Headless Monkey 2012

[glen]

Maybe he was born that way. Maybe it was some evolutionary spin off that the scientists hadn’t caught wind of yet. Maybe he was an alien invader playing a practical joke on the world. Or maybe I was already delirious from the desert heat.
In any case, there I was, standing on the top of a dune, staring across the sand at a headless monkey. It stood about two feet tall—two and a half if he would have put the head back on its shoulders—facing me with a certain nonchalance that one doesn’t usually see in headless monkeys. I stood and stared for a long moment, and then realized that standing and staring wasn’t getting either one of us what we were looking for. I didn’t know what the short, hairy gentleman was looking for—without a head, he probably wasn’t looking for much—but I was looking for a cool, long drink of water. I didn’t know if the critter I was staring at knew where I could find one, but I knew I didn’t have many other options.
“Water,” I croaked out of dry lips and a parched throat. I could hardly understand the word myself as I spoke it, and so I tried again. I cleared my throat and spoke. “Water. Can you show me where there is some water?”
The monkey didn’t move. It just stood there, facing me. I shook my head, realizing that I had gone bonkers and was simply imagining the creature in front of me. To make sure, I stepped forward.
When I did so, the monkey reached down at its feet and threw a large object at me. I ducked, and it rolled past me. As it rolled I realized it was its head: hairy side, face side, hairy side, face side. It rolled down the dune and out of sight. I turned back and saw the torso of the monkey had already started walking away.
I had a decision to make. Accept that it was all a hallucination and stay out here in the hot sun to rot. Or follow the monkey. I followed him. He walked swiftly down the dune and up another one, and then down another and up another. We continued that way for half a day. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel tired or thirsty anymore.
When we finally came to the oasis, I realized that it had all been a dream. A nice, bizarre dream, but a dream nevertheless. But if the choice was between a nice dream and a horrible reality, well, then the answer is obvious. Isn’t it?

[rogerthegiraffe]

I had been walking for days. My water was running low, and I had to use it sparingly if I wanted to survive. When I saw the most curious thing, it was so unreal that I thought I was imagining at first…
Everything was so hazy. But coming up over a sand dune, was a creature that was headless. I could have sworn it looked like a monkey. But I had always heard that your mind would play tricks on you if you were stuck in the desert in the heat for too long. Indeed, in front of me, was a headless monkey. As the space between the creature and I diminished, I could see that, as far as I could tell, it was a headless monkey!
I got so much hope as I approached the monkey. Ever since I had landed in this awful desert for my initiation into my new clan, I had not encountered any sort of life form. To see a possible companion gave me hope. But yet, as I approached it more, I could see that my hopes for a new companion were about to die.
When I leaned forward to touch the monkey and make contact, my heart sank to find out it was a hologram as I swept my hand through the projected image. I fell on my knees into the hot sand. I was all alone in this desolate place and I didn’t even know if I was going around in circles. All I needed to do was find the river in the desert, if I found the river, I could find my people, and once I found them, my quest would be complete. I would be accepted into my new clan. I would finally be loved.
I could not believe that out of every initiation process I had been assigned the desert navigation. I would have much rather preferred fighting a saber tooth.

[jaimebaldwin]

The sand felt heavy on my feet. I had been lost in the dessert for six… or was it seven? Let’s go with seven days. I had been left with no water and my mind had started playing tricks on me. I kept walking and walking and walking, hoping to find something or someone. As I was getting ready to lay down under a cactus for a short nap, I heard something in the distance. In stopped in mid-sit and thingyed my head to one side. That’s sound…. Was that… a monkey? I looked around and saw a small brown creature running towards me. I was so excited to see another form of life that it took me a minute to notice this monkey was headless and at that point I was not in the mood to judge. “Ooo oo eeee ee!” he screamed at me. I couldn’t understand how he could be talking if he had no head and no head means no mouth. He pointed down to his stomach. He was talking through his belly button! Thankfully, I am fluent in chimp language and could understand what he was saying. “OOO!” he said hurriedly and grabbed my hand. We began to run as fast as we could. He did not tell me where we were going but I trusted him because monkeys are always honest and do not take advantage of people. After a few moments I slowly began to see civilization. I embraced my ape friend with joy. The moral of this story is, you can always depend on chimps and we should all learn their language because it could save your life.

[RoughWriters]

I would have given just about anything for a drink of water. Miles upon miles of rolling sand dunes stretched out before me. How long had I been out here in this hellish desert? It seemed like it had been years, though it had probably only been a couple days. After those blasted camel thieves stole my camel and supplies, all I could do was walk.

I wished the thieves had at least taken me with them. It would be better than being stuck out in the desert with no supplies. And then there was that legend. I shivered despite the fact that the sun was bearing down on me like an oven. The legend of the headless monkey. The locals claimed it drank peoples souls. I wasn’t sure I believed that but, come on, a headless monkey? That’s creepy enough without the soul-sucking thing.

