The wind was moving slightly in the treetops and I was sitting on a branch. My sister, Josie laughed and swang by me. I chased after her. We landed on a mango tree. Josie picked two and handed me one. Mangos are my favourite fruit and this one was soft, fresh and smelt absolutely delicious. I took a bite, and its taste sent tingles through my body and made my mouth water. I went to take another bi—

I woke with a jump to a cage closing. I realised after I had fully woken up that I was not in the beautiful green forest, but in the lab where Josie and I have been in for most of our lives.

We were taken from our mother when I was a year old and when Josie was a few months. Our mother was killed and we were taken to the lab. Where we are locked in small cages, given mashed fruit, a small bowl of water, and they test chemicals on us.

My cage was the closest to the window and Josie’s was next to mine.

When I looked towards her cage I realised it was her cage I woke to closing. The human who had closed the cage walked to mine. This human was male, with short black hair, a pointy nose, narrow chins and crystal blue eyes. I found his eyes to be his most terrifying feature.

‘Don’t try to struggle today, Fred. We just need to test this moisturizing cream.” The human said to me and opened my cage. Naturally I backed away from him and this made him a bit angry. He grabbed my wrist harshly and dragged my out my cage. He carried me to the steel table in the middle of the room and laid me down on it. I tied me down by buckling up the brown leather straps attached to the table. I was tied down so that my legs were spread out and my arms above my head.

I didn’t bother trying to struggle. I would have been punished with the brown stick.

The human left me there to go to the storeroom where they store the chemicals.

The rules were that they would have several test prepared of the same thing, each with a different formula. They would then cover your stomach area with tests. Sometimes we would get a reaction straight away, sometimes later. If you got a reaction they would shut you in your cage for 3 days to get over it, if you didn’t get a reaction at all from it the day after they would do the same test again a couple more times to make sure.

The human came back with a small white tube that read ‘Test 1’. We squeezed a thick yellow cream onto his three middle fingers. He then rubbed it in a small circle on the left side of my chest. It was freezing cold and at fist nothing happened. Then all of a sudden it was burning my chest, like he had poured oil on my chest, lit a match and lit me on fire. I screamed ‘GIVE ME WATER!! I NEED WATER NOW!!! IT BURNS!!!’ My cries were useless but I kept screaming. Then I heard Josie screaming, she had gotten terrified that something was happening to me. ‘GET HIM WATER!!! HE NEEDS HELP!!! CAN’T YOU SEE HE NEEDS HELP!!! GET HIM WATER!!!’ A small female with brown hair came out the storeroom with the brown stick. I stopped screaming and watched as she walked over to Josie’s cage and pushed the stick through the gaps in the bars and stabbed Josie in the ribs with it. She did this several times until Josie stopped screaming, moaned and rolled into a ball on the floor of her cage.

‘Looks like that was a bad formula, Jen. Lucky you, Fred, you get to have a holiday in your cage until your better.’ the male human mocked to me, with a smile. He loved to see us in pain. He took me back to my cage, where he threw me in and locked the door.

Once I gathered myself I looked into Josie’s cage. She was still rolled into a ball on her floor.

‘Are you okay, Josie? She stabbed you with the stick pretty hard.’ She didn’t move for a moment and then she slowly pulled herself into a seating position.

‘Yeah, I’m fine. It’s not like I haven’t been punished with that stick before. What about you? What happened out there? Why did you need water?’

‘It was just a reaction to the formula. It was like I was on fire.’

“Well that is something to worry about. No one else has had an effect like that before.’ Then she looked down and frowned.

‘Don’t you worry, Josie, I promise you one day we will get out of here’

‘Keep your hopes up, Fred. I’ve lost my hope. We’ve been here for 3 years now, I don’t think we will get out of here and besides where would we go.’

‘I don’t know. Oh, well I have 3 days to start thinking about a way to get out or at least to where we would go’ Josie just turned around and faced away from me.

I stared at her back and listened to the others. Some moaned, others were sleeping and I could here them snoring. The rest of the day I did not speak either did Josie. She just sat there with her back to me. I watched the others being tested and soon fell asleep.

