Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay again lol! Being busy with work and having a bit of writer's block. Enjoy and please review xxx
Chapter 30 – Long Lost Family:
With a heart pounding like a war-drum, Annabelle raced across the drawbridge as fast as her legs could carry her and entered the jungle. Soon enough she was swinging on vines and surfing on branches, her long brown hair whipping behind her like a cloud as she hurried through the dense foliage.
The real fear of her beloved mother possibly dying in childbirth, or her baby brother or sister or even both relentlessly toyed with the young girl's mind. With such negative thoughts torturing her brain a fog of anxiety swept over it and Annabelle quickly began to lose concentration. Instead of surfing branches like oil over water she kept stumbling, tripping up, leaves scratching her arms and almost hitting her head on several overhanging branches.
"Woah!" Annabelle cried as she suddenly realised that she was going down a branch far too fast which abruptly ended over a small gully! Quick as a flash she dug in her heels and managed to screech to a halt just in time! She was literally a hair's breadth away from a nasty tumble into the gully and suffering a broken leg or arm!
"Boy that was close!" Annabelle blew out a large sigh of relief. She then closed her eyes and took in a long, deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Remember what Papa said," she told herself firmly, "A nervous and unfocused mind results in a bruised behind!" After a couple more deep, long breaths Annabelle felt her mind start to refocus and her heartbeat slow down to a more regular pace.
She was on her way again, albeit a lot calmer and filled with a strong determination to find her family. She decided to head to the old campsite first to find her grandfather as she concluded that he was the most important person to find. After all he did helped her mother deliver her so he was definitely needed to deliver her sibling. Then she would find her father and grandmother and hope that they would arrive in time to help with the birth.
"Grandpa!" Annabelle cried as she arrived in the old campsite. The place was all higgledy-piggledy due to Archimedes' tendency to be rather scatter-brained. Archimedes was a regular at the campsite where he liked to study and perform experiments and in normal circumstances Annabelle loved being his lab partner.
GRANDPA!" Annabelle yelled as her eyes desperately scanned the campsite only to see that her grandfather was not there! "Hell's bells and buckets of blood!" she cursed to herself and kicked the sandy ground. "Why today of all days do people have to be in different places to where they say they will be!"
Annabelle looked around for clues as to where her grandfather might be. The chemistry set was out but had not been used so Annabelle deemed that he must be out searching for some specific flora or fauna. She turned her head and noticed footprints, her grandfather's small footprints alongside three sets of elephant tracks. She remembered that Uncle Tantor with him and as there were two more sets Jalika and Dembe must be with them too.
The footprints went down a dirt track heading east and Annabelle followed them whilst calling out for her grandfather. "Grandpa!" Annabelle cried in delight when she finally spotted him, just off the path with Tantor, Jalika and Dembe. He was standing with one foot on both Tantor and Jalika's trunks as they held him up high and he was holding a large net.
"Hello Anna!" Dembe looked up and smiled at her, "We're helping the Professor catch butterflies!"
"Sshhhh!" Jalika hushed him and said quietly to Annabelle, "we are trying to catch the elusive purple and gold breasted emperor butterfly."
"Crested darling, purple and gold crested emperor butterfly," Tantor corrected her and Jalika rolled her eyes in mock exasperation.
"Grandpa!"
"Almost there," Archimedes whispered intrepidly as he quietly edged the butterfly net closer to his unsuspecting prey, ready to trap it for his studies. "Easy Tantor, easy Jalika."
"GRANDPA!" Annabelle snapped, desperate to get his attention and the butterfly hurriedly fluttered off much to Archimedes' despair.
"Anna!" he started to tell her off but stopped in his tracks when he saw the sheer panic in his beloved granddaughter's eyes. "Anna sweetheart! What's wrong?"
"Mama's having the baby!" Annabelle blurted out the news as if it was a secret that she had been holding in for a long time.
"Now?! But she not due for another week or so!"
"Well she's having it! Her waters have broken and she told me to get you, Papa and Grandma!"
"Professor I'll take you to the treehouse," Jalika calmly stepped into the chaos. "Tantor you go with Anna to find Tarzan and Kala. You know where they are?"
"Yes by the old mango trees south of the river," Tantor nodded, "they decided to nest there this morning. It's not too far from here."
"Right that's sorted then," Jalika nodded as she carefully placed Archimedes on her back, "be as quick as you can darling."
"I will, I promise," Tantor replied and then paused to romantically stroke Jalika's cheek, "I love you Jalika."
"I love you t—" Jalika replied but was cut short by a lough, sharp cough from Archimedes.
"Sorry to interrupt this tender moment but we really must be going! Anna, we'll see you at the treehouse with your father and Kala."
