She was barely the size of a human hand—eyes sealed shut, pink face wrinkled, and a tiny belly rising and falling with shallow breaths. Only two days old, and already an orphan.
Her mother had died suddenly, leaving the newborn hidden under a bush in the forest’s edge. Cold, silent, forgotten. Her cries were so faint, almost too soft for the world to hear.
But someone heard.
Lina, a gentle woman passing by on her way to feed rescued animals, stopped when she heard the tiniest whimper. She followed the sound and found her—barely alive, barely moving.
“Oh baby,” Lina whispered, kneeling down. “You’re just… brand new.”
She wrapped the newborn in the soft fabric of her scarf and rushed home, heart pounding. The baby monkey was so delicate, her fingers barely strong enough to cling. Lina prepared warm milk, filled a tiny syringe, and offered the first drop.
The baby suckled weakly. It was the first comfort she’d known.
Lina kept her close all night, skin to skin, heartbeat to heartbeat. Every hour, she fed her, wiped her face, and whispered gently, calling her Lilu—a name for new beginnings.
Lilu didn’t know what had happened. She couldn’t understand loss or fear yet. But she felt warmth again. A heartbeat. A mother’s scent, even if it wasn’t the same.
She would never know her birth mother’s arms—but in Lina’s hands, she was safe.
She was no longer alone in the world.
