Dope Monkeys

DOPE MONKEYS

Slowly, my eyes opened. All around me was fire. Looking down I saw that my seatbelt was still fastened around my waist
although the fabric had torn slightly during the crash.

After a look around me, I assumed that the rest of the passengers had perished either by the impact of the crash itself or the
fire that followed. This was the point at which I was truly thankful for my traveling alone and my knowing that those whom
I loved were still safe in their homes.

The seatbelt squeaked as I undid it. The flames were coming from both the back and the front of the plane and therefore my
only hope of survival was the middle exit, so I ran into the isle and choked on the dense smoke which was filling my lungs.
I fell to the floor and crawled as fast as I could towards the exit. I was there in no time at all, but the fire was rapidly
catching up with me. My eyes hovered over the instructions for the door for a moment. I reached out and grabbed the
smooth gray lever before me, and tugged it as hard as I could in an anti-clockwise direction. It jolted towards me and with
one last jerk, the it swung inwards to reveal rays of sunlight.

I glanced around me. The fire was nearly up to where I had been sitting during the flight. I could see my smart black back-
pack only about ten feet away from me. Without thinking, I ran forwards, seized my bag and on the way back to the door I
grabbed three others. I hoisted myself and the four surprisingly heavy bags out onto the wing of the plane. A sudden chill
fell over me but before I had time to notice I was making my way down the wing.

I don’t think I had ever jumped from such a height in my life, yet still after the crash, the fire and the jump I seemed to be
completely unharmed except a small gash on my shoulder.

All I was telling myself was “I have to get away from the plane. I have to get away from the plane.” It was all I could think
of because I was terrified that the entire mass of metal would explode and kill me. I ran.

Finally, I halted to catch my breath. My surroundings were most bizarre. I could still see the plane but it was far away now
and if I looked in the other directions, there was a coast one way, and what looked like a dense pine and evergreen forest the
other way. As my heart rate returned to normal, the chill caught up with me which made me realize that I had been running
through at least three feet of snow! I walked over to a boulder about the same size as me which I then climbed onto. From
this, I was able to climb to a higher boulder and then a higher one and an even higher one after that. From this point I could
just about make out that I was on an island, and from what I could see, apart from the coast on which I was on one end and
the plane was on the far end, there was nothing on this island but forest.

The gash on my bare shoulder had got bigger since I had slung three heavy bags onto it. My knees hit the freezing stone
with a thud. I pulled the three bags from my now bleeding shoulder and another from round my neck, and I put them all in a
heap in front of me. From mine I withdrew a thick woolen jumper which I then pulled over my head and over my vivid
green tee-shirt. The contents of the other bags were interesting. I made a pile for food and other useful objects, and then
another pile for things which would be of absolutely no use to me what so ever. In one pile there were two lighters, three
sandwiches, a packet of crisps, three bottles of water, two mobile phones, a penknife and a set of keys attached to a small
torch and compass. The other pile was far smaller. Empty food wrappers, a wallet containing $20, a map of Holland and an
autobiography by an unheard of singer.

The useful things I scooped into my bag and everything else I left where it was. I reached into my back pocket and
withdrew my phone which was turned off. I pressed the on button and desperately hoped there would be some signal on this
island but alas, no such luck. My fingers had started to go numb by this point so I decided to go down to the edge of the
forest and make shelter for the night.

I don’t remember what happened next, all I know is that I awoke somewhere deep in the forest, on a bed of feathers and
leaves, surrounded by monkeys. As anyone would have done, I thought I was dreaming, for this was all far to unreal, so I
pinched myself and that I was quite awake. The monkeys, I could not have specified what type of monkeys they were but
they were big, yet not as big as a gorilla would have been but bigger than a chimp. The strange thing was that they were all
silent, motionless and green. They blended in so well with the trees ... At first I thought I was hallucinating but it became
clear that there were really monkeys around me when one of them slowly came up to me and took my hand. I was shocked.
No animal except my cat and dog had ever touched me before. The monkey looked at my hand which he was holding in his.
He turned it over, and ran his index finger over my palm which reminded me of an old woman that once told my future by
doing a similar thing. He let go of my hand and looked up at me. His huge amber eyes met mine and we stood there looking
at each other for a minute. Something, I do not know what, startled this beast and he retreated to where the others were.
There were at ;east a hundred of them, all looking interestedly at me. I stood where I was staring back at them. I became
aware of something in front of me and slowly I turned my head.

The most magnificent sight ever I had seen. A gigantic monkey, green and beautiful, twice my size stood before me. There
was a sort of crown resting upon his head. It reminded me of Christ’s crown of thorns, but it was beautiful not horrific. In
the place of thorns, there were white and silver crystals that glittered magnificently.

To my utter astonishment and disbelief, words of the Queen’s English escaped the lips of this beast.

“We mean you no harm. What brings you to our island?”

I gaped.

“I understand. You are in shock.” A huge green arm gestured towards the tree tops. “Let us take you into our hospitality.
Then you can rest, eat and drink and maybe you shall come to terms and believe we are real”.

If such things are possible, a smile spread across the weathered face of the creature and then everything went black.