Empty Cage

By Camille L. Ruiz

It was a sunny spring afternoon in the beautiful forest of Congo. The sky was pale blue, the wind

was blowing softly, the birds were singing, the river was flowing, the insects were chirping, but

Tom was crying.

Tom has always been considered the loneliest bonobo of the forest. While all the other monkeys

stayed in packs, he stayed back. He watched as the others balanced themselves in vines, and he

watched as they fell in love with each other. By the beginning of spring, most of the male

monkeys had each swooned away a female monkey, except Tom.

One day, a new family joined the pack. The youngest daughter was about Tom’s age, and when

he saw her, his heart stopped. Jane was the most beautiful female Tom had ever seen. She moved

with an enviable gracefulness and talked with a sweet voice.

“Hello there”, Jane said to the lonely Tom, who was resting in a branch of his favorite tree. Tom

was so surprised, that he fell of the branch and ended up in the floor with a loud thud. When he

got up, she was looking right at him.

“Umm hi”, said Tom.

“Are you ok? I did not mean to scare you. I am new around here, and I want to make some new

friends”, responded Jane.

“Oh, well my name is Tom”, he said with a smile. They went on talking for hours. Getting to

know each other and making jokes. Ever since that day, they were inseparable. Every afternoon,

they would meet at Tom’s favorite tree to eat mangoes and talk.

As summer got closer, Tom’s attraction towards Jane grew stronger. So, one afternoon, he

decided to ask her out.

“Hey Jane, would you like to go out with me tomorrow?”

At first, Jane thought he wanted to explore the borders of the forest. But as soon as she realized

his true intentions, she got excited.

“Oh my, I thought you had never asked Tom!”

So that night, Tom started to plan everything. He collected the best fruits from various trees and

stored them in a twig little box. When morning came, he met Jane at his favorite tree. Since she

did not know the location, he led her all the way to the gorgeous Lomami River by holding her

hand. They spent the whole day there sharing juicy fruits, awesome stories, and romantic

caresses. As they were packing up, Tom kissed her, marking the beginning of their beautiful

relationship.

Months passed and they were still in love. Their relationship had evolved and they were planning

on having a baby, until the scientists came.

It happened on a cloudy afternoon. Everyone was relaxing in the trees when they heard human

voices. About two hundred humans were approaching the monkey’s home with big guns in their

hands. Everything started to get out of control, shots were fired, and the monkeys started falling.

Tom was frantic when Jane fell besides him and a human approach them with a cage. The last

thing he remembers was being drag into an empty cage, and Jane was gone.

Tom woke up a few hours later in a scientific lab. His mind was still hazy from the drugs. As he

looked around, he saw that the other monkeys, including Jane, were trapped in cages too. A few

minutes later, a lady in a white coat entered the lab and went straight to Jane’s cage.

Every day, Tom watched how the scientists took Jane apart and experimented with her. How

they played with her, as if she was unable to feel. He wondered how humans were capable of

such acts. It was impossible for him to understand what kind of people would do such things.