Annabelle in Danger

Annabelle went exploring around the jungle one day, she wandered around the bottom of the tree house where her family lived. Her parents warned her, of the dangers that are around the outside of the tree house and gorilla area.
" Don't go anywhere near the leopards den!" her father said in a protective tone " you will be killed by them!" Annabelle nodded in agreement and walked away, until the view of the house was no longer in sight. She continued walking until she saw the gorilla's nesting area close by, where they slept last night.  


 A familiar brown gorilla called Kala saw her granddaughter walking by. "Hello Annabelle" Annabelle turned and saw her sitting near the base of a tree, that had a good shady spot " hello grandmother how are you?" Kala smiled and asked what she and her family were up to. Annabelle then got up and waved goodbye to Kala as she walked, deeper and deeper into the jungle. A few minutes later Annabelle soon found herself a nice spot near a waterfall, that had a good view of the jungle. She thought to herself " wow what a view I should tell mum and dad about this secret place!" Just as she was about to turn to go back home, she quickly took out her sketchbook and drew the jungle view. As Annabelle was about to put her sketchbook away, a rustling noise made her freeze on the spot.


" what was that?" she whispered to herself, the growling became louder as Annabelle got out her knife for protection. The growling got louder as a familiar leopard jumped out from the bushes, it growled at her more but stopped as he smelled her peach perfume that her mother put on her. "hang on?" she squinted at the full grown leopard and recognised him "Commonder Fluffypaws? is that really you?". Her parents had told her that a few years ago, a baby leopard cub had gotten lost and her mother took it in as her own. " wow you've really grown look at you"! Just as Annabelle was about to pat the full grown leopard, a second growl was heard this time it wasn't a leopard. Out of the bushes came two black panthers, commonder fluffy paws turned and growled back at the panthers while Annabelle tried to quietly back away from the fight. She got out her knife and pointed it at the black cats, while trying to protect herself from the danger. Commonder fluffy paws then ran off as both of the panthers, knew they had won the battle. Both then turned to Annabelle who still held her knife in her hands " don't you dare come any closer y-you panthers! I-I'm not scared!" the panthers growled at her more, as Annabelle dropped her knife from shaking.  


Meanwhile everyone was wondering where Annabelle had gotten to, even Kala who saw her earlier had told them that she went exploring. Jane and Tarzan had both worried looks on their faces, meaning that something bad has happened to their daughter. "where could she have gone mother?" Tarzan ask with a slight frown on his face, Kala sighed and told him that she went exploring, around the safe areas of the jungle but soon went deeper and deeper into it. "I should've ask her where she was going to" said Kala "but she left just before I could ask!" Jane then ask Terk if she saw Annabelle, Terk shook her head and said no. A few minutes later Professor Porter came running towards the little group, huffing and puffing " h-h- hello e-every-bod-y"! Jane noticed that he was out of breath and asked him " Daddy why were you running?" she said with concern in her voice. Professor Porter explained that while he was doing some scientific, research near a waterfall he saw two black panthers and a leopard fighting on a cliff above the waterfall. " I could've sworn that I heard a cry for help!" he said with a bit of confusion in his voice " it had almost sounded a bit like-" He was interrupted when a leopard came bursting through the trees, it stopped in its tracks when it recognised the people it had just ran into. Jane came towards the full grown animal but Tarzan stopped her " Jane what are you doing?" he said in a protective tone, while the leopard came closer it began to smell her scent of perfume. Terk then suddenly remembered the face of the leopard that jumped into her lap, all those years ago. "Guys wait a minute I recognise this face!" she said in a surprised tone "it couldn't be Commonder fluffypaws? could it?"  she then had her face licked by the leopard, who then began to make noises that made everybody get confused looks.


