On our off time we would go exploring, play with the monkeys, discover the different bugs and plants around us. We were awestruck by the beauty and size of the forest. They had a primate in captivity at the facility, something happened to it when it was a baby. It knew sign language and since my Aunt is deaf, so did I. The monkey and I got along right away. We taught Kyle some sign language too.”
“He loved you then,” Penny says winking at me. “No man would sit around learning sign language from a monkey if he didn’t love the girl.”
“He did love me then.” I smile. “I turned him down though. It took a long time and a lot of events in my life to finally realize that I loved him. When I did, though, I was head over heels, crazy for the man. He was sweet.”
“And brave,” Theo chimes in.
“He was brave.” I smile again. “He put his life on the line for me, and he was merely a human.”
“I don’t know if I would call him ‘merely’ a human,” she says. “I have come to learn in my time that humans can do some extraordinary things.”
“They can, can’t they?” I reply with a wink.
“My mate, Gus, he was an Opossum too,” she says fondly. “Or is one still I hope. He always looked up to the big cats and dogs.
He wanted to be a hero, not a scrounger like we tend to be. We were gonna have kids, but then he was offered the spot on the Elite, something he never imagined he would be considered for.
Naturally, he jumped right on the opportunity, you know? He said
our children would one day look at him the way he used to look at the big cats.”
She chuckles, shaking her head and sighing.
“I guess it was much more exciting there than with me,” she says.
“He never came back, never said a word, just disappeared. It’s been five years.”
“I’m so sorry,” I reply, frowning and scrunching my face. “That must be so hard on you.”
“It was,” she says with a deep breath, slapping her legs. “But now I have you guys, and y’all are like a big dysfunctional family all on your own. It’s like living at one of our Opossum family reunions.”
“Yeah,” I scoff looking at the guys who are off in their own minds.
“I especially enjoy that big Sebastian,” she says, elbowing me again. “He is quite the beefcake. I bet he is packing something solid in those tight pants if you know what I mean.”
I laugh, looking over at Sebastian, basking in the sunlight, the sweat on his shirtless upper body glistening in the light, his muscles flexing and relaxing, with his chiseled bearded face and tussled hair strewn all about. I can’t help but feel jealous thinking about Sebastian and Penny together. I want him to be happy, sure, but there is a connection between us from when he saved my life. I can’t have him. I can’t betray my husband’s memory like that, but I also can’t help how I feel, and thinking about him with someone else pierces me deep down inside.
“But he’s a dog, and he is playing hard to get big time,” Penny says sighing as she looks over at his perfect physique.
“He is definitely a good guy,” I reply, standing up. “Hey, I have a question. So as an Opossum, do you have other traits of one, like in your human form?”
“I’m a pretty badass climber,” she says with a twinkle in her eye. “You want to race up that tree?”
I look over at a large and very old tree sprouting up in the center of the arena. I follow the roots from the base all the way up to the top, watching its branches sway in the breeze. I smirk, knowing the guys will hate it but it seems like a fun idea.
“Alright,” I say. “Let’s do it.”
“Woohoo,” she says, standing up and smoothing down her shirt.
“Alright boys, gather round, we are about to have a race.”
The guys look up to figure out what is going on as Penny and I perch at the edge of the arena, ready to take off running. She counts down from five and then throws her arm up in the air, taking off through the broken stone and dirt. I take off at the same time, admiring how damn fast she is. I lunge toward the tree and grab on tightly, making my way up as fast as I can. She is like a speed demon, racing up through the branches, laughing as she goes, her dark hair fluttering behind her. When I get about halfway up, I stop, standing on a medium-sized branch, looking up at the canopy.
“I win,” she says laughing, looking down from the top. “That was a good try though for a mutant human.”
I start to laugh, carefully moving my feet and stabilizing myself. As I reach for another branch to start heading down, I hear a small snap. I pause for a moment, bouncing lightly up and down to make sure I am steady. Nothing else makes a sound so I shrug and keep moving. Before I can reach the trunk of the tree, though, a loud crack echoes through the arena and my branch, the one holding me up in the air breaks like a twig. My arms fly up in the air as I topple downward, seeing the branches of the tree fly by me as I fall. I look down at the ground and close my eyes tightly, waiting for impact, but it never comes, not on the ground anyway.
Theo catches me in his arms, grunting as I land, opening my eyes and looking over at him. He looks mad, but I’m not, that was a major thrill. I smile and laugh, looking up at Penny as she races down, worry covering her face. She jumps from high up and lands on her feet, coming over to check on me.