Chapter 11 A Past Explained
Later that night, after their long day of meeting a carefree bear and battling some monkeys and their crazy king, Mowgli, Clarissa, Baloo, and Bagheera had all made it back to the main part of the jungle as night had finally come upon them.
The four were all tired from their long day, but the only one who was asleep was Mowgli, who had fallen asleep in a pile of leaves that resembled a bed.
Baloo, Bagheera, and Clarissa, however, were all still awake and the three sat down together in a spot close to Mowgli, and rambled about the crazy day they had just witnessed.
"And furthermore, Mowgli and Clarissa both seem to have the man's ability to get into trouble, and your influence hasn't been exactly…" Bagheera said while talking about the trouble Mowgli and Clarissa had gotten themselves into that day. But Baloo shushed him before he could say anything else.
"Keep it down, you're gonna wake up little buddy. He's had a big day, along with his sister. It was a real socker-roo. You know it ain't easy learning to be like me," Baloo looked over to Mowgli, who was still fast asleep with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, today was a big day for all of us, but all I learned were some pretty fun dance moves out of it," Clarissa said to the animals while still sitting down in her spot.
"The disgraceful performance associated with those undesirable scatterbrained apes. I hope you and Mowgli have learned something from that experience," Bagheera said before looking back over to Mowgli again, who started singing in his sleep a bit.
"Oh, I have, I've learned never to trust those monkeys again, even though some of them got some pretty good dance moves," Clarissa said while laughing to herself a bit.
"You better believe it, Clair," Baloo said to the girl before the two began to laugh together, making Bagheera annoyed.
"Nonsense" He said while shaking his head and walking away from the two.
"Say, Clarissa, I saw you dancing with those monkeys earlier and I believe you didn't do such a bad job," Baloo complimented the girl.
Clarissa smiled a bit. "Really?"
"Yeah, I thought you did ten times better than those monkeys and that king of theirs, and you know something? I believe you should be a dancer." Baloo told Clarissa, causing a smile to form on her face.
"Oh, I'd love that, but…" she tried to say before turning back over to Bagheera, where she began to remember what he said and what she and Mowgli really needed to do.
"Well, I'd love to, but I can't, I'll have to go back to that man village." Clarissa said, making Baloo a bit disappointed.
"But you don't have to when I'm around, and if you wanna follow your dreams, then I'd say it's best for you to stay in the jungle with me." Baloo said to the girl, causing Bagheera to roll his eyes.
"Baloo, how many times do I have to tell you? Clarissa and Mowgli can't stay in the jungle," Bagheera said while walking back over to the two.
"But why not? I don't see anything wrong with little britches and lil Clair staying with me," Baloo said while rubbing Clarissa's head, causing her to smile in response.
"Because they're humans, and I'm starting to not trust them with you. If you really wanna do what's best for them, then you're going to have to let them stay with their own kind." Bagheera said to Baloo, making Clarissa wonder something.
"But if going to the man village is what's best for me and Mowgli, then why does nobody care if it makes us happy or not?" Clarissa asked as Bagheera sighed.
"Because, Clarissa, you and Mowgli are in great danger and keeping you two safe is what matters most, especially after what happened to you years ago." Bagheera explained as Clarissa became confused.
"What do you mean what happened years ago? What are you talking about?" Clarissa asked with her arms crossed and demanding for an answer.
"Clarissa, this is something I'd rather explain with you privately. So, if Baloo doesn't mind, I'm going to need Clarissa for a moment," Bagheera told Baloo.
"Oh, no problem Baggy, I'll just stay here with little britches, and I'll promise to keep an eye on him this time," Baloo said with a wink.
"Good, because nobody will be here to rescue you this time," Bagheera said before he and Clarissa began to walk away.
As the two began to walk away, Baloo sat down next to Mowgli and kept an eye on him while he was asleep.
Meanwhile, back in a part of the jungle not too far away from where Baloo was, Bagheera was about to tell Clarissa something that he had been keeping from her for years, but it was something that she needed to hear.
"Alright, Bagheera, so what was it you wanted to tell me?" Clarissa asked with a smile on her face, as she didn't know Bagheera was about to explain a heavy subject to her.
"Well, Clarissa, you'd best be warned about what I'm about to tell you, because it deals with how I found you and what happened to your parents." Bagheera warned the girl.
Clarissa's eyes widened with shock. "My parents?"
"Yes, I found both you and Mowgli alone in the jungle as infants, and while I don't know why you both ended up in the jungle, I can tell you what may have happened to your parents," Bagheera explained to Clarissa, making her even more shocked.
"My parents? But I never knew them," Clarissa said in a sad tone.
"I know you didn't, but maybe if I showed you something, you may start to remember." Bagheera said before he began to walk away again.
"Wait, Bagheera, wait up!" Clarissa called out as she began to follow the panther in another part of the jungle.
After a couple of minutes of catching up to him, Clarissa had finally made it to where Bagheera was and saw a familiar shelter that was once built long ago by a familiar man she once knew as her father.
"Bagheera, where are we?" Clarissa asked while looking around the part of the jungle, where she could see some familiar objects from when she was a baby, but not so familiar to her now due to her not remembering a single part of her early life.
"Clarissa, this is where I found you, I found you here when you were a baby, and this is also where you and your parents once lived." Bagheera explained.
Clarissa walked over to the shelter her father had built when he and his family arrived in the jungle.
Clarissa had no idea what the structure was, due to her not knowing much about human structures, but for some reason could feel a connection to it, a connection she had never felt with an object before.
