The smell of milk (Five minutes freewrite)

I can still remember when I was very young, the days spent cradled in my mother's arms. The sweet smell of milk she gave off. I could not have enough of that beautiful world I'd had just been born into. I was loved, I was safe in my mother's arms, I did not want for anything. Well, maybe I was longing to be able to run around and play with the others, but Mom would not leave me out of sight... Wherever she'd go, I'd go, clinging to her with all the strength of my little inexperienced arms. Sometimes she'd go so fast I was afraid she'd drop me. Other times she took me high up, where I could marvel at the blue sky with the funny-shaped clouds. The first time I felt raindrops on my nose - the startled cry I gave took Mom by surprise. She gave me a worried look, see if I was OK, then she smiled... I remember it well...
Oh, and those times she tickled me with her long fingers. I thought it was a game, because I was just a baby and I didn't know about fleas...

Most of all I remember the day the hairless creatures came... All the grown-ups running for their lives, dragging the little ones after them... the horrible noise... the cries of panic and the loud bangs... I knew right up it was not some new game, I could feel my mother's terror as I clang to her fur as she ran. Then she stopped and her fur became wet and sticky. Her arms grew slack and her body grew cold, but I still clang to it... waiting for her to catch her breath and start running again, take us away from the scary creatures. But Mom never woke up again... not even when the creatures came for me and pried my weak arms from her neck... I guess she never heard me screaming in terror... I hope she did not.
The milk they gave me was sour and my belly was never full. The box they kept me in was hard and so small I could not move at all. Then I got fleas and there was no Mom to pick them for me.
It was then that I learnt the taste of fear, the horrible sour sensation in my mouth and the knot in my belly. I would've cried, had I known how. I sometimes see sweet little humans crying for an ice-cream and I wonder how such weak creatures can grow up to be so strong and do all the things they do. I never wanted for anything when I had Mom, but their mothers are not like her.
I don't feel the fear anymore. I know I'm safe here in my cage. Nobody is allowed to come close enough to hurt me. But then, I'm not allowed to get out of the cage, either. I wonder how it would feel to leave it all behind and go back to the forest and climb trees. The place where I was born. I know that will never happen, but sometimes, at night, when I cannot sleep and I'm sick of walking around in my cage, I close my eyes and dream of the days I was a baby cradled in my mother's arms and she smelled of milk.

Story written for @mariannewest's freewrite challenge. Today's prompt was: Mother! Check out her blog and join our freewrite community.

Image source: Pixabay