Fighting For Them ☑️

Animal Lover

It was an exciting day. At least it was suppose to be. I finally got to come home after a long school year and be with my family. Everyone was going,  from the littles to the older adults. We were going to have a great family day.

I didn't know about the surprise my family had for us 'older' kids, that's what a surprise was after all. Still being one of the most mature I was usually the one to know what was going on to help set up and organize. I was trusted but it came to me just as much of a surprise as the rest.

 It was some kind of circus apparently. Big cages were wheeled around with white covers over them so maybe it was suppose to be more of a petting zoo then anything else. It wasn't very exciting for us 'young' adults. We were too old for petting zoos, at least thats what most of our mind sets were like. I didn't mind. I was going for school to help rehabilitate abused animals and even if it wasn't dogs or cats or birds different animals were exciting to me.

So I went exploring on my own. No one else wanted to know what kind of animals were being wheeled around in the white covered cages. They didn't want to help me, but it wasn't unusual for me to set off on my own. My parents trusted me, most adults did too even if I never met them before. I guess I had one of those faces. It wasn't my style to cause trouble so no one was the wiser about me trying to sneak a peak.

I didn't try to see what was in the cages closest to me. There was too many people around for that. And contrary to everyones beliefs from home I was actually really good at being sneaky. My time away from home helped me pick up a few tricks here and there. Everyone thought me an angel, which was true most of the time.

 I had a small streak of rebellion in me still, especially when it came to something I was passionate about, like abused animals. That might have lead to  a few 'missing' animals. So my stealthy feet lead me to the back of the convoy where people tend to keep their prized possessions and where they kept their darkest secrets. 

At first I didn't hear anything. I was in the clear. No one was around to catch me. But as I drifted closer to one of the small tents that had been set up, I heard foot steps approaching and fast. My heart sped up as the adrenaline kicked in. If I wasn't such a good girl the adrenaline rush would have been an addiction to me. I loved the excitement and rush it gave but the consequences running through my mind always leveled me out. Thinking quickly I ducked under the tent and hoped that the person didn't follow after me. 

The foot steps ran right by me. There wasn't even a hesitation near the tent much to my disappointment. It felt some what anticlimactic after I got so worked up about being caught. It almost made me feel as if what I was doing wasn't important . But I shook my head at the thought. The animals were important.

I turned inside the tent to see where I was at. The space was large, based off of the how high the top of the tent was, and the distance from the middle to where I was at made it out to bigger. What made it seem smaller was the curtains hanging from the ceiling, dividing it into sections. Where I was standing the only equipment was food containers stacked up.

I tried to get a sense of the animals by the food but things were labeled in a different language. So I moved on to the next section. Making sure no one was going to get a surprise from me, I listened for any noise. There was nothing.

The next few sections were all equipment or what I would guess to be their entertainment set up. I couldn't make heads or tails of most of it but it didn't matter. I saw the important stuff. The stuff that boiled my blood and had me tempted to rig it so it didn't work properly.

Different punishment items were scattered around the last two sections from the center. Whips, floggers, hot metal which could be used to brand, and all other sorts of torture devices. I saw chains drilled into the ground with choke collars at the ends of them separated feet apart from each other like something out of a dog fighting ring. I wanted to burn it all.

Then I hear something. I couldn't pick out the sound at first. It wasn't until I was closing in on the last divider separating the middle section that I realized what it was. A whip.

 A crack of the whip followed by some muffled command then a roar sounded out. I wasn't positive on what animal it was in the middle but it sounded like a bear. And that roar was filled with pain. My heart clenched every time I heard it but I couldn't do anything about it. Not yet. Not when someone could see me. 

So I waited. And waited. And waited for the sounds to stop and the painful roars to cease. Tears stung my eyes as I was forced to listen to the animal crying out. I had to be patient before  I went in. I couldn't rush anything.

Finally the sounds stopped. I could hear who ever it was breathing hard after the whipping and the exertion it took to cause the poor animal pain. Something rattled, a chain maybe, then a cage door was open. I waited to see if the person was taking out another animal but I didn't hear anything suggesting that. I did hear footsteps and they were walking towards me.

Quickly I ducked behind one of the larger platform for the animals. The tent flap opened just as I got behind my cover. Some one walked passed, a man by the built. All I could see was a dark head of hair and a large scar running down his forearm before he disapperared. I took the chance and pulled open the divider and ducked under.

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"My heart weeps when I see abuse or cruelty to any animal."

       ---------Anthony Douglas Williams, Inside the Divine Pattern