Jane

Chapter Two

  "You really are coming?" Clayton groans as if he could possibly change my mind on the matters.

"Of course I am going to come. Did you really think you were going to change my mind?" I reply with a wink his way. I hand over my luggage for him to carry for me like a true gentlemen should do for his fiancé.

I hear him mutter "Twice the work..." or something to that effect under his breath. I roll my eyes as I follow him out to the large front yard we had outside. There was his fancy little jet plane waiting to take off with us. Clayton lugs my things to the plane. Our butler was helping father with his many bags.

"Jane dear do you have everything you need? We will not be back until fall now!" my father warns me sternly. I nod.

"I think I do. I am so ready for this adventure!" I exclaim happily. Suddenly Clayton leads me aside to chat with me privately.

"What is it?" I hiss at him. "I am not changing my mind" I warn him sternly.

He was holding my wrist a little too tight here.

His eyes locked with mine. Anger flashes in them.

"Jane...you are so stubborn! I am not going to be in some rain forest all summer long! I will be heading back to the home state. Then what? Who will protect your scrawny neck?" he challenges me.

"I will do just fine thank you. I did bring my pepper spray" I remark. I turn to head in the plane with my father.

"Jane...pepper spray? Are you going to spritz a panther? Or a wild boar? There are more than cute little monkey's in the jungle you know" he warns me.

"Yes I know Clayton! Can we go now?" I grunt with annoyance.

He was really starting to get on my bad side. Always telling me what to do! That was a big turn off. I sure hoped he did not plan on me to be the sweet, quite little wify that would always stay at home while he was away at whatever he was doing! Not going to happen!!

"Anything else? Would you like to get your club to hit me over the head with and carry me off to your man cave?" I snicker at him. He frowns looking even more furious with me.

"Jane..."

I turn and head to the plane. He follows after me. I go to climb up on the plane. I nearly slip. Clayton helps me up into the plane. I scramble up with my father's help as he and Clayton work to get my booty in the plane. Finally I was in.

Clayton manages to climb into the plane just fine. I hoped we had good weather for flying. Clayton hopped up in the front of the mini plane with the other guy who was doing all the flying. Clayton was navigating.

"Buckle up" Clayton warns me as he turns his head around to look at me.

"I know" I sigh as I roll my eyes.

I was thirty years old. I could handle riding in a dumb plane.

Thankfully the plane ride went smoothly for the most part. It was sure a long flight. I had brought snacks along for father, Clayton and myself. Around noon I had father a lunch I had made for him. He smiled gratefully and took the meal from me.

"Thanks dear girl! When did you have time for all this?" wonders father as he wolf's down his little bag of chips I had given to him in his meal.

"While you and Clayton were arguing about the best route to fly out" I remark with a smile. Clayton glances over at me curiously. I wink at him. I hand him a lunch to.

"What is in there?" he warns me before taking what I made for him.

"A classic PB & J why? Also a bag of chips" I explain.

"Sorry nope. Those have way too many carbs for me" he chuckles.

"What are you planning on eating while we are over hear this summer? Take out?" I laugh as I shake my head. He was so picky!

"Fish,  those kinds of things! You know grilling food is very healthy for you" he tells me. "You should be more aware of what you eat. You might pack on the pounds before our wedding day. After all you take after your mother. Or tend to. I saw her photos" he has to point out.

An anger glow rises to my cheeks. How dare he? So what my mother had been a little plump! That did not mean I was going to be a cheeky chub to! My father was as skinny as a rail. And he ate like food was going out of style!

"Jane?"

"What Clayton?" I mutter.

"You're um...zipper" he chuckles. "It is down" he laughs.

I quickly glance down at my shorts I had on. Sure enough he was right. My zipper was down. I fume inside. I zip up my zipper tugging at it to pull it up. I had bought these shorts last summer. They should still fit me. I had not gained a lot. Not that much.

"Oh do shut up" I snap at Clayton. He looks out the window in the front. I hear him hold back snorts of laughter from coming out of his lips. I lightly smack the back of his head for it.

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Before long on the flight my father falls asleep. His head slides over to my shoulder. Before I knew what was happening he is snoring on me. I sigh. I glance over at my iPhone. It was soon going dead on me. I had four calls from aunt Bea already. I rummage for my battery juice pack charger to save my battery on my phone. There was no telling when I was going to be able to charge it again next once we landed out in the rain forest.

Before I knew it I was sleeping to. Snoozing. I was trying so hard to stay awake so I could see it all when we landed. But sadly I did not get to do that. Clayton did not bother to wake me either. The jerk.

