I was dreaming again as I slept; I was deep in sleep, snuggled in for the day against the rough bark of a limb I could wrap my arms and legs around, to grab if needed. I thrash when I am restless. I was in a place that only exists in my mind. I was looking at the most beautiful woman that I had ever seen; I was watching her dance and sing; the sound of her voice was mesmerizing, it was hypnotic,...

Weary from the exertions of the ascent, I paused to rest, and became aware of the air slowly beginning to warm around me. I knew then that dawn was approaching, though I had not seen much more of the night sky then a few stars here and there as openings in the forest canopy had allowed. I began to think of shelter and security for the coming day, a place of concealment to lay up and lick my...

Onward beneath the shaded canopy of the heavily wooded mountainside underneath the growing night sky I moved, cautiously; upward, ever upward into the mountain, toward the stars I hoped would greet me at the summit. My instincts would have told me to travel downhill toward water instead of uphill, and further from it. My mind however, told me otherwise because I did not know where I was, and had...

Traveling downhill was generally much easier than traveling uphill, depending on the season and the terrain. I considered this, as well as what I knew of other animals such as myself, animals such as those likely to be following me, and what also they knew of us as a species; and what they knew of me in particular. Of these things, these animals; it could be fairly said that for the most part,...

I awoke with a sudden jolt of adrenaline, startled by a noise of unknown origin from further within the unseen recesses of cool and gloomy cavern where I had sought refuge; reborn from hellish nightmares, terrible visions from long ago, once again into a hellish current reality. I was cold, and naked; my mind was in utter chaos, and my body was wracked with intense pain, fresh wounds compounding...