From Simian Eyes *Being edited*

The Prisoner

Well... this cage was larger than the one at the circus. And she wasn't made to do any of those stupid acts or make a complete fool of herself just for cheap laughs.

But those facts did not change Keena's bitter hatred and undying anger towards the world.

Again, the cage was barren. Again, there was virtually nothing to do or see. Again, she was always confined. Again, she was alone.

There was a large ball, a plastic tube tunnel –which Keena destroyed in a matter of hours- and a plastic slide, which she would just perch on top of, staring out at the rest of the world outside her cage. She'd sit up there for hours... staring. It's all she could do. That or pull the fur out from her chest or gnaw on her limbs, unaware of the pain or bleeding that she would cause herself. It would only briefly relieve her of her crippling boredom.

When she wasn't sitting on the slide, she was aimlessly pacing her cage. Which wasn't much larger than a dog run. There wasn't much to see or do. Outside her enclosure, she could see the tops of others. Containing other animals, she could hear and smell them. But she barely saw any people. Which in some ways was a good thing. But in other ways, it wasn't. She didn't know how to feel about humans anymore. They were the cause of all of her misery and problems. Yet, they gave her food. It wasn't even good food. Most of the time she would be given cheap apple juice and rather foul tasting mush or produce which would commonly be rotten and sometimes covered in maggots. Most of the time she wouldn't eat. The "food" made her feel rather ill. That is if she actually had some though. A lot of the time, she went without food. But after some time, she wouldn't feel the hunger anymore.

Keena only really saw one person. The woman who had taken her from the circus. She never heard the woman's name. And for the most part, she didn't speak. She'd just come up, throw in some food every few days along with water –which was in a big bucket in the corner- and just leave. Keena was wary of this person. She never walked right, as if she was on the verge of falling with every step she took. She always looked pale and rather sick. It wasn't uncommon for her to be physically sick outside of Keena's enclosure. Thankfully she would clean it up, but the smell bothered Keena greatly. The woman herself smelled strange. Keena couldn't really understand what it was. It was similar to smoke, but a sweeter scent. This was mixed with the vaguely familiar smell of alcohol. Keena was disturbed by this. Alcohol made people angry. And normally, when people were angry, they were violent.

Every now and again, the woman would enter Keena's cage to clean it. She'd be chased into a small concrete shed, which was barely bigger than herself and bars on the door. She'd sit there and stare at the woman as she did her work. There were no words from the woman. Keena would get a fright whenever she approached her cage, causing her to scream and bite her own limbs in fear and it would take minutes for her to calm down and move into her shed.

There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. She would have nothing to do at all, leaving her listless and depressed. She'd pace around slowly and dimly with her head down and dragging her limbs. She wouldn't stop for hours until she would eventually drop from exhaustion. Or sit in the middle of the enclosure, curled up with her arms wrapped around herself in an attempt of self-comfort and with her head low. There were times where she couldn't bring herself to get up in the morning. She'd lie under a dirty blanket on the ground, without the will to eat or even sit. What was the point? Nothing was going to get better. It would never get better.

Few people would come now, but whenever they did, Keena was unsure of how she was supposed to feel. She would be relieved to see actual life in this place and it wasn't completely barren. But they were humans. Why did it always have to be humans? These things were everywhere and never seemed to go away! Why where there so many?! People who did come would throw peanuts, shout and goad her. She started to carry around a dirty pink throw blanket and would wrap herself in it, trying to hide herself from their cruel eyes. It sank her further into her depression, up to the point when she wouldn't react to the small crowds.