Cleo’s heart settled when he saw the one responsible. Now that he thought about it, the possibility of monkeys appearing in the area would be quite high, if he considered all the banana trees there. Although his heart rate dropped, he decided to stay hidden and observed the monkey. His action might have looked counterproductive, as time was of the essence. However, the monkey might be startled and attack him if he moved suddenly.

The monkey’s actions seemed weird, as it limped like an old man. The monkey looked young though, Cleo wondered what had happened to it.

"Is it injured?"

He squinted, trying to discern if the monkey had any injuries. And sure enough, the monkey really had a severe injury to its torso, as its brown fur was stained with blood. The wound was long, like it was clawed by a tiger, but no blood came out of it. It appeared the monkey received it several days ago, as a sign of a scab was already forming on the wound.

The monkey looked at the banana trees, and when it saw the banana hanging on the trees it tried to climb it. However, it was exhausted and couldn’t even lift itself. How could a monkey survive the wild if it couldn’t do what it was best at?

Shaking his head, he decided to leave because there was no reason to fear the monkey anymore. As he stood, the sound he caused alerted the monkey, it whirled its head and looked at him. Their eyes met and lingered for a few seconds before the monkey reacted. It screeched in a threatening way; even though he couldn’t understand what it was trying to say, the meaning behind its action was obvious. He was sure the monkey warned him not to get closer. It didn’t need to threaten him, as he had no intention of doing that anyway.

Stepping backward, he raised his hands, recalling something he had read long ago. Showing palms to a person would make them less cautious of him. The problem was that the one in front of him was not a person but a monkey. The moment he raised his hand, the monkey intensified its screeching, showing its bravado.

"Hey, chill, I don’t have any intention to fight. I’m just going to take my things and leave."

Cleo proceeded with his retreat, while his eyes never left the monkey. When his feet touched the things he had gathered, he slowly crouched and picked up all the items from the ground. Because it was difficult to take them without looking, he removed his gaze from the monkey and glanced at the materials for a brief moment.

However, when he raised his sight again, the monkey was gone. In his panic, his head moved so fast that he scanned the area in an instant. To his relief, he saw the monkey lying on the grassy ground, unconscious. It appeared the last of its energy was exhausted when it screeched at him.

The monkey looked so pitiful that his heart told him to care for it. Shaking his head, he forced the idea to the bottom of his mind. How could he take care of it if he couldn’t even take care of himself?

Turning around, he started walking back in the direction of his camp. But every step he took built a heavy weight inside him. As he walked, he started to fidget as the heaviness in his heart began to bother him. His brain advised him that it was a bad idea, but his heart coerced him to oblige.

"What is wrong with me? How can I bring a wild animal with me?... Yes, it does look pitiful, but still!"

Glancing behind him, he saw the monkey’s rigid breathing as if it was going to die at any moment. When the weight in his heart finally overwhelmed him, he stopped and stood there for a moment. After releasing a mouthful of air together with his frustration, he changed his course back to the monkey.

"Fine!"

Although he decided to help the monkey, he still walked to it with a lot of caution. But it seemed the monkey had no inclination to wake up because no matter how close he got, it didn’t react and stay still.

Cleo stopped and assessed the monkey when he was about a few steps away from it. Now that he saw it closer, he realized the monkey’s body was thin. It appeared its exhaustion came from starvation, remembering how hard it was for the monkey to climb a tree, he could understand how it led to this situation.

Grasping the difficulties the monkey suffered, he couldn’t help but relate himself to it, as their situation was almost the same. Almost.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

He walked closer and crouched down beside the monkey. Seeing the wound, he was surprised the monkey had survived this long. What were the chances for a human to be stranded on this island and meet a severely injured monkey? If someone asked him that question, he would say it was almost impossible, yet here he was, saving it just because he felt bad. Faith was the only thing he could think of, seeing both of their strings intertwined.

Now, how should he bring the monkey with him? Looking at the things in his embrace, he sighed and decided to leave some of them behind and come back for them later. After letting go of all the wood, he lifted the monkey on top of the banana leaves, like carrying a baby in his embrace. With all of that, he ran back to his camp in a hurry, as he needed to come back for the things he left behind.

