From within the fossil exhibit, Martha stood petrified and confused.  But The Ghost was telling her to help the boy and she decided to trust its judgement. After all, if something bad was supposed to happen to him, she would have heard about it in her first life.

As in:

"Remember when we went to the zoo last week? A kid got himself kidnapped!"

Or:

"Remember when we went to the zoo last week? A kid got himself eaten by an elephant!"

She'd get the boy to his mother, catch up with her friends, and continue down the path. Yes, this was the right move. Martha was certain. "Hey buddy? You know, we should really-"

But he was gone. Martha looked from one entrance to the other – nothing. She walked out the nearest exit, then shielded her eyes from the sun. Two mothers pushing strollers ambled by, but other than that, the walkways were empty. The fossil room and a closed gorilla exhibit weren't much of a draw, it would seem. Did this mean it was over? Had she dodged another bullet? Maybe his mom found him, after all.

But then she saw him – the red, white and blue, horizontal stripes of his shirt peeking through the green of a bush, off to the side of the walkway. He was bending down to look at something, rustling the leaves. Martha scanned the area again – no mother, no zoo employees, no one, just she and-

Martha looked back at the bush, but the boy had disappeared yet again. Are you serious? Maybe Natalie was right!

She hurried across the walkway and to the edge of the bush to see if he might be hiding. Martha had spent this life doing her best to keep a low profile and this was beginning to feel dangerously conspicuous. She checked over her shoulders – still no one – then ducked into the bush. Through the leaves and branches, she crawled to the back without finding the boy. Instead, she found a fence made of plywood, painted green and stopping at a faux-rock wall. A sizable chunk of the plywood's corner had been broken off revealing a chain link fence behind it. Martha kneeled toward the opening and scraped her leg on something sharp. She cleared the bush from her view to see the corner of the chain fence bent towards her, leaving a toddler sized opening. Oh... crap.

It was clear the boy couldn't have made this hole – It must have already been here, I'm guessing? But there was no time for the how and the why.

Martha got on her stomach, angled her head around the fencing and stuck it through the hole. Past the strands of a hanging vegetation, she saw a series of grass covered plateaus, tapering on a downward slope to her right with trees, shrubs, and boulders scattered throughout. On her left, the faux-rock wall led away from her before curving to the right like the outfield fence of a baseball field. Cavities hidden in shadow were dug out of the wall at ten to twenty yard intervals. It was familiar – something she'd seen before, but not from this angle...

Oh crap, crap, crap!

She saw the boy a short distance away, squatting next to the wall and picking at something on the ground.

"Hey!" Martha whisper yelled. "Hey, you gotta get out of there!" The boy looked at her, smiled, then returned to whatever he was picking at. Martha tried again. "Hey, um... what's your name? Psst! Hey buddy, what's your name?"

He shook his head. "Mommy said to not tell strangers my name. That's very dangerous. Mommy said strangers is very dangerous."

Well, great job, mom! Way to keep your boy safe.

"That's true. You're right. But you gotta get out of there. I... um... have some candy? Do you want some candy? I've got a whole bunch of it!"

He stood and walked away from her, along the edge of the wall.

Brilliant, Martha! Nothing dangerous about a stranger offering a kid candy.

"Wait, kid!" But he continued on. Martha debated her next move. Laissez faire was no longer an option. Forget gossip at school, a kid being mauled by gorillas would be international news. She wedged her back against the rock wall, then pushed the fencing with her feet, bending it as far as she could. The opening was just large enough to wiggle herself through on her stomach.

Once inside, she hopped to her feet and pressed her back to the wall, then surveyed the grounds. None of the gorillas were out that she could see – good news. Maybe they're keeping them somewhere else during the renovation. But while the exhibit was surrounded by the same green plywood meant to obscure the repairs, it wasn't entirely blocked from public view. Through gaps in the fencing, Martha could see crowds of patrons on the opposite side passing left and right. And if I can see them...

