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"MA!" Margaret cried when she finally bolted into her mothers arms. "Margaret! Come in, come in!" She grabbed her daughter by her shoulders and pulled her into the wooden shack. Both of them couldn't speak, instead their bodies were shaken with fearful cries as Susan frantically looked around. She released Margaret from her grip and moved to the other side of the room, then started picking up boards laying on the floor. Margaret watched her mother do this a million times and immediately went to the left side of the room to do exactly what she did. They would use the boards to make the walls sturdy, keeping the gorillas from completely eviscerating the walls. Margaret looked to her mother in a frantic state while she did this, and ran over to her when they were done, her dirt ridden soles gliding on the floor. Susan grabbed her daughter's head. "Oh, Margaret. I don't know what to do with this anymore. This - this house!" This was a shack that was used for generations in their family and now it was all that they had left since they were dirt poor. Her husband was a military man who died during combat. Now, they had no support. Still, Susan wanted to hold onto this house that held so many memories of her family. Margaret looked up to her mothers eyes with tears that wanted to spill over like a pot overfilled with boiling water. "I'm afraid."

"This only happens when you come home from school. It - it'll be over soon." Everyone was supposed to be home before the gorillas came out of hiding, but Margaret always seemed to be caught in the throes of terror.

The sounds of pounding and growling surrounded them and made them jump while they held each other, as If they were standing on a boat that was slowly sinking. 

They began to crouch on the floor near the table, still continuing to hold on to each other's arms. A look of fear and dread encapsulated their faces with the worry that they would die. They had to figure out what to do. Thinking, they sat there while the wind blew in and pushed the dust about the creaky floor. The unsteady walls croaked and threatened to collapse and swallow them whole, while the cloth on the table behind them fluttered. Their thoughts were dancing on hot coals of fear and some were bathing in the cold water of hopelessness. There was no movement or sound between them, Then Susan drew in a sharp breath before closing and opening her mouth again.

"I remember how I used to help my siblings and mother and father gather wood for the fire, and how warm the fire was from the cold air of the winter." Susan said quietly. Margaret knew that her mother was trying to comfort her and out of acknowledgement, she looked down and nodded her head. "That sounds…" She wanted to say comforting but couldn't push the words out. Instead there was a silence, or however silent it could become between them. Susan went on.  

"I remember my Grandfather's portrait on the wall and how it slowly eroded until it was all but just gray dust with a semblance of a face….I loved that portrait but, my Grandfather took it with him when…when he moved." 

Margaret could barely respond, instead she was thinking of a gorilla crashing in and ripping through everything, coating their garments with red an-

Her mother had stopped talking again. She looked up at her again.

"Why did father have to die before we leave." 

Susan quickly looked down at Margaret, then at the door again, internally debating on what to say. "I- you - your father he." A pause. "It's all of his fault. All of it."

"What do you mean?" A shrill - like stab rushed through her body.

"They - the military, they didn't want to get rid of the gorillas. All because of a stupid experiment even if they can get rid of them, and your father - he left us for this!" A tear escaped her eye before she broke down, like a dam being exploded from a rushing river.

"What - what ma?" Her daughter's sweat - stained face searched for an answer as she felt herself slipping away within the enraged bellowing outside.

"I- I didn't want to wait and tell you Margaret! I just believed I needed to!" 

"Why didn't you tell me?" A hot rush of tears coated her cheeks.

"Margaret… come here, I'm so so sorry." She grabbed her daughter's stiff head and ran her hands through her brunette strands. Margaret didn't want to be comforted right now, especially after what her mother just told her, but she was too faint - too fearful of everything else happening around her to protest. She weakley fell into her mothers body. 

"CRAACK!" The dreadful sound of wood breaking made them sit up and look at the wall, where the sound of fists pounding the floor rebounded off of the walls. A gorilla had barged in and was galloping towards them.

"MA!" Margaret fell over a chair trying to hold onto her mother and ended up on the ground. "Margaret! No!" Susan rushed down and tried to drag Margaret away from the animal, but to no avail. The tar - colored behemoth was already chewing on Margaret's skirt. "Get off of my daughter!" Susan belted. She started swatting at the animal with feeble attempts to hurt it. Margaret was trying to fight back and - 

"CLICK" The picture faded out on the television on the command of a remote in a little boy's hand. He sat there and frowned. "Johnny!" His mother quickly walked in, then bent down to get his attention. "I told you not to watch shows like this!" She grabbed the remote from his hand. "Do you promise not to use the remote without my permission again?"

He nodded his head.

"Great. Now, I have some ice cream ready in the kitchen. let's go eat some!" 

She picked him up from the floor, taking him away from the silent television.