" I think he's trying to tell us something" said Professor Porter "it may be about that scream I heard at the waterfall"! Everybody then began to follow the leopard, as it knew the way back to the spot where he saw Annabelle there. Not far away the black panthers had Annabelle cornered but she was quick, Annabelle saw a vine and began to reach for it. The vine was just in her reach as the panthers got closer and closer to the girl, Annabelle jumped and swung herself to a nearby ledge. " See if you can get me NOW you big dumb cats!!" she said in a taunting tone that, only made the panthers get angrier and angrier. Not far away Tarzan, Jane,Terk, Professor Porter and Tantor all followed their leopard friend, as they got nearer and nearer to their destination. Jane then spotted something on the ground, as they saw paw prints and their daughter's tracks leading to the waterfall " Tarzan look" she said in a quiet whisper " Annabelle's footprints and.....oh no! Nuru and Sheeta have been here as well!" Jane said " I should've realized that they can smell anything including perfume when my friends were here to visit us!" Jane then told him that earlier today she sprayed her peach scented perfume, on her daughter before she went exploring. Tarzan told her it wasn't her fault, he then turned to his wife and gently lifted her chin to face him. Her eyes met his gentle gaze making her fall into a trance, which made her calm down and relax herself " oh sorry love I didn't realize that I was babbling like a monkey" she said in a calm tone "now let's go rescue our daughter!" Ten minutes later they could hear distant growls of panthers and the sound of their daughter, screaming for help. Tarzan then had a plan to distract the panthers, Jane and his friends hid behind the bushes as the panthers began to chase Annabelle. " so what's the plan to get the panthers attention ?" whispered Terk, both Jane and the others looked at her with questioning faces as the Professor whispered " we are going to help Tarzan get the panthers away from Annabelle and then Jane and I will both ride on Tantor, to make Nuru and Sheeta run the other direction"  Tantor had a good and yet bad feeling about the rescue plans, as he spoke up " b-but how are we going to do that professor?" he said in a loud whisper as Terk squeezed his trunk hard. Tantor almost gave away their hiding spot as Terk whispered to him crossly Tantor! ya almost got us caught ya big dope!!"  Tantor then had his trunk released as Terk then began to hop onto his, back along with Jane and the Professor.




Meanwhile Annabelle started to run, as Nuru and Sheeta began to climb up the ledge where she was standing. Annabelle ran and ran as both panthers chased her, through the jungle as she ran for dear life "somebody anybody! please help me!" she said softly as she began to stop running. Annabelle was cornered, she couldn't climb the smooth rock wall behind her she was trapped! She slowly began to sit on the ground and curl herself up into a ball, while she put her hands up to protect herself. Just then a familiar yell had gotten her attention as a familiar elephant along with her mother, her grandfather, Terk and Commonder fluffypaws all rushed in to the rescue. Tarzan came down on a vine knocking both Nuru and Sheeta, to the ground while Jane, Terk , Professor Porter along with Commonder fluffypaws joined in the fight. " DAD,MUM,GRANDPA!!" she yelled "LOOK OUT!!"  Jane ran as one of the panthers, began to charge after her. Annabelle thought quickly as  Commonder fluffypaws ran up to her, to protect both himself and Annabelle from Nuru's sharp claws. "Good boy Commonder fluffypaws!" she said proudly as he began to attack the panther in return. Tarzan meanwhile saw his wife being chased by Sheeta as he raced in to stop the attack, Sheeta lashed out his claws scratching him across his chest. Annabelle saw his spear and picked it up, she threw it to her father as she ran towards Tantor who saw her coming " Tantor !" she shouted " help Grandpa and Mum! I'll go and help Dad fight Sheeta!" Tantor nodded and charged at the panther who had Jane and Professor Porter in a corner, he charged at Nuru knocking him to the ground.Commonder fluffypaws meanwhile joined in as the panthers attacked his friends, he let out a loud roar that made both Nuru and Sheeta come towards him. He growled at the panthers as everybody slowly began to back away very carefully, without making any fast movements. Annabelle watched her leopard friend fight the panthers, as she backed away slowly with her family. Whispering in a low voice she turned slowly and spoke to her parents "mum, dad...am I in trouble when we get back to the tree house? " Both Jane and Tarzan looked at her with both angry yet worried expressions on their faces. Her father was the first to speak " what were you thinking Annabelle? you could've been killed If your mother and I hadn't been there to save"- he stopped as Jane interrupted him. She cleared her throat and spoke " while you were exploring, Kala told us that she saw you going by the gorillas nesting area where she spoke to you" Annabelle hung her head and sighed " yes...yes I did see Grandmother Kala....we both asked each other, how both of our families were and then I got up and left to go exploring some more". Annabelle then told her mother and father that she went to a waterfall, that had a good view of the jungle " that was when I saw Commonder fluffypaws come out from the bushes and kind of smelled, my scent of peach perfume." Jane had a sheepish look on her face that made her, head sink into her shoulders " sweetheart.. it's my fault for putting perfume on you, I should've realized that in the first place! when my friends came long ago they wore perfume!" Soon enough the little group, went their separate ways as Terk and Tantor went back to their families as Tarzan, Jane, Annabelle and Professor Porter walked up to the tree house.