I was in the forest again on the branch I was in last night. Again Josie laughed and swang past me. Again I chased after her and landed on the mango tree. Josie picked two mangos and handed me one, again. This time I didn’t hesitate to take a bite. I took a bite and like my last dream, a tingle went through my body and my mouth watered. I went to go take another bite. I was inches away—

I woke to the sound of distant shouting. It took me a while to fully wake up and realized that the sound was coming from outside. I move closer to the edge of the cage so I could look out the window. I looked over my shoulder to see if Josie was awake but she was fast asleep. I look around to see if any other animals were up, a few were. I turned back to the window and leaned forward.

I could just see the ground from our third story building.

There were a group of 10-15 humans outside our building and they were holding signs. I couldn’t read the signs, so I strained to hear what they where saying. Luckily the humans had left the window opened.

‘STOP ANIMAL CRUELTY!!’

‘THE BEAUTIFIER COMPANY ARE ILLEGALLY TESTING ON ANIMALS!!’

‘WHY SHOULD THESE ANIMALS SUFFER SO YOU CAN HAVE SILKY SKIN?’

I was shocked and sat there frozen to the spot. Humans wanting to help us. This wasn’t their nature. All the other humans I had encountered wanted to hurt us.

The male humans walked into the room looking very angry. I hadn’t noticed it time for them to come in.

‘Stupid protestors, don’t they ever learn to leave us alone?’ He mumbled just loud enough for me to her. He walked over to the window and slammed it shut.

When Josie wok up I told her what I saw.

‘Your kidding, this is just to make me feel better. HA!! Humans wanting to help us! HA! Nice joke, Fred!’

‘I’m not lying. There were 10 to 15 people out there shouting things like ‘Stop animal cruelty’ and ‘Why should these animals suffer so you can have silky skin?’ I am telling you I am not lying.’

‘Now, your getting mean, Fred. You shouldn’t do this to me. You can’t raise my hopes up.’

‘No, Josie. Fred is not lying. I was awake at that time too and heard it. Sure made the humans who work here angry.’

It was George that spoke to us. He was 12 years old and had been here for 6 years. His cage was right across from me. Josie turned to me.

‘So it is true then, there were humans out there wanting to help us’

‘Yes, they are called protestors. They are the humans who fight for things they think should not be happening. Sometimes they win and sometimes they don’t’ George replied to Josie.

‘How come you know so much about humans?’ I asked him.

‘When I arrived here there was an orang-utan. He had been here for 10 years and knew a lot about the humans. He told some stuff to me’

‘Could you please tell us about some of it when you have time?’

‘Sure. How about today? I have 3 days off because I have a rash and so do you.’

‘Ok.’

‘What about me? I want to know some stuff about the humans too.’

I turned to Josie. She was right, what about her? She didn’t have a reaction yesterday, so she would have to be tested on again. That was then I noticed she was scratching her stomach.

‘Are you sure your okay? Have you got a rash? Your scratching yourself pretty hard?’

She stopped and looked down.

‘Your absolutely right, I have a rash. Looks like I can learn something about the humans.’

The male human shut someone’s cage and walked over to Josie’s cage. HE saw her scratching and frowned. He wouldn’t be able to hurt her today. I smiled.

‘Jen, the shampoo test 3 from yesterday, on Josie is a bad formula. Cam out in a rash.’

He walked away then and went to someone else. I stopped frowning and thought about the orang-utan that had to go up now.

I turned back to George to take my mind off it.

‘Okay, George, what can you tell us?’

The protestors left at sunset at about the same time the humans who tested on us left.

By then I had learnt several things. Humans are different from each other, not all of them want to hurt animals. Some humans had dogs, cats, birds, horses, fishes, rabbits and other animals as pets. Which is where they bought animals and took care of them, do they could have a friend for company. This was strange to me. They looked after some animals, but hurt some too. Then I learnt that the humans that tested on us probably didn’t have ‘pets’. Also the humans here worked here for something called money so they could by food. I learnt why they needed money and what it was too.

I learnt a bit about the government, which was the place that made rules.

I was exhausted by the end of the day. It was hard to understand this stuff. They didn’t really need clothes, or houses, or roads, or cars. We lived fine with out them.

I soon fell asleep.