"Jane...Mr. Porter we are here now sir" I hear Clayton saying to us. He was right by my face when my eyes flutter open.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I yawn as my mouth opens sleepily.

"Why? Why wake you. You will need your sleep" he laughs.

"What do you mean by that?" I wonder. He hands his hand out to me as he helps me out of the plane carefully.

"I mean you will be in a new area. Sleeping in a tent. A very small tent. With bugs that crawl about. Animals hoot and chatter in the middle of the night dear girl. Do you really think you will be able to sleep?" he challenges me.

"I have my head phones. My phone is charged" I tell him.

"No Wi-Fi here dear" he laughs. I groan. I forgot about all that. I should have brought an iPod or something with the ability to play music.

"Whatever. I will do just fine. Wait and see" I promise him. I look about me. We were on a little boating dock where the plane had landed. There was beauty all around me. There was a small little town we had landed at. We were about to head far into the jungle lands. There were men here with a jeep to take us out to our camping area.

The men there gather our luggage up. Then load it into the jeeps. There were three of them. One for all our things. Then the others were to take us out to the jungle area. I could barely wait to explore out there. I had a strong feeling an adventure was waiting for me out there. Some place.

"Jane? We are heading to camp now. The men have welcomed us here. They said if we need help or if we need to charge anything to taking a shower we can use their resources here in town. They have a public area for guests that come to visit. So you will not have to worry about your little phone dying" jokes Clayton. He smiles at me as he helps me into one of the jeeps.

"Thank you" I say. He nods as he hops in next to me in the jeep. Father was in a jeep over chatting away happily with one of the native men that lived here.

"You are going to stay in the jungle little woman?" a man asks me as he hops in the front seat of the jeep.

"Yes I am staying with my father and my fiancé" I mention.

"Oh no little woman you might want to change your mind" he laughs.

"Why is that?" I ask as I feel my eyebrows raise up.

"There are ghosts in these parts. To savage animals. Wild jungle animals" he warns me.

"I do not believe in such things" I scoff.

"You might after we tell you the tales that happen around here" he chuckles. I sigh. Men.

Men were cave man pigs.

I spot some horrid gangly group of men lugging a poor gorilla in a very large cage. That was not allowed here! I knew my rights! I was going to make sure to report these men! I feel my anger begin to boil inside. I hop out of the jeep and head right over to these men. They poke at the cage, teasing the poor gorilla. The gorilla grunts and leaps about the cage in fear.

"Stop that! I demand you stop this right now!" I yelp with anger at these men.

"What are you going to do about it? Tell my mommy on me?" jokes one of the scrawny men. His beady black eyes glare at me. I get out my hand book out of my purse. I had one on this whole island.

"I know it is illegal to cage endangered animals such as this beautiful gorilla. You better let that poor creature go now!" I demanded.

"What are you doing to do about it?" another man challenges me as he steps over to me while holding an illegal gun with him.

"People know we have landed. I am not afraid of you. I know my rights as well as that animals rights to. You will free her!" I demand with anger.

"Never"

"Do as I say" I challenge them.

"Jane!" calls out Clayton with worry.

"Jane dear come back with us. We need to set up camp before dark" father calls out to me. I was not backing down.

"Free that animal!" I demand.

"Do as the lady says men. She is right" someone pipes up.

A very tall man wearing a simple black shirt with a brown vest over it walks around to me. He was a tall plump, balding man.

"But boss" whimpers the man.

"Let the little lady here do the honors. Let her go" remarks their boss. He was white as father, Clayton and I were. He was not native from this island area.

"Her?" I ask.

"She is a girl. She has been attacking this place sense the day we put everything up here. She is not happy we humans are here. Are you now? We think she is protecting something. A tribe of them..something. We have yet to find it. We wanted to keep her for a few days to find the others. Figuring we could keep them away from us. If we knew where they were located at" he explains to me.

"But it is wrong to move them from whatever home they have. You are not supposed to do that" I argue back.

"Very well. Do not say you were warned. My name is Hank. Hank Crawford. Here are the keys to free her. Do the honor" he snaps as he tosses me the keys to the gorillas' cage. I catch the keys in my hands.

"Jane" worries Clayton.

"I can do this" I promise Clayton.

My heart hammers in my chest. All eyes were on me now. Clayton came to my side to protect me as he waited for me to make the next move. I had not realized how large a gorilla was in real life. I have only saw them in zoos. This one was close up. She was so unhappy. No way was I leaving her there. Even if she chose to kill me in the process of it all. My hands shake as I reach the cage. She does not move. Her brown eyes lock on my own.