She needed to act fast. The boy had stopped to inspect something else on the ground, further along the wall. Martha considered simply running and grabbing him. But she couldn't risk scaring him into screaming or running further into the habitat. No, he had to come willingly.

Too far from him to whisper yell, Martha needed to close the gap without attracting attention. At the moment, she was positioned in the shade of a nearby tree. Halfway between herself and the boy, a lip at the top of the stone wall provided another patch of shade. It stood to reason that the shade would be less visible than the light, so Martha channeled her inner ninja and dashed to the next oasis. Once there, she froze against the wall and checked the distant crowd. No one seemed to have noticed either of them. Martha had never been so grateful for human suggestibility. Put up a sign telling them there's nothing to see – and people won't look. Still... it just takes one.

Close enough to the boy again, Martha changed tactics. "Psst! Hey kid!" she said, her eyebrows low enough to convey a comic degree of seriousness. "Your mommy said you're going to be in big, big trouble unless you come with me right now!"

He stood, his face suddenly painted with fear.

"But it's okay," Martha reconsidered. "You're not in trouble yet. You just gotta-"

Before she could finish, the boy spun away from her, waddled off, and then turned into one of the cavities to hide. Her shoulders collapsed. I am THE WORST at this!

Then Martha noticed something. In one of the cavities further down from the one the boy had entered, she thought she saw something move. She squinted and searched the distant shadow. There was nothing. Had she imagined it? But then it became clear. A black, furry arm peeked into the sunlight as a gorilla slouched against the wall of the opening.

Martha put her hand against the wall to steady herself from the shock, but withdrew it quickly. She'd accidentally reached outside the shade and the sun baked rock wall was hot enough to fry plantains. Of course! The gorillas aren't out in the open because it's too hot. And there's no reason for the zookeepers to entice them out with food because the exhibit's closed.

She looked at the hole the boy had hurried into and knew that chances were slim it was unoccupied. She thought of the boy's mortal danger. His terror... His agony... And then everything changed.

Something within her stepped forward. Something outranking The Ghost. Outranking the quest or James or her fear at the prospect of literally being torn limb from limb.

She had to save the boy.

And there was nothing else.

No longer concerned with staying hidden, Martha sped to the opening and stepped into the darkness. She blinked her eyes to help them adjust. The passage bent to the right slightly, leading to a faint, crimson light source. She advanced tentatively, her left hand tracing the side of the crevice for guidance. The light source came into view – a red EXIT sign above a door, next to and below which sat the boy in what initially appeared to be a black, shag covered bean bag chair. Martha knew, of course, this was only wishful thinking.

"Big monkey! It's a big, big monkey!" the boy proclaimed happily.

Martha's eyes had adjusted enough to confirm that yes, the boy was in fact sitting in the lap of a 'big, big monkey.' For it was massive. She couldn't be certain of its weight, but the proverbial 800 pound gorilla seemed a fitting description.

"Big monkey!" the boy repeated.

"It sure is," Martha said, trying to project calm as her own heart pounded uncontrollably. This was different from her standard, James inspired meltdown, however. Because while her heart raced, her mind was focused. Her muscles felt coiled to spring. And her eyesight had more than adjusted, the colors and shadows of the cave somehow more vivid than when in the light. With perfect clarity, she could see the gorilla allowing the boy to play with its fur as it stared at Martha with placid eyes. Placid for now...

She took a step toward the pair and it flinched, pulling the boy closer and letting out a bark with enough bass to make Martha feel pushed. She saw the boy's eyes change. Surprise and a dawning fear replaced his care-free curiosity and he began to whimper.

"It's okay," Martha said softly. "This big monkey is just playing make-believe – pretending you're its baby monkey."

"I want my mommy," he whined.

"And I'm gonna to bring you to your mommy. But first, I'm gonna play a little make-believe too."

The gorilla barked again, louder than the first.

Undaunted beyond reason, Martha continued, "When it lets go of you, you need to run to me right away. Can you do that?"

The boy nodded, tears on his cheeks glinting in the red light.

