Amanda the Adventurer: Amanda's Sacrifice

Amanda's Sacrifice

"Hi! I'm Amanda!" Said a dark-skinned girl. She was wearing a yellow shirt and turquoise shorts. Her black hair was tied up into two buns. Amanda waved to a person on the other side of the screen. A TV screen to be exact. For she existed in a cartoon universe. And little did any of her viewers know that she could actually hear and see them reacting to the show. They all believed it was scripted. That was until the show didn't keep going unless they actually answered Amanda.

"And I'm Wooly!" A second voice chimed in. This person was Amanda's best friend and an anthropomorphic sheep. The two of them stood in the middle of their cartoon town. Four buildings stood alongside the road. These were the convenience store, the candy store, post office, and the meat market. All of the stores had big eyes that sat just below the roofline, staring blankly at the viewer. The structures bounced and swayed back and forth as if they were alive. It was unclear if they were trying to say something. Or if they just lived a dull, neutral existence not really feeling anything.

"Today we're getting meat for grandma." Amanda said to the screen. Wooly's ears perked up in surprise at this comment.

"But isn't grandma a vegetarian?" The sheep interjected. Amanda seemed to completely ignore this comment and continued with her spiel to the audience.

"Can you tell us where the butcher is?" She urged the person. A young girl on the other side of the TV screen pointed to the building with a meat symbol above its eyes. "There it is. Let's go!" The cartoon girl agreed.

She and Wooly entered the butcher's shop. Behind the green counter stood a stick-figure-like person that was painted a pale skin color. It had no hair and wore blue pants and a white apron that was draped over its red shirt.

"Hello, meat man!" Amanda addressed the person. But he didn't answer. For the figure had no mouth or nose. Just googly eyes that seemed to go in opposite directions. His arms were like sticks that ended in nubs. It always baffled Wooly that the meat man could hold any of his utensils when he didn't have any hands. Amanda never seemed to be bothered by this whenever the sheep brought it up though.

Speaking of being bothered, it always bothered poor Wooly when their adventures took them to the butcher's shop. He would always eye the cuts of meat warily. Hanging from the walls and ceiling were cuts of meat with eyes still on them. They carelessly swung back and forth like the buildings. Wooly could've sworn he had seen those eyes following him around, as if warning him that he could be the next choice cut. The poor sheep gulped and drooped his ears, following close behind Amanda. He did all he could to not reel at the awful smell of the raw meat. It almost made him feel sick to his stomach. To a peace-loving herbivore, the smell of raw meat was ungodly.

"Can you tell him what we need?" Amanda asked her audience. The girl on the other side obediently answered "meat". With that, the butcher leaned down and brought a slab of unidentified meat onto the counter. He began to chop the slab with his meat cleaver knife. The two cartoon characters watched as he did this. The butcher's googly eyes stared off without purpose, unblinking. Wooly dreaded the day that a viewer would be more specific with their answer and said "lamb" as a joke. What would happen to him then? Would the butcher actually try to kill him? He watched the man's knife be precise with each cut, noting that there was a smear of blood on the utensil. How fresh was this meat? If there was blood, did that mean the source creature was just recently slaughtered?

The sheep's gaze averted when he realized his friend began to tremble. The cartoon girl didn't look so good. Definitely not her usual happy self. In fact, she kind of looked like how Wooly felt: sick to the stomach.

"There's nothing that I want here." Amanda said softly as she hung her head, looking like she was ashamed of herself.

"Amanda, are you all right?" The sheep asked. But the girl didn't answer him.