                                                         
Five minutes later inside the tree house both Annabelle's parents and grandfather gave her a long talk about what, happened earlier on today. Annabelle apologised about wandering well away from the house and from the safer, areas of the jungle. Later on that night both Annabelle's parents talked about what had happened, since Annabelle had disobeyed her mother and father's rule about wandering into dangerous areas. Both Annabelle's parent's had decided that their daughter should be safer in England, where a finishing school would be the safest place for their daughter to be in. " that's a good idea! but you know how she is with animals" said Professor Porter sadly "she's been here all her life since she could learn how to-" he stopped as he saw his granddaughter walk into the room " Annabelle what are you doing up?" he said " couldn't you sleep my dear?" Jane looked at him with a gentle smile on her face that meant " you take her back to bed, we can talk to her tomorrow".  Professor Porter walked into the bedroom with his granddaughter as he motioned her,to get into bed. He then blew out the candle near the bed and pulled back the curtain,he softly whispered " goodnight Annabelle" with a gentle smile on his face.
         


The next day Annabelle came out from her room where her mother, spotted her walking out " good morning Annabelle did you sleep well?" said her mother with a smile on her face " here have some breakfast! freshly picked mangos and peaches! your favourite"  Annabelle looked at her mother and replied with a thankyou, before she could eat the food in front of her Terk came in and greeted everyone. " Hey everybody how's it goin?"  she said happily " how's Annabelle doin today?" she came over to Annabelle and squeezed her tightly " T- Ter-k ca- can't b- brea -th!" she tried to say as the gorilla finally let go of her " what's going on Terk ?" Annabelle said with confusion " why are you being so friendly today?" Terk looked at Annabelle who had absolutely no idea of what was going on with, her ape friend. Jane looked over her shoulder and saw her friend next to her daughter " well hello there Terk how's the family doing?" she said with a smile as she sat down next to her daughter. Terk was just about to reply when all of a sudden Tarzan crashed into her and wrestled her "aarrgh! hey what's the big idea T? can't ya do this when we're outside the treehouse!" she said in an annoyed tone. Tarzan looked at his ape friend and replied with a "nope" Jane rolled her eyes and laughed at the two friends, rolling around on the ground. Annabelle looked at her father and his ape friend, wrestling each other and asked her mother a question " Mum how long has dad known  Terk?" Jane looked at her daughter and smiled " well he's known her for many, many, many years" Annabelle". Annabelle looked over to where her father and Terk were as they continued to wrestle each other, Annabelle laughed and said " hey can I join in dad? can I please?" Both Terk and Tarzan stopped wrestling and looked at her, Terk gave a nod as Tarzan stepped away from his gorilla friend.