Martha bent her knees slightly, brought her arms close to her chest, and tried to compress her fear for the boy, her anger with herself, her longing for James, the confusion, the frustration, and anything else she could find into a smoldering ball in her chest. Then, after saying a final prayer to Dian Fossey, she released it all in a primal burst, springing her limbs outward, beating her chest and assailing the abductor with booming, guttural shouts. Her skin was electric and her fists granite as her eyes hurled spears at the beast.

The gorilla shrank backwards and the boy did as he was told, hurrying to Martha's arms. Just as the gorilla regained its posture, the door swung open, flooding the den with light. Martha ducked herself and the boy around the curve of passageway and out of view. She looked down at him and put her finger to her mouth.

"Cheese and crackers, Lucille! What is all this noise?" a woman Martha presumed was a zookeeper said.

Lucille responded with a series of hoots and screams.

"Is this because I'm running behind? Is it?" she asked as Lucille continued her protest. "I'm sorry. You're okay, Miss Drama Queen. I'm getting your lunch put together right now..."

Martha began to slowly shuffle the boy out of the cavity as the debate raged behind them.

"What's gotten into you, Lucille? You're acting like a gol darn chimpanzee..."

At the opening, Martha peeked left and right to find the enclosure as empty as she'd left it. She knew there was still a chance of Lucille breaking past the zookeeper and after them, so she once again abandoned stealth for expedience.

"Okay, let's get back to your mommy," she whispered to him. "Super fast. Let's go."

The boy didn't hesitate. He and Martha scampered along the edge, retracing their steps to the hole. Martha squatted with the boy to help him shimmy through, checking over her shoulder every few seconds.

"That's it. Keep going," she whispered as she boosted the fence to keep it from snagging him. He whimpered as he wiggled his potbellied frame through. Martha heard a screech behind them, but there was no sign of any bloodthirsty apes closing in. Yet!

The boy made it through and a significant part of Martha relaxed. She'd been laser focused only minutes ago – stay on the path, make it to James, the end. But her priorities had shifted out of the blue. There wasn't time to contemplate her evolving motives, however. The boy's safety aside, she'd still prefer not to be beaten to death.

She dropped to her stomach and began to army crawl under the fence.

Roles reversed, the boy was now whisper-yelling at her. "Come on! Come on! You got it! You got it!"

Martha heard a gorilla shriek behind her that seemed louder and less muffled by rock than before and her movements quickened. She reached and pulled and reached and pulled knowing any moment a giant hand could grab her ankle and rip her back to slaughter.

But her feet made it through with the rest of her and she pushed herself off the ground to a crouch within the bush. Immediately, the boy wrapped his arms around her.

"We did it! We did it!" he said.

"Yeah, we sure did," Martha said, sniffling away a sudden tear.

He released her. "My name Sammy. What's yours?"

"My name is..." Martha paused to run the simulation. If she told him her name, he might tell his mother. She might hunt Martha down – contact the school so she could thank her for saving her son or accuse her of putting him in danger. Either option would be a disaster. Then again, the mother could do the same thing even without a name – find out which high schools had field trips that day and get Sammy to pick out her photo in a yearbook. Martha would have to get creative.

"My name is... Hermione Granger. I'm a witch, but I used to be a muggle just like you. I go to wizard school to learn magic."

The boy's eyes opened wide. "Really? Wow!"

"Mm-hm. Now let's go find your mommy."

Thinking that it still might look suspicious for a teenage girl to emerge from a bush with a toddler, Martha checked that the coast was clear before they left. Once they were out, she brushed the dirt off of Sammy and herself before the pair began to search. They walked around the fossil exhibit and his mother came into view, gesturing frantically to a zoo employee.

"Mommy!" Sammy said.

"Okay, buddy. Go get her."

Sammy scampered away and Martha side-stepped to the entrance of the fossil exhibit to watch the reunion covertly.

"Mommy, Mommy! I met a witch! And... and she saved me from the monkey! And she... she goes to wizard school! And the monkey was... biiiiiiig!"

"Samuel John, where have you been?!"

"She's a witch but she used to be a... a muddle like me!"