I was in the forest, yet again. Except there were a few changes. George was sitting with me on the branch, telling me about humans and when Josie laughed and swang by me. He chased after her with me. When we were all at the mango tree Josie picked three mangos and gave us each one. We all took a bite of our mangos. Again my mouth watered and a tingle went through my body.

I woke up again at just that moment where I was going to take a second bite. It was to the sound of the protestors again. I looked around the lab and this time everyone was awake.

‘I don’t see how shouting things and holding up signs can help us.’ I heard someone mumble from beneath me.

‘By shouting and holding signs, they make other humans aware of what’s happening. Then after a while they’ll get a petition signed by others to free us and if they get a lot of humans to sign it then they will free us.’ George commented.

‘What is a petition?’ I asked George.

‘A petition is this thing, where they go around with paper and get humans to sign it if they wish for something to happen. Then they will take it to the government, telling them that a lot of humans want the thing they want.’

‘So then if the government says yes to it this petition they are going to do then we are free?’

‘Yes’

Then the humans who work at the lab came in and the testing began and I learnt more from George.

That night I had the dream where I was in the forest with Josie and George again. Like all the other times I woke just as I was going to take another bite.

The protestors were outside again and after yesterdays conversation about the petition everyone else was in a lighter mood. There was less moaning to from them and the lab was quiet. It was like this for the next two weeks. It was like a routine for me. At night I dreamt of the forest and woke just as I was going for the second bite, then I would get tested on or stayed in my cage, when George and me were in are cages together, he would teach me about humans, everyday the protestors were outside, and at night I fell asleep again ready to go through the routine the next day.

Then at the end of the second week, when I woke up at same part of the dream, it was quiet. There were no protestors outside.

‘George.’ No reply.

‘George. George. Hey George.’ I called louder but there was no reply. He was still sleeping.

‘Come on George, wake up,’ Still no reply from George. I heard Josie wake up and sit up in her cage.

‘He isn’t waking up Josie.’

She didn’t say anything and I turned to her. She was staring at George.

Then the male human walked in and walked over to George.

‘Hey Jen, it looks like George didn’t survive the night. I thought he wasn’t going to make it.’

I froze. What did he just say? Didn’t survive the night?

Then it hit me like when the humans hit me with the stick. George had died.

He had suffered a seizure with the last test and his breathing faltered. Yesterday he could barely talked so we decided not to work on the lessons on human so he could sleep. Now he was dead, gone forever and we were getting closer to being free from the protestors. My eyes swelled up and I turned away from his cage. I couldn’t bear to watch the humans take him away. Josie was still staring at his empty cage and didn’t move.

No one spoke for the rest of the day. I didn’t struggle or fight when they began to test on me. Nor did I scream when the cream burned and that night I had a different dream.

It was black but I could hear someone singing softly in the background. It was a sweet song, sung by a female. It was a lullaby. I opened my eyes and I was in a nest made of leaves. It was comfy and I yawned. I noticed my mother sitting next to me, holding a young Josie in her arms. She was singing my favourite lullaby, so Josie would full asleep. It was peaceful.

Then my mum stopped singing. There was a rustle of the bushes below us. She picked me up, put me on her back, and looked down. So did I, and I saw several male humans wearing black clothing and holding these silver sticks. They sat between two bushes, whispering quietly.

Mum jumped to another tree, which rustled as she caught hold of a branch. She swang us up onto the branch and sat frozen. I took that she was making sure the humans hadn’t heard us. I turned around. The humans had stopped whispering and were looking in our direction. Mum bolted through the trees and the humans followed.

Mum had to stop to catch her breath.

There was a loud bang and then I was falling from the tree. I landed with a thud on the floor of the forest. Mum was laying near me. I wasn’t hurt and I ran to mum. Josie was sitting near mum; she had just woken up and stared at mum. I looked down and saw that mum was bleeding from her stomach.

‘MUM!!!!!’ I cried.

She smiled and took a harsh sounding breath and said ‘I love you, I love you, my children.’ Then she closed her eyes and stopped breathing.

‘MUM!!!’ I cried again.

Then the humans were there and picked us up. I tried to fight. I didn’t want to leave mum. They put us in cages and walked away. My eyes began to fill with water—

‘NO!!’ I cried when I woke up. I was shaking. I had never dreamt of the night mum was killed since they days where I was in a cage travelling away from the forest.