Just as Annabelle was about to tackle Terk, Jane interrupted and said " Annabelle could we have a chat with you please!" she said with her arms folded, like a  mother would do when her child has done something naughty. Annabelle stopped in her tracks as both her parents sat down near the table, Annabelle didn't know what was going on as thoughts were running through her head "uh oh did I do something wrong again? or was it when I teased Manu with a picture of a banana last week?". Jane looked at her daughter and then to Terk " Terk would you mind giving us a few minutes to talk to, our daughter please" Terk looked at her and said " sure, no problem ...uh why ?" Jane looked at her with an annoyed, look on her face that meant " you know why!" Terk looked at her then realised that what had happened yesterday with the panthers and Annabelle. She then walked out of the tree house and waited, just as well she saw Tantor coming up to see their friend " Hey Tantor ya might want to wait a while Jane and Tarzan are having a 'chat ' with Annabelle".  Tantor sat with his ape friend and waited too, as distant voices from inside the house could be heard. Inside the house Jane, Professor Porter and Tarzan  were talking about some arrangements for their daughter, Annabelle who didn't know what was going on. " Maybe you could teach her Daddy" said Jane " she could learn about England a bit more from me and learn a few new things about science!"  Professor Porter agreed with his daughter, but knew that he only had a few science books on discoveries around the jungle. " Jane I'd be delighted but Annabelle already knows about the jungle. So maybe I could give her a lesson on scientific experiments". Jane nodded in agreement with her father then turned to her daughter, Annabelle  who stared fiddling with the ends of her hair to try and ignore the conversation. Jane noticed her daughter not listening to her parents and grandfather, Annabelle felt the silence and quickly looked back up at her family. Jane was the first to speak " Annabelle please don't do that to your hair! it's getting very hard to brush the knots out!" Annabelle, looked at the end of her hair that had half of a plat and a very tangled ponytail. " sorry mum" she said in a mumbled tone " I wasn't listening" Jane replied to the answer quickly " please don't mumble it's rude!" Jane  then started to, ramble on about manners and etiquette as Tarzan snapped her out of it " Jane....Jane .......JANE!"  Jane stopped and looked at her husband, then to her daughter and surprised father " then you biting your finger- one moment Tarzan .. " she looked at her husband and stopped mid-sentence, as everyone stared at her. She quickly sat back down and blushed in embarrassment, just then Annabelle turned and spoke to her father "  um dad can I please be excused." He looked at his daughter and replied with a soft " no we are still discussing about your safety !" Tarzan then spoke " I can teach her how we stay together as a family, the gorillas never stay away from each other when there is trouble around." Both Jane and Professor Porter nodded in agreement at his suggestion, then the subject about finishing school came up. Annabelle then got up angrily and shouted  " I WON'T GO THROUGH WITH THIS YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!!!!" She then raced out to the balcony and grabbed a nearby vine, swung down and ran off in to the jungle.  

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Over the next few days Annabelle couldn't bare to leave her jungle life, as her parents made the final decisions  about the arrangements for finishing school. Annabelle wore a dress that looked exactly like her mothers, Paris dress that she purchased at Dumont's trading post. It had a pale green colour that Annabelle liked very much, it also showed her buttoned-up shoes that were below her knees. Before It was time for her to leave she apologised to her mother and father for shouting at them " I am really,really sorry for shouting at you guys and running off into the jungle like that, I'll know next time not to." Just as she was about to say something else Captain Gerald called her "Miss Porter come along now!" Annabelle turned and called out " I -I know I'm coming!" she then turned back to face her family as her mother came up and hugged her " Annabelle we will always love you, you'll will always be in our hearts". Annabelle hugged her father and pulled in Terk for a group hug, Annabelle turned away and walked to the boat with Captain Gerald carrying her suitcase. "Goodbye everyone" she called from the boat as it was sailing out to the ship " good-b- bye " she started to cry softly as a tear trailed down her cheek. She began to hum a familiar song that her parents used to sing to her, when she was only a baby. Meanwhile back on shore Jane, Tarzan, Professor Porter, Terk and Tantor watched the boat go to the ship as Jane began to remember when she couldn't bare to leave Africa all those years ago. She began to hum the lullaby she sang to her daughter, all the time to stop her from crying.  



come stop your crying

it'll be alright , just take my hand hold it tight!

I will protect you from all around you I will be here

don't you cry, for one so small you seem so strong

my arms will hold you keep you safe and warm

this bond between us can't be broken! I will be here don't you cry!

cause you'll be in my heart! yes you'll be in my heart

from this day on , now and forever more

you'll be in my heart no matter what they say

you'll be here in my heart always!


Jane ( voiceover ) : always !!






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