"Bagheera, what is this?" Clarissa asked while looking at the shelter.
"It's some kind of shelter your father had built, it's almost like a cave or your wolf family's den, but this is made for humans," Bagheera explained while Clarissa touched the side of the shelter.
"Humans?" Clarissa asked before walking inside the shelter.
Once she walked inside, she could see even more human objects scattered around the deserted place, and as she was walking around, she stepped on something that made a shattering noise.
Once looking down to see what it was, Clarissa saw that she had stepped on a picture frame of a woman who was her late mother Karla, but Clarissa had no idea who the person or object was.
"Hello?" Clarissa asked the picture, believing the person was trapped inside it. "Can you come out of there?"
Due to the frame's glass being shattered, Clarissa cut her finger on one of the sharp edges and dropped the picture in fright. "Ow!" she cried before dropping the picture and falling back onto something familiar to humans, but not familiar to her.
She found a pair of shoes, one of her dad's pair of shoes to be exact, and she became even more curious as to what the objects were.
"What are these?" Clarissa asked while examining one of the shoes.
"Those are shoes, Clarissa. Humans wear them on their feet," Bagheera explained to her before Clarissa put one of the shoes on.
It was a little too big for her due to them being men's shoes and also having small feet, but it didn't stop her from putting the other one on. After standing up with both shoes on, Clarissa began to happily dance around and jump up and down with shoes on her feet for the very first time.
"Look, Bagheera! Look at me!" Clarissa exclaimed while jumping up and down with shoes on her feet.
"I see, Clarissa. You're acting just like a real woman," Bagheera said to her before one of Clarissa's shoes flew off her foot, causing Clarissa to trip and fall back on the ground.
Once on the ground again, Clarissa looked around for any other human objects, but came across a small box of what she didn't know were matches!
"What are these?" Clarissa asked before opening the box of the matches, where she pulled one out to examine it.
"Those are matches, Clarissa, and I wouldn't play with those, they'll cause…" Bagheera tried to say while warning Clarissa about the matches, but it was too late.
Clarissa had licked one of the matches and immediately threw it back on the ground with disgust and noticed she had created fire with it.
"Fire," Clarissa said while looking at the flames. "That's how you make fire."
"Yes and you'll need to put it out. Fire can cause lots of damage to the jungle and can be very dangerous," Bagheera warned as Clarissa immediately got the shoes and threw them at the flames, putting the fire out in the process.
Clarissa couldn't believe all the human artifacts she was finding and also couldn't believe that she was slowly learning how to become one herself.
However, after looking back over to the picture of her late mother, Clarissa began to feel something again. She could feel like she could remember the place for some reason and she could also feel that she once knew the person in the picture, she just didn't know who it was.
After looking closely at the necklace the woman was wearing in the picture, Clarissa began to recognize it for some reason and looked back at her own, where she soon realized it was the same necklace her mother had given her as a baby.
"Clarissa, is something wrong?" Bagheera asked as Clarissa continued to examine the picture.
"Everything….everything here, it's almost like a memory from a dream." Clarissa said while looking at the picture.
Bagheera slowly walked back over to Clarissa as the young girl continued to look at the picture of her mother and began to wonder something.
"Bagheera?" Clarissa asked while looking at the picture.
"Yes, Clarissa?" Bagheera asked before the girl turned around.
"What happened to my parents?" Clarissa asked as Bagheera sighed with sorrow, as he didn't want to tell her what happened to her parents, but knew it would be better if he did.
"They died, Clarissa. They died a long time ago." Bagheera said as Clarissa became sad.
"How did they die?" she asked.
"Shere Khan, killed them," Bagheera explained to Clarissa, not only making her even more sad, but also shocked.
"What? Shere Khan killed my parents?" Clarissa asked with shock.
"Yes, Clarissa. It's like I told you before, Shere Khan hates all kinds of men and he's not gonna let any live in his jungle. So after he ended your parents lives, he tried killing you, but I found you and took you to safety, that's when I took you to your wolf family and grew up with them and Mowgli." Bagheera explained, still making Clarissa shocked and questioned about some many things.
"What about Mowgli? What happened to his family?" Clarissa asked, wondering about what happened to her adoptive brother's family.
"I'm not so sure myself, Clarissa. But if they really were killed by Shere Khan just like your own, it makes me even more protective of you two," Bagheera said while putting a hand on Clarissa's shoulder, making her realize why Bagheera was so strict with the two of them about going to the man village and why they needed to go there in the first place.
"So that's why you wanted us to go to the man village. You're trying to protect us from Shere Khan so he doesn't kill me and Mowgli," Clarissa said as Bagheera nodded in response.
"Yes, Clarissa. That's exactly why you need to go to the man village. You'll be safe from Shere Khan there and even if it doesn't make you happy, it will at least keep you safe from any harm in the jungle." Bagheera assured the girl as Clarissa frowned with tears almost forming in her eyes.
"Bagheera, I don't wanna stay in the jungle anymore, I wanna go to the man village and I'll take Mowgli with me. I'll keep him safe and won't let anything happen to him or myself." Clarissa said as Bagheera smiled with satisfaction.
"That's it, Clarissa. I know its hard, but Mowgli and your safety comes first. Now, let's go back to him and Baloo, and I'll explain everything to them." Bagheera said as he began to walk away.
Clarissa followed behind him, still having a frown on her face over not only discovering her family, but also having no other choice but to do back to the man village, which she knew would not only upset Mowgli, but also Baloo.
I dunno if anyone's gonna find this chapter sad, but please review or give me feedback.