The Gorilla

Written 3/30/18 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Babu roared as his captors whipped him through his chains. His arms and legs were bound with shipping knots to the concrete floor.

The air in the tent was humid but the cool of the night brought Babu much needed relief from the boiling heat of the day.

When his captors were finished with the training session, they returned Babu to his bloodied cage. He laid down and groaned a rumbling, low-pitched sigh. He missed his home in the jungle, missed the taste of fresh fruits, and missed swinging from the tree tops. He closed his eyes and drifted there, if only for the night.

He awoke to a tiny hand pulling on his fur. He rolled over to see a human child with long hair and a smiling face standing just beyond his bars.

The little girl giggled and waved her hand at Babu. Babu looked at her hand and then his own. He mimicked her movement, wondering what it meant. She squealed in delight and ran off, giggling all the way through the curtains.

Babu grunted and waited for her to return, but she did not. He felt something he had not felt in many sunrises — she reminded him of the younglings in his tribe.

Suddenly Babu lurched forward as ropes pulled him to the stage. Loud announcements sounded in the tent as his captors’ voices rang piercingly all around him. A whip cracked and he jumped, jostling the entire cage. The leader of the captors was standing in front of him as he emerged into a screaming crowd, center stage.

His captor smirked and stared Babu straight in the eyes, whip at his side twitching. Babu’s eyes grew narrow with hatred as memories of whips and searing, glowing sticks flooded into his memory.

Babu shook the bars of his cage in anger and let out a roar, with the crowd gasping and applauding.

By the time the show was over, Babu was covered in bloody cuts from the whips. Returning to his tent, he crashed to the ground and closed his eyes.

He awoke to a tiny voice just in front of him. He opened his eyes to see the little girl standing there, holding fruit and smiling. She passed him a banana through the bars and he popped it into his mouth, gobbling it down like a potato chip. She giggled as he moved close to the bars and made a soft, low-pitched grunt.

After feeding him the fruit, the girl timidly approached the cage and held out her hand. Babu looked at the empty hand and held out his gigantic hand to her. She softly grabbed the tip of his finger, barely reaching her fingers around it. Babu made a gentle sound. Her kindness and love was very different from the other humans he had met.

Suddenly his captors swooped through the curtains and started yelling, pointing at the little girl. She ran, but they grabbed her by the collar. Babu belted out a thunderous roar as one of his captors whipped him through the vertical bars.

The main captor raised his arm and hit the little girl in the face, yelling at her. At this, Babu felt a rage he had never felt before. Anger coursed through his veins as he slammed into the cold bars between them, jostling them beyond their limits. One of the bars bent under his enormous weight as he slammed it repeatedly. His captors suddenly stopped whipping, fear clouding their eyes as they realized the danger.

Babu bent the bar a little bit further, and backed up for one last slam. He charged the barrier and his captors scattered.

The main captor took the little girl aside by the collar.

Babu exploded out of the cage and began swinging, throwing the tormentors like they were rag dolls. He upended the cart that used to draw him and destroyed the tent. All he saw was red as he locked his eyes on the main captor and charged him. The captor went to whip Babu but it was nothing more than a mosquito bite to him now.

He picked up the man with one hand, raised him into the air, and with a final, primal roar he swung the man down to the ground, holding him by his waist. The man’s face smashed into the ground, blood and teeth spraying in all directions.

Coming back to his senses, Babu looked around for the girl. He frantically, desperately searched near the fallen, broken bodies, and he finally lifted the shapeless canvas to find her lying on the ground underneath the tent. Babu stepped gingerly up to her broken body where she was struggling with labored breaths. His eyes grew wide in horror as he realized what he had done.

He slowly, softly scooped her up from the ground. Loud bird noises grew louder from off in the distance, and he saw flashing blue lights. Devastated, terrified, he took a step toward them. Then another. Cradling the girl carefully against his body, he saw vehicles come up over the hill and stop in front of him. Men got out and pointed at him with metal, shouting.

Babu was scared, but he took a step forward, girl in his arms. Suddenly, the air exploded with sharp, loud cracking sounds and Babu felt stings all over his body. He turned to protect the girl and fell to the ground.

With the last of his strength, he lifted the girl towards the men. As they rushed to the girl, night fell upon his vision. He let out one final groan, a deep, soft rumble, and closed his eyes.

It's over. He could finally sleep.

Babu looks around and finds himself in the jungle, his home. He sees his whole tribe gathered around the center pile of fruits. Babu runs up to his family and sees his mother and father. He jumps up on them and climbs around their arms and shoulders. His father grabs him and throws him up in the air playfully. Babu sees their whole village, all of his loved ones gathered around the meal.

He smiles. He is home.