"Yes Grandpa…" Annabelle hesitated for a second before saying, "please don't let Mama die."
"Don't worry sweetheart," Archimedes made sure that his face looked calm and brave, "your mother is in good hands, nothing bad will happen to her." But deep down he couldn't help but worry about his daughter. Her pregnancy had been so trialling, almost insufferable to her and it also had a huge effect on the family too. It had been years since she gave birth to Annabelle and Archimedes was naturally worried that she might suffer complications.
Jalika set off at a brisk pace with Archimedes on her back and little Dembe rushing after her whilst Annabelle and Tantor hurried off in the opposite direction. It was not long before they arrived at the nesting area, all the gorillas relaxing and doing as they pleased.
"Papa!" Anna cried out as she scanned the area for him. "Papa!"
"Tarzan!" Tantor joined in with the calling out. "Kala!"
"Hey Katwe have you seen my father and grandma?" Annabelle asked one of older female gorillas who came over to see what all the commotion was about.
"They're with Terk and Gobu dear," the kind old gorilla replied, "they are eating at the termite mounds just down there. I remember my first time eating a termite -"
Annabelle immediately rushed off before the old gorilla could waffle on and Tantor had to quickly nod a thank you before catching up with her.
"Papa! Papa! Papa!" Annabelle cried in sheer relief as she saw her father, grandmother as well as her Auntie Terk and Uncle Gobu calmly eating termites whilst Keke relaxed on the ground nearby. It was Keke who was the first to spot Annabelle. She jumped up in absolute joy, she hadn't seen her best friend in what seemed like forever and it hadn't been the same playing with her other friends.
"Anna!" she smiled but as soon as she saw her best friend's anxious face, she immediately realised what was happening and looked over to her uncle, who was happily eating some termites. "Uncle T!"
"Belle!" Tarzan looked up, his eyes widened in surprise and sheer delight. She was certainly a sight for sore eyes! He hadn't seen his daughter in days, which to him seemed like forever. He hadn't stayed at the treehouse in weeks mainly because Jane didn't want to coop him up with her constant vomiting but also she didn't want to take him away from his leading duties. Even though he thoroughly enjoyed leading and protecting the family, he sorely missed his wife and daughter. Whenever Annabelle visited him she would update him on the pregnancy and how her mother was feeling, usually not great!
This made Tarzan feel so guilty, he sorely wished he could make Jane feel better and he felt terrible for not being there as much as he wanted to be. But every time he tried to visit Jane would suffer a terrible bout of vomiting and would tell him that maybe it would be best to visit her another day. Then the visits became less and less frequent, Tarzan finally admitting to the fact that visiting Jane made her feel even worse and so stayed away. He felt that he was slowly becoming a stranger not only in his own home but also to his own family. He really hoped that everything would go back to how things were, back to normal once the baby was born.
"Hello stranger!" Kala beamed as her granddaughter ran to her father, almost panting for breath. "How are yo-"
"Mama's having the baby!" Annabelle blurted out quickly. There was no time to greet her grandmother. "Her water broke and she sent me to find you and it took ages and I couldn't find you and she was in so much pain and, and-" Tarzan could see that her daughter was trying hard to be brave but was on the edge of bursting into floods of tears.
"Alright Belle," Tarzan made his face calm as to not distress his daughter even more, "where is your grandfather darling?"
"I found him first, just off the old campsite. Jalika has taken him home and then I came to find you and Grandma,"
"Well done darling, you have absolutely done the right thing. Good girl."
"Let's go then," Kala added before hugging her granddaughter, "don't worry darling, everything's going to be alright, you'll see. Now we'd better hurry!" They all got up and Tantor lowered himself down so that Kala and Annabelle could climb onto his back.
"Hold on a second!" Terk cried after a moment or two of hesitating, "I'm coming too! Gobu look after Keke and the troop! Sounds like you need all the help you can get with this birth T!" Tarzan rolled his eyes but couldn't be bothered nor had the time to argue with his cousin now. Terk climbed on and they all set off with Tarzan swinging on vines and surfing branches ahead of them.
As he jumped from tree to tree, he cursed himself for being away from Jane for the second time. He promised himself that he would not be away for the birth of his child again and he had actually planned to live outside the treehouse in the final week of her pregnancy so that he could instantly be there, day or night. But babies seemed to be very fickle things, Annabelle was two weeks late and this one was a week early, never arriving on their designated date. "Anyway, it doesn't matter now," Tarzan thought as he slid down a spiralling branch and jumped onto a vine. All that mattered was getting to the treehouse before the baby was born!
"I'm coming Jane!" Tarzan's inner voice called out with a fierce determination, hoping that somehow Jane could hear it. "Hold on sweetheart. I'm coming!"