I stood there, silently crying. They say that animals don’t cry, that we never let tears fall, especially those who belong to the cat family. Well, I proved them wrong. As I stood beside my dying mother, all I could think of was for her to stay a little longer. Of course, I knew there was little hope for mama. For days she was not keeping well. Many a times, she would wake up in immense pain and cry out for papa. He never came, though. Mama said that papa was captured by some humans. She said that they took him to some far off land.
Mama told me it all happened on a cold, starless night. Everything was quiet except for the lovely lullaby that mama and papa were singing to me. I was a young, innocent and immature cub. My world consisted of mama, papa, myself and the beautiful songs they sung to me. It seemed like any other night. Neither mama nor I knew that it would change our lives in so many ways.
It was papa who heard the distant rumbling. It seemed to be coming from the forest. Being the alert parent he was, he set out to investigate. Before he left, he told mama- Juno, I’ll be back in a few minutes. I have to see what that noise is. Take care of little Sumo for me.
Little did we know that those words were the last he would ever speak to us.
I felt mama patting me with her soft paws, bringing me out of my reverie.
“Sumo…..” she whispered.
“I’m here mama,” I replied with a strained voice.
“I don’t have much time left, Sumo. I need you to promise me something. I want you to find out what happened to your papa. I want you to..to.. find out if he is still alive. If he isn’t, I want, you to hunt down those humans who killed him. Can you understand me Sumo?” she asked. I knew it was taking all her strength to keep talking, but I didn’t stop her. I could sense that she was saying something that had troubled her over the years since that dreadful night.
“Of course I understand, mama. I will do what you asked. I will do it if it’s the last thing I do.”
No, I was not lying when I said that I would do it. I would avenge my papa’s death- if he is dead, that is.
A loud sound a little way off broke my train of thought. I looked up and a machine on wheels was coming towards us. It came closer and closer, until it was just a few metres away from us.
“Go Sumo, run! They’re here. If they see you, they’ll take you with them. Go Sumo! Remember what I told you!” With that my mother breathed her last. I took one last look at her and ran into the forest. Through the bushes I hid and watched.
A couple of humans walked upto mama and bent down to tie her legs. The rest of them covered her face with a cloth. Another one put her on a spread out cloth. Together they took her back to the machine on wheels and placed her in the back. Slowly, it started moving away from me.
I know mama told me to run away but my curiosity got the better of me. I cautiously followed the contraption on wheels. The machine kept moving until it finally came across an open ground. There were a few wooden planks kept in the middle. The humans took mama across the ground and laid her on the planks. One of the humans took something from his pocket. I leaned in a little closer to see what it was. It happened to be a small box. The human took out a stick from it and struck the box. A tiny orange light seemed to emerge from the stick. The human then threw the stick onto the planks. As soon as he did that, the planks started glowing with an orange light. It was then that it hit me. They were setting the planks on fire. More importantly, they were setting mama on fire.
I didn’t realize I was crying until the warm liquid rolled down my face. I didn’t know where my father was or even if he was alive. I didn’t know if I could live without my mother. I am a small cub and I don’t know what to do. However, there is one thing I most certainly know- I will not rest until I complete my mother’s last wish.
