on it.
"What if she forg--?"
Sly growled softly, "Don't you dare say that, Yasmin. She said so herself she could never forget me."
"Grouchy, aren't you?" Yasmin smiled sweetly.
"Don't change the subject."
"Well, I was just saying you'd wanna forget everything about your old colony. Besides this Zuri you knew, there isn't anything or anyone there worth mentioning anymore, right? When you were banished, your father got angry with Shomari and left the colony to find you, and when that happened your mother died of a broken heart."
Sly bowed his head slightly. "Thanks for reminding me."
"You're welcome," Yasmin smiled again, not catching onto his sarcasm.
"And for the record, I don't just dream about that day. I have these other dreams... that make me feel like I should be somewhere else. That when I left I was suppose to go there, but then my father found me and took me where he thought we should be going."
"And then you found the colony."
"Yeah..."
"But you don't sound too happy about it." She leaned against him. "Come on, Sly. I thought you liked me."
"I do, it's just--"
"I mean like-like. Don't you?"
"Well--"
"Mm, if you don't, we can always find better surroundings. It's a beautiful moon out tonight, and the light could be better somewhere other than here."
"Actually, Yasmin, I'm pretty comfortable here. I would like some time alone to think."
"Aww, can't I help you think?"
Sly smiled politely as he pushed Yasmin from him. "No, I can do fine on my own, thank you."
Yasmin frowned and got up. "All right, Mr. Mary Sunshine, if you want to waste a perfectly good moonlight, then we have nothing to talk about tonight. See you in the morning. Good night."
"Night." He watched her walk away, and then he looked back upward at the moon, going back to his previous thoughts. "Someday... maybe we could start again."
To be continued...