‘What’s the matter, Fred?’ Josie asked with worry in her voice.

‘ I just dreamt of the night where mum was killed and we were taken away.’

She shuddered. I once told her of the night. She couldn’t remember it because she was young at the time.

I sat in my cage for the rest of the day, thinking of George.

That night I dreamt of the night when mum was killed, except when I ran up to her after we fell out of the tree, it was George laying there taking in is last breaths. And instead of mum saying ‘I love you,’ George said ‘You will be free, one day you will run free.’

When I woke up it was well into the day. The protestors were not outside. I woke to the sound of a quiet lab for the next month. The protestors had left and every night I dreamt of the night where mum died, and George told me I will be free one day.

I couldn’t think life would get any worse. Josie was the same, quiet and barely speaking.

On the 34th day after George I saw the male human reading a newspaper that had on the front ‘Animals denied help.’

‘See Jen, I told you there was nothing to worry about. The protestors were denied setting these animals free due to no proof that we are actually doing it’ the human smiled.

So life could get worse. We were denied our freedom. Everyone in the lab was silent, everyone was shocked, and everyone was in a low sad mood.

I was sort of numb. I couldn’t feel anything. No emotion or none of the reaction I got from the tests.

I was numb for a long time. I lost track of time. It passed but it had no meaning to me. I was going to spend the rest of my life in this lab. There was no point to having time.

I had the dream of being free in the forest, with Josie, just Josie. Swinging to the mango tree. Waking up to just as I was going to have that second bite. This dream was now a tease of what I could never have, freedom, and the taste of my favourite fruit. I was an annoying dream now, and I had it for several nights.

One night I didn’t have a dream at all and woke in the middle of the night. I looked out the window. There was a full moon in the sky.

I heard a rattling at the door of the lab. I slowly turned and faced the door. There was more rattling and then the doorknob slowly turned and opened. Then several humans walked in carrying a cage in one hand and a torch in the other.

‘Keep quiet guys.’ One said.

‘I can’t believe they just leave the cage keys on hook in the entrance.’ Another one said.

‘Oh, well. Who cares? Lets get this done quickly.’

One of the humans pulled out a small square thing. It flashed a couple of times then they put it away.

One walked to my cage and unlocked it then moved to Josie’s. The human walked to every cage unlocking them. There were eleven human and ten of us.

Then another came over to my cage and opened it.

‘Hey little fella. We’ve come to rescue you.’ The human sounded like a male. He didn’t seem dangerous, so I edged closer to him. He picked me up lightly and put me in the cage he was carrying.

‘I know you probably don’t like this but its just so we can get you out of here.’

The other humans all each walked to the other cages and took an orang-utan out and put them in a cage they carried.

After everyone was in a cage the humans picked a cage up each and walked us out the door.

Once we were outside, I noticed that everyone else had woken up. I heard a few gasp and some mumbled ‘Wow. We are outside. We are free at last.’

I sighed. Free at last. I took my fist deep breath of the outside world.

‘See, Josie. I told you we will be free one day.’

‘Yeah, I guess your right. I wonder where we are going now.’

‘I don’t care, as long as I am away from that lab.’

We were put in a van and taken away from the dreadful lab. I hoped it was to a happily ever after.

Several years later.

‘And that is the story of how I lived and escaped the lab.’ I had just finished telling the story of my time in the lab when the zookeeper came in with our lunch.

The human gave me three mangos. I handed one to my son, George. He smiled. Mangos were his favourite fruit too.

Josie, several others and me had been taken to this zoo. It wasn’t exactly a complete freedom but it was much better than the lab.

There were trees, robes, and a shelter area big enough for my family.

Some of the others who were with us when we escaped got taken somewhere else. They most likely went to another zoo.

I liked it here. Although every day we were surrounded by humans taking our pictures with those square things that I learnt were cameras. It was still a good place to live. We are well fed and cared for.

The first weeks I was here, I was terrified of the humans. Especially when they did a check up to see if I was healthy. They had needles and that was the worse part. I ended up getting over that fear and have been living happily eve since.

‘Be careful George, don’t hurt Susanne.’ Susanne was Josie’s child.

Everything was at its best now. I wish every now and again that George that I met in the lab and my mother were with me. Other than that, Josie and I both got our happily ever after.