Clova *COMPLETE*

Chapter 14- Who Am I?

After a long hard day, the sky got dim, streams of pink and orange flashed the evening sky as the sun set. Clova sat on the roof of her hut and admired the sky's natural colours, she sighed at the beautiful scenery. She was brought out of her gaze when she heard a rustle, she turned around and saw Blue Eyes climb up and sit beside her.

"What are you doing up here?", he asked.

"Looking at the sunset.", she replied.

They both turned their attention to the sun and watched as it was slowly devoured by the horizon. It was silent as they watched the remaining beams of sunlight disappear and gave rise to the night sky, Blue Eyes never paid attention to the sundown before and had to admit, it was beautiful.

As it got darker, dim sparks of orange lights appeared in the distance by the wrecked bridge. Clova squinted her eyes as she tried to get a better view, Blue Eyes noticed her strained expression.

"Are you okay? Your face is weird.", he teased. Clova playfully rolled her eyes and nudged him gently in the arm.

"What is that?", she signed as she pointed to the group of unusual lights. Blue Eyes followed her finger and knew what she meant.

"That's the city.", he answered, "the lights must go on automatically because there are no more humans."

Clova looked puzzled. "Humans?", she questioned curiously. Blue Eyes looked back at her and smiled gently.

"Like you.", he signed. Clova looked shocked then sad, she looked at her hands compared to Blue Eyes and unlike him, she had no fur or facial hair, her ears were not as big and her toes were different. Clova always knew she was different but still thought herself as an ape.

"So...I'm not an ape?", she signed sadly.

Blue Eyes shook his head. "You are ape, in here,", he gestured to her heart, "and here.", he pointed to her head. Clova gave a genuine smile at his words and felt a lot better. He then ruffled her hair and she frowned at him, causing him to chuckle. They noticed the sky was almost pitch black and the apes lit their torches.

"Time to go down.", he announced. As he was about to climb down, he looked at Clova.

"Need help?", he asked. Clova stubbornly shook her head.

"Don't need help, I'm an ape!", she signed confidently.

Blue Eyes laughed at her confidence and allowed her to climb down herself. When they dropped down to their porch and entered the hut, Cornelius ate a pear as he rested on Cornelia's arm and Caesar sat by them. Clova plopped down in front of them, who immediately grabbed their attention. Cornelius, overjoyed with her presence climbed her like a tower, he moved in between her arms like a monkey bar.

"Where have you been?", chittered Cornelius.

"On the roof with Blue Eyes.", she answered.

"Why were you up there?", Cornelia asked.

"Just watching the sunset, Blue Eyes joined me.", she signed then pointed to her brother as he sat in a corner breaking twigs.

Clova sprung up which caused Cornelius to jump off her back in surprise, she walked over to Caesar with an excited thought on her mind.

"Father, are we going out again tomorrow?", she asked, her face was lit up with hope and adventure. Caesar shook his head.

"No, practice speaking tomorrow.", he said.

Clova frowned in disappointment, she didn't like speaking as it was so difficult. "Why can't I just use sign?", she complained.

"Must use speech too.", he simply replied. Clova sighed loudly, not keen on her lessons tomorrow.