From Simian Eyes *Being edited*

The Refugee

The next few months were nothing but a blur of noise, voices, lights, the feeling of something being attached to her arm, the feeling of drifting in and out of consciousness at random moments after having some kind of mask placed on her face. Everything was strange, but Keena barely reacted. All she could do was lie there in a partially dazed and weak state. But she still had some of her senses. She could still feel the pain in her back from the bullets, the wound on her leg from the boar and the bite on her arm from the Alsatian. They were still terrible. But something was different. Now, whenever it became so painful that she would cry out, she'd feel a hand stroke her head and hear a quiet "Shhh...." She couldn't react, but it was soothing... she wanted to open her eyes to see where she was, but everything felt far too heavy and aching for her to do so. She could feel herself lying on something soft and comfortable. It made it easier for her sleep, which was the only thing she could really do, so she was thankful for it.

It took a long time, but one day, Keena was able to open her eyes. As she did, she was alarmed to find herself in a small cage. But it was different to all the other cages she had ever been in. It was still fairly small, but she could stand fully upright, turn around, and even walk several paces back and forth. She couldn't tell what the floor was made of as it was coated in about ten inches of wood wool. She was surrounded by blankets. Keena sat up, looking around. Through the bars of her cage, she could see the outside world. It was quiet, with the sun up high. It was very peaceful. Keena looked at her arm and jumped. Her right arm where she was bitten was bald and the area of the wound was stitched up. She looked at the boar wound on her leg. Her whole leg was bald and also stitched. And looking down, she could see that her upper trunk was bandaged heavily. She tried to reach around to mess with it but it was around the back. She huffed and crossed her legs, folding her arms over them, tiredly. She blew through her mouth and looked around, exhaustedly. She was incredibly confused. Where was she? What was this place?

Two hours later, Keena heard the footsteps of someone approaching her cage. She snarled, baring her teeth, not wanting to be tormented by some lowlife. As the person approached her cage, she snapped and shook the bars, angrily. The person stopped and looked down at her. Keena stopped growling and blinked at him. There was something different about this man. His skin was a very dark colour and his brown eyes seemed quiet and soft. He appeared to be middle-aged due to his greying hair. Noticing her, he knelt down to her level, a closed-mouth smile on his face.

"Well." He said, "You're awake." He put one hand on the cage bars, making Keena turning her head to the side, so she was looking at him with one eye, growling quietly. He chuckled.

"You've been through hell, I know." He moved his hand away, "Well, don't worry, Keena. We're going to try and get you home."

What home? The road-side zoo? The circus? With the TV company? Back to Mexico? Whatever one he was talking about, she wasn't interested. She was not going back to any of them! Wait... Keena tilted her head, how did he know her name? She hadn't met him before.

"Feeling better? You gave us a real scare, you know." Keena tilted her head. What did that mean?

Suddenly a woman knelt down next to the cage, taking Keena by surprise. She huffed at her, what did she want? She could also see that she had a kind look on her face. Her grey hair was tied back into a ponytail. She noticed that Keena had her hand through one of the bars, she slowly reached over and gently took it. Keena froze, unsure of what she was doing. The woman gently stroked her hand, not saying anything. Keena blinked and looked the woman in the eye. Noticing, she smiled softly, stroking her arm. Keena shrank and covered her face with her bad arm, still afraid.

"Such a shame..." she heard the woman say, "It keeps me up at night."

"I can relate." She heard the African man reply "I hope we can get custody so we can help her."