Hours passed and finally I collapsed in a heap at the top of one of the sand dunes. No village, no caravan, no oasis…shoot, not even a camel thief in sight. But then…there! I jumped to my feet in alarm, falling backwards and rolling down the sand dune in my fright. When at last I came to the bottom, I opened my eyes and sat up. And then I froze. For there before me was an enormous creature with lanky arms, a curling tail, and a jagged space between its shoulders where someone had lopped off its head. It was the headless monkey.

Slowly it reached one hand out toward me.

“Yes, hi, nice to meet you,” I sputtered, scooting back a few inches. “Is this your sand dune? I’m sorry. My bad. Have a nice day.”

I stood up and stumbled backwards a couple feet. The headless monkey followed.

[brisa]

First of all, I want to say that I was not lost. I knew exactly where I was going, which was… Well, wherever the wind might take me. Okay, fine. I was lost. I had no idea where I was, and I was starting to get worried. I hadn’t seen a living, breathing being in days. It was starting to get to me. So maybe that’s why I went a little… crazy. It was all so strange from the very beginning, but I’ll just tell it like I saw it:
I was still wandering about, trying to figure out if I was walking in circles, wishing I had paid attention when my dad had been trying to teach me about orientation. Then, out of nowhere came these… footsteps? Was that someone walking behind me? It was just starting to get dark, and I will admit that I was going paranoid. When I finally caught a glimpse, I could hardly believe what I was seeing. A headless monkey? I was confused and, for some reason, curious. I observed him as he ran around in circles.
Then, he started to get away. He got farther and farther away from me, and I started to follow him. I had no idea where he was going, but then again, I didn’t have a clue where I had been going before either. Like I said, it was just getting dark. The darker it got, the harder it was to see him. It was a good thing that there was a bright full moon that night. I didn’t want to get too close from fear that he might attack me. I kept following close behind for a few hours until he suddenly stopped. I couldn’t hear footsteps anymore, and I lost sight of him. Suddenly, there was a blinding light that came out of nowhere. I fell over, confused and amazed at what was going on.
Suddenly I saw the headless monkey again. He had turned toward me, almost as if he could see me. It was a little creepy at first, but after a moment, I started to realize that he didn’t want to harm me. The light was growing dimmer and dimmer, going farther and farther away, until it was what seemed to be a few miles away from us. He seemed to be gesturing to me to follow the light.

[karendvc]

There the motionless monkey laid with it head torn off blood on the floor. Though Emma had seen many carcasses throughout her six week expedition the amazon jungle, she never could get use to death as quickly as the others. She was there to study plants and her PHD in chemistry had never prepared her for death. She knew the others in the expedition saw her as weak and couldn’t respects her. The others were anthropologists, rangers and an estranged business man who had said less than 50 words since the expedition started. The others kept walking while Emma looked at the monkey. She wondered how he was beheaded. Her first thought was a wild animal. However an animal wouldn’t have just taken the head. Her second guess was a native, she knew that groups lived in the jungle and had yet to be influenced by the outside. But she remembered hearing that they were not yet deep enough in the jungle to encounter them and would most likely not. So what happened to the monkeys head? She wanted to get closer but felt uneasy.
“Emma, lets go! You can bring the body as a pet if you want” called Josh, head of the group.
Emma turned and walked toward the group not wanting to be left behind. She always felt that she was treading behind the group. Had the same happened to the monkey?

[makalac]

Air, there was air where there should have been a head. Then all I could think about was a story I read in literature class as a child. It was called “The Monkey’s Paw.” The paw would grant any wish, but with each wish granted, the person who asked for a something would meet disaster. The headless monkey in front of me could only be a bad omen.
I pushed the body aside and continued through the jungle. As a hunter I shouldn’t have been afraid. I saw disgusting things all the time, so why did this headless monkey seem such a premonition?
Then in the distance I saw what I had come for: the redwater diamond. With that diamond in my possession I would be the richest man in the world. It was my greatest desire! The diamond was the size of a small boat and completely flawless. In my excitement I forgot fear and rushed toward the glittering treasure trove. Suddenly, I heard a snap!
In an instant I thought of the headless monkey and the monkey’s paw. There was a quick swing and the flash of a blade.

[abelmims]

Umm so yeah… Headless monkey don’t know what to think about that. I mean I’m in a desert it’s really hot. I’m not talking about your ordinary 90 degree day hot I’m talking about 120 egg fryin skin meltin heat. And I’m sittin hear looking at a headless monkey. As to how or why I’m here I could care less. But lets focus on the here and now Abel. Umm lets inspect it… like that!!!!!! eww.. Abel why did you touch its smelly and sticky. But its so colorful how did it get hear. Wait how did I get hear? Ahh I’m not suppose to be thinking about that only hear and now Abel! Only the here and now. Well let’s investigate this guy a lil bit more. Hmm he seems to look like a reflection or transparent but hows that possible with so many colors. Well maybe if I bite we’ll see how it taste. Much …. Hmm that’s good but I cant stop chewing it..It seems sort of… umm whats the word. Gummy!!!!!