Monkey Meat

A Story by Tazz S.H.

A day at the zoo and I thought I was going to die.

There are many things I'll never ever forget about in my life. Like my 16th birthday. And watching my sister get married. Or getting to touch Lady Gaga's hair for half a second at that concert when she crowd-surfed.

Or even that outrageous school field trip to the zoo when I was in the 6th grade.

It was a sunny day. Humid. Hot. Little wind. Kids were running around the school yard, chasing each other and screaming. We were all excited to be going on the trip to the zoo.

When we got there, it was amazing. The air smelled of pure earth and everywhere I looked, a fascinating animal was before me.

The majestic lion, the cute clumsy penguins, the elegant giraffes, the graceful parrots.

And then we got to the monkeys.

I could feel every hair on my arm raise on end as I walked by them with my classmates. There were 50 of them, some orangutans, some chimpanzees"and their eyes were all trained on me.

I nudged by friend.

"Hey"Sally. Check it out." I pointed to the staring monkeys. I swear one of them licked its lips. 0_0

She glanced at them and looked back at me with frightened eyes.

"Do I like, look like a walking banana or something?" I grimaced.

She quickly scurried away.

"I have to get away, Tazz. It's an omen! It's an omen!" She ran off, her purple hair flying behind her like some sort of eerie witch.

"What"?" I retorted, confused.

"The apes, Tazz. THE APES! They're hungry. Run, Tazz. RUN!"

My heart started to beat faster in my chest. My classmates and the school group were all getting farther away. Sally was leaving me. Time seemed to freeze and the monkeys started to grin. Big, glistening toothy smiles, full of strong, square teeth. They started to shuffle towards me, one by one. Sally was right. The monkeys were going to get me. I always knew there was something weird with that girl.

She always made correct predictions. One of the chimps walked up to the fence and let out a small, humored hoot.

"Hoot, hoot." it chuckled.

My lip quivered in fear and I took a step back.

It began to laugh. And rattle the bars of the cage.

Then shrieked loud, wild frenzied screams of aggression.

I started to run but tripped over my own feet and fell onto the ground.

Then all hell rained down on me.

Fifty monkeys had risen to the cage, rattling the bars, shrieking their evil monkey curses and started to pelt me with small pebbles. They banged and crashed against the bars, screeching and thrashing, writhing with pure anger and insanity.

Time seemed to freeze as the cage exploded and the apes loomed towards me, mouths open, fangs bared, arms and limbs outstretched towards me. One of them crashed into me and tilted my head back, my jugular exposed. I was definitely going to become monkey-chow. Monkey meat. I started to cry.

I knew this was the end.

Goodbye Mom. Goodbye Dad. Goodbye brother. Goodbye friends. Goodbye world.

And then I was still alive.

The monkeys were hooting cheerfully and playing with my hair.

I had 6 of the baby monkeys all climbing around on me, hooting playfully, grooming me, and smooching my ear.

I WAS ALIVE :'''D

The zookeepers rushed in and took the animals back to their cages and escorted me back to the school group.

I glared at Sally. She grinned at me sheepishly.

One thing for sure, I was never going to believe her again when she had her little "psychic" predictions. :p