Luke, Resus, Cleo and I lived in the deepest parts of Africa, in our favourite spot in the Grasslands. All naked and with no shame, we lived amongst grass and water in the most secluded place on earth. We’d play together almost every day. We’d hide amongst the grasses and laugh as we tried to pounce onto each other, hunting and playing amongst the spindly yellow grasses. There was a water hole in the middle of the Grasslands, and we’d splash each other and play in the cool water until we were refreshed from the African heat. We’d never have another life like this - it was grand living in Africa as wild children. Our days were full of fun and caring for nature.
One day, we were playing in the water hole. Luke, Resus, Cleo and I kept splashing each other and laughing, enjoying the coolness of fresh, wild water. Luke hid underwater, and I tried to catch him. When I did, he lifted me up in a huge bear hug. Cleo just wanted to lie down on top of the water and relax. Resus wanted to look at all the animals that had come near the water hole to drink. Just then, an elephant came by and dipped its trunk into the water. It began to drink, and we screamed and made a dash for it into the grass, laughing and hugging each other. “That elephant didn’t know what came over it!” I laughed. “Yeah, it was good of us to make a run for it before the elephant drank our water.” said Luke. “Now, Luke, remember we have to share with all the animals. It’s not just our water hole.” “Okay, Vi.” sighed Luke.
Suddenly, we heard a snarl which made us freeze in our tracks. “What’s that?!” I whimpered. “Keep still,” whispered Cleo, “It may eat us.” We kept as still as a tickbird on ice just a black, furry head with purple, pupiless eyes peered out of the grassy plains. It growled, showing hundreds of sharp white teeth. It prowled across the grass, closer and closer towards us…and then, it roared. Luke, Resus, Cleo and I screamed and ran for it across the grass, trying our best to avoid the hyena as possible. “What is that?!” I said for the second time that day. “That’s the black hyena,” said Resus, “Long ago, in Africa, people feared humans turning into hyenas.” “Beats me, I’m a werewolf and this doesn’t happen to me!” shouted Luke, but suddenly the black hyena bit into his leg, causing blood to run out. Angered, Luke began to transform, until he was a werewolf (think of it as his werewolf form but not wearing any trousers)!
Luke and the hyena slashed at each other and bit into each other’s necks as Resus, Cleo and I watched on in terror. I hid behind Cleo’s legs and began wailing in fright. Luke bit into the hyena’s left leg, causing him to howl in pain. The hyena scratched his cheek, drawing blood, and then scratched down his back, causing him to howl in pain. Luke transformed back into a human and ran for his life with us just as the hyena barked and howled up at the sun. Now there we were, striding through the desert, surviving sandstorms and quite out of breath. We slid down sand dunes and wandered through canyons, as the beating hot sun shone down on us like a giant spotlight on a sandy sound stage.
Wandering through a rocky plain, our feet were hurting like crazy. Suddenly, we tripped. Cleo grazed her knee, drawing sand. She began to sob. We were almost thin from not eating too much, and our ribs were beginning to show. “This is it,” I said with a croaky, dry-throated voice, “We’ve reached the end of the line.” “This rocky plain is our death,” wailed Resus, “Now we have nothing to eat or drink.” “We’re cast-outs. What’s happened to us?” “I don’t know,” said Luke, “I can’t change into a werewolf anymore until I’ve had something to eat.” Suddenly, we heard a loud roar in the distance, and saw a lion’s shadow approaching us. “Finally…help…” I croaked, and we all collapsed onto the ground.
When we woke up, we found ourselves in a cool shade. A friendly yellow face was looking down at us, along with another face which didn’t have a mane. Three cutie pie faces were looking down at us too. We woke to find that it was a pride of lions who were staring down at us. The lion had saved our lives! “Thank you, lion, you really saved us.” I said in relief. The lioness brought out a huge slab of meat which she hunted and killed herself. “Yum!” I cried. “Food at last!” cried Resus, and the cubs joined us in tucking in. Since it was raw, we didn’t mind our food this way. Impala meat was all we ate back in our home, and we enjoyed it fully. The meat was as filling as any of the food back home. What’s even better was that we were in our new home - the jungle. The jungle was far away from the Grasslands, but it was worth the walk, for there were fresh flowers everywhere and everything was leafy green.