A few minutes later, he arrived at his camp. He lowered the injured monkey on the grass and returned to the forest. After a while, he returned with the wood while panting, as he ran back and forth without stopping. Deciding that he needed some rest, he sat beside the monkey, looked at it, and realized he didn’t have any idea how to take care of an injured animal.

"What am I going to do with you?"

With all the things that happened, he finally managed to gather all the materials he needed to build a shelter. The only thing he had to do was to build one. Staring at the open space, he didn’t know how to begin his project. It seemed easy and simple when he imagined it, but now that he needed to actually build it, he found himself at a loss for what to do first.

"There’s no point thinking about it too much. I will try and experiment until I make one."

Standing, he started his project. First, he tried to use two long sticks and lean them against each other to form a triangular shape. But they need more support for them not to fall. Therefore, he decided that tying them together might be the best idea. Looking for something to use as a rope, his sight fell on the clothes he would never use. With scissors, he could cut them up and make them easy to use as a rope.

He let go of the two sticks and prioritized making a rope first. He took out some dresses with strong fabric from the baggage and then cut them with scissors to make them longer. It took him some time, but he made at least 20 of them to make sure he had enough.

After that, he tied the two long sticks together. But then he realized that even tying them together was not enough for them to stand on their own.

"What should I do next? How can I make them stand? I can probably use another stick to support the two… but is that the best idea though?"

As he contemplated, an imaginary light bulb lit up on top of his head. While he was staring at the sticks that were lying on the ground, the idea of using the dirt itself to support the two sticks hit him. He could dig two holes and put the sticks inside, making them stand on their own! He was proud of himself for the idea and proceeded to do it with no hesitation.

Grabbing a smaller piece of wood, he used it as a tool to dig a big enough hole in the ground to use as a foundation for his triangular sticks. The hole he dug was slightly sloped for the triangular shape. After he was done digging the first hole, he tried to see if it was big and deep enough by putting the stick inside. Upon installing the stick inside, he took it out again with an unsatisfied face. The hole was not deep enough for his liking; it needed to be at least two feet deep. He dug again, deepening the hole another one foot deep. After that, he placed the stick once again.

Seeing his idea work, he couldn’t help but smile at this simple accomplishment. After patting himself on the back, he measured where he should dig another hole for the other foot of the triangular sticks. When he was done measuring, he dug again, but this time with an idea of how deep should the hole be.

He stood in front of his creation, satisfied with the outcome. Although it was only a first step, success was a success, no matter how small it was.

Next, he needed something that could hold the cover. Luckily, he already had an idea for that; he intended to lean another stick in the middle of the triangular sticks to make it look like a half-arrowhead. It was simple and easy to implement.

Without wasting any more time, he picked up the longest stick, then placed it on top of the triangular stick, and sloped it down to the ground. It was like what he imagined, simple and easy. However, to make sure it wouldn’t fall, he also tied it to the two sticks. Now the only thing he must do was to find a solution to place all the banana leaves without it falling.

He could probably set smaller sticks as a support and place the banana leaves on top of them. After considering it, he could see it working. That was why he implemented it, copying the hole thingy he made for the triangular sticks. A few minutes later, he made eight support sticks, four for each side, like a rib cage. And for the final touch, he placed the banana leaves on top of them, and another layer of sticks so they wouldn’t fall, completing his shelter.

If earlier he was satisfied. This time he proudly stood in front of the finished project. If he had someone to talk to on the island, he would probably talk about how he made a shelter on his own without any help or guidance. Unfortunately, he had no one besides the sleeping monkey.

When he lost his focus on the shelter building, he finally felt the cold wind of the night. He didn’t even realize how much time had passed due to his focus. Shivering, he decided to make a fire using the mirror he got earlier. Due to successful shelter-making, his confidence was now through the roof. Nothing, was impossible for him today. However, he forgot the crucial ingredient to make fire using the mirror. The Sun!

"No! How can I forget about that?"

All the confidence he had earlier was drained. Such a grievous mistake he made! He must now sleep in the darkness and freezing breath of nature!