"You cannot run off like that, mister!"

Martha exhaled. The story would be disregarded as the product of a toddler's imagination. Loose end closed.

But how much time had passed during the ordeal? It could have been minutes or hours as far as Martha knew. And as mundane as missing her bus compared to being murdered by a wild animal, it could be equally disastrous.

She jogged toward the giraffe exhibit – past the zebras, then the gazelles, then the elephants – until she saw friends. Natalie's arms were folded as José checked his watch. I made it!

But then her panic returned like a sledge hammer. Her heart, her chest, her head... She stumbled to the side of a closed lemonade stand and leaned her back against it. At some point in the commotion, adrenaline must have kicked in to silence her symptoms – putting them off until a time when she and the boy were out of mortal danger. That time was now, and the bill had come due.

She began her breathing exercises but they seemed of no use. Her vision blurred and equilibrium swayed. I can't pass out. Come on, I can't pass out! She closed her eyes and stars popped and flashed in the darkness.

Then from the darkness, she heard a voice...

"That was one helluva getaway."

"What?"

"It's almost like you were trying to show me up. Because of all the ways I've died... it's never been at the hands of a gorilla. And you came pretty close!"

"James?!"

"I just wanted to stop by to say you're doing great and that I can't wait to see you."

"Where are you?"

"Me? I'm in Illinois. This is just a hallucination. But you're very close. All you have to do is breathe."

"James! I miss you so much! I don't know if I can do this."

"Yes, you can. In through your nose, out through your mouth. That's it..."

Martha complied and felt her anxiety begin to temper.

"I miss you too, Martha. But the problem with hallucinations is-"

Martha opened her eyes. The nausea and pain were gone. Her heart rate was still elevated, but reasonably so. Wait... What just happened?

It had sounded so real! She'd seen him in dreams over the years, but this was different – like he was right next to her. For a moment, she considered holding her breath to induce another hallucination – which would be stupid for so many reasons.

Instead, she stepped back out onto the footpath and saw Natalie and José walking away, so she hustled to catch up.

"I'm here! I'm here!" she panted.

They turned and stopped. Natalie put her hands on her hips. "Oh my god. We thought you like, fell in a hole and died."

Not that far off the truth actually. "Ha! No, after I looked at the fossils, I needed to find a bathroom, but then it took me forever to find one, but then once I did find one-"

"That's enough," José interrupted, waving his hands and shaking his head. "I don't need to hear about your... most likely menstrual based misadventures in the ladies' room."

Natalie rolled her eyes and said, "Come on. The bus is gonna leave."

As they walked toward the exit, Martha wiped her forehead dry with the collar of her shirt. She was sweating – but it's a hot day. Her heart raced – but I just ran halfway across the zoo. She'd just had a close encounter with a phantom James – but I... feel good.

For her last three lives, he'd been forbidden to her. Fantasizing about James had been, at best, distracting and, at worst, incapacitating. But this brush left her feeling energized, focused, and capable.

"Okay, so while we walk," José said. "I can tell you the names we came up with for my babies."

"The names you came up with," Natalie corrected.

"Go for it," Martha said.

"Well, we have five boy names and five girl names. If it's a boy, I'll name him David or Elton or Freddie or Samuel or-"

"Samuel?" Martha interrupted.

"Yeah, it's mi abuelo's name. You like it?"

"I do," Martha said and turned her head to look behind her, suddenly wishing to see the boy again. But he was nowhere. "You could... You could call him Sammy when he's little."

"Little Sammy..." José said. "I like that."

As they passed the kangaroos, Martha reminded herself of the here and now. These new thoughts and feelings left much for her to consider, but she couldn't get sloppy. She had to stay disciplined and remain focused for the final stretch. Something about the experience had changed her, however. It was hard to put her finger on what, exactly, but she felt a fortified sense of agency.

She could do this.

She was going to make it to James.

Author's note:

Almost there!!

So do you think this chapter jumped the shark with the gorilla showdown?  I was worried it might, but decided just to go for it. 

Thank you for reading!!!