The lion and his pride lead us to a huge clean pool, with water as fresh as lemonade. Luke, Resus, Cleo and I immediately jumped in. Our skin was dry from walking so much, and our feet were covered with sand, but a dip in the pool managed to make us feel better. The cubs joined us and splashed us as the lion and his mate watched gently. It was then that it was decided almost immediately as it began - the lion and his pride will adopt us as their children.
We began to like our new life in the jungle. Our mother and father were very kind to us, and the three cubs thought of us as their brothers and sisters. There was impala meat for whenever we felt hungry, plus there was honey from the wild bees - as long as we didn’t get stung, that is. Whenever we felt dirty from playing in the mud, or hot from the warm sun, we swam in the forest pools. “So cool…” I thought as I lay in the water beside Cleo. We played with the lion cubs every day. We played tag and hide and seek and swung on jungle vines.It was all peaceful in our jungle home, no one to disturb us or anything, and our life remained truly tranquil and full of pride.
One day, the family took us to Zengwe Rock. It was an idyllic place just over the jungle, with lots of lions lazing about and lion cubs playing and tumbling, squealing and roaring. It was like this group of lions was one big pride. We had fun playing with the cubs, trying to chase them around the sleeping lions. At one point, Resus picked up two lion cubs by the scruff of their necks, noticing they were fighting over who got a scrap of meat. That’s how lion cubs usually behave, what with growling and tumbling and scratching each other. Zengwe Rock truly was our place. When we felt lazy and sleepy from the warm African sun, we snuggled up next to our father and fell fast asleep, as sounds of lions growling softly filled the air. It was our favourite place. The leader of the pride of lions, Kiongozi, never commanded us or was cruel to us, and always slept on a huge rock that overlooked the pride. He was one lounging leader to us, and his fur was very snuggly and soft, like all the other lions in the pride.
When we were a bit older, we were taught how to hunt by our father. Our first target was a zebra, and we tried to catch it with our hands and mouths, but being humans, we felt a little silly and stupid. We were different from the rest of the pride, and life being human members of an animal family. For each attempt, we failed, but we never gave up. We sharpened rocks and tied them against twigs to make spears to hunt our prey, and the next time our hunting lessons commenced, we threw our spears at the zebra and returned its carcass to the pride. We celebrated like there was no tomorrow, and we ate like a real lion pride too. We have never eaten such a big catch in ages, especially when our spears came in useful.
The only piece of trouble started when we became adults. We were resting outside the cave when we heard roaring coming from Zengwe Rock. We followed the roaring noise through the bushes, and saw that lots of lions were gathered, roaring as a familiar foe fought with Kiongozi, scratching at him with his sharp claws. It was the Black Hyena! He had returned for revenge! Seeing our pride in danger, we knew what to do. We grabbed our spears and struck some sticks against the side of a tree, turning them into fire torches. We raced across the jungle, screaming and roaring.
We approached Zengwe Rock, ready for action. I leapt at the Black Hyena and struck him in the side with my fire torch, causing him to howl in pain. Luke, Resus and Cleo threw their spears at the Black Hyena, stabbing him in the side causing blood to spew out. He fell to the ground and looked up weakly, his vision blurry, as I lifted my spear up. The hyena let out one last squeal as I stabbed him in the heart with my spear. Thunder flashed, and it started to rain. Luke, Resus, Cleo, their pride and me gathered around the dead hyena. As if by magic, he began to morph, and his fur began to disappear. It was a human. He had been the hyena all this time. “We must leave him to die,” said Kiongozi mournfully, “It was thanks to our honorary pride members that we escaped grave danger.” The pride roared in celebration, and we leapt down to receive ovations and congratulations from our lion friends. We had never received a hero’s welcome in ages.
A few days later, our father and mother took us out of the jungle, through the vast desert and back into our home. It looked the same as it was before we were sent into exile - long, golden grass, blue skies and lots of animals roaming freely. We were in tears seeing our old home. “We saved it,” I wept. “Of course we did, don’t you make us cry now,” said Resus. “Thank you for looking after us,” I said, hugging the father lion goodbye. As Luke, Resus, Cleo and I left, we couldn’t help running back for one last hug. As our foster parents ran back to the jungle, we raced towards the water hole we had forgotten and dived in, feeling the cool water once again and splashing each other as if there were no tomorrow. Our home, which had been forgotten about for many years, was ours once again.
The Black Hyena is now history.
THE END.
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