"I am here to help you. I am going to set you free" I speak calmly to her.

"They can't understand you" snickers the man with the gun.

"They are very smart, they can so..."

"Jane get it over with will you?" demands a worries Clayton. I nod.

I lift my key to open her cage for her. She still does not move. She snorts out air a little bit from her nose. The cage was a mess. My hands shake the keys as she watches to see what I was going to do around her.

"Hi there. I am going to set you free" I say as my voice trembles lightly.

Show no fear. There was nothing to fear but fear itself. Right?

I sigh deeply. Here goes nothing.

I hear the door click as I unlock it. I glance behind me. All the men had hid over by the one little building by the docks they had. I hear the steel creek as I open the door up. She is still giving me a stare down here. My heart hammers so loudly in my ears I could not hear anything around me now.

"Hi there. You are free now...you can go" I promise her softly in a sweet voice to sooth her. Nothing. I back over away from the door a little to give her space. She curiously looks around for the men who captured her. She makes her way nearly out of the cage. She makes her way over to me!

My heart skips a beat.

"JANE!" I hear Clayton yelp with fear.

"Do not move. Do not do anything. I am fine" I say to Clayton in a clam voice. He nods as he waits.

The gorilla gets right up in my face. I was not sure what to expect her to do next. It was her move now. My heart was racing so fast. Oh boy. I never had been so close to any wild life. This was not the adventure I had in mind for my summer. Her eyes burned an angry gaze into mine. Unsure what she planned for me. She sniffs me next causing me to shake a bit.

"You are free now. Go" I demand to her softly.

My hands shake.

She snorts angrily right in my face. Some of her spit splatters on my face. This was it. I was going to die. I close my eyes and brace myself for the worst. Then I hear her rustle. Making a noise. I open my eyes to see her leap off into the jungle area. I sigh deeply. I nearly pass out from the fear I just held in.

"JANE!" cries my father. Clayton catches me in his embrace.

"You know crazy girl when I do head back to our home you are more than welcome to go back with me" he reminds me.

"Never" I say with a grin. He laughs as he shakes his head.

"You did a terrible thing. She has attacked us many times here. She will be after you next" Hank warns us.

"We will be fine. She will not harm a fly" I lie. I did not know that. My only hope was the gorilla would not come back to kill me in my sleep.

Later on we made our way to our spot in the woods. Clayton and the men set up camp. I helped father unpack our belongings. Clayton and I did a bit of fishing in the river. Then we fried up dinner. I yawned feeling so very tired. We all went to our little tents for the night.

"Jane?" calls out Clayton.

"Yes?" I call back as we prepare to go to bed.

"Sweet dreams. If you need me I am here" he vows.

"Thank you I know" I reply. I scramble in my tent. The campfire died down for the night. The night sky was so different from ours. Not a cloud around in sight. You can see every single star from miles around. I change my clothing for the night in my little tent. I spray one more round of bug spray on me for the night. We had bug nets up to keep safe. I wondered how well they really worked. I soon lay on my little flatable mattress. It was not cozy. I roll about trying to get rest. I sigh as I lay back down. I could hear crickets singing. Noises all around. Clayton had been right.

"Hoo....hoo...hoo..."

"Eh, eh eh..."

"Oh do shut up" I mutter as I place my pillow over my head. I groan.

I roll over again on my other side.

Hisssss....

What was that?

My mattress was deflating down. I moan. I get my flash light out. I somehow had a twig poked a hole in the side. Causing the air to leak out on me. Wonderful. I sink to the ground now. Tears water in my eyes. It was hot and muggy. I considered sleeping in nothing at all. I was that hot. Sweat dripped down my forehead. I wipe it away. I knew there was a little river not too far. I could sneak in a midnight swim. Did I dare try? I peak my head out of the tent. Father and Clayton seemed to be in bed for the night. I glance over to the trail. I hear a rustling noise over in the bushes.

"Clayton is that you?" I whisper softly so I did not wake anyone.

Nothing.

I hear it again soon after. Over in another area. As if someone was watching us.

Was it the men in the village trying to spook me for setting the gorilla free?

"I am not afraid of you!" I warn softly. I grab my pepper spray from my tent.

Nothing again. I sigh.

I pop my head back in my tent and decide it was not a good idea to take a midnight swim out here in the rain forest alone!

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