How'd I Get Here

I don’t really know how I got here. I was just hanging out in the bush and enjoying a warm sunny morning. All of a sudden I felt like I was being grabbed, then all I could see was the inside of a sack. I was abducted, stolen, kidnapped. A person carried me away from the hillside, I don’t know who, or anything about them, as I didn’t get a chance to really see them before everything went dark.

They walked for quite some time from what I could gather. I don’t know what direction, it’s so disorientating when you can’t see. But when the journey finally finished I was dumped in with many others. There must have been thousands of us. None of us had any way of telling where we were. Or more importantly where we might be going.

As it turned out we were in for a long trip. I simply cannot fathom how far we must have travelled in the weeks or even months that followed. Piled in tightly together we began to get very dehydrated. It was hot and uncomfortable but nothing about it prepared us for what was going to happen.

Eventually after the arduous confinement of out trip we were slowly separated and sent off in smaller groups. What turned out to be our final destination was at first a lot more pleasant. We were separated out cleaned and groomed. A more comfortable spacing between us it started to feel like the worst had passed. I didn’t want to fall in to a trap of compliancy though and when I saw an opportunity I took it. I managed to jump over the wall nearest to me and although the fall was quite severe I landed in a spot that was out of sight, to my surprise no one came looking for me. It seems that as a group we’re valuable but on our own we’re nothing. One of us gone missing doesn’t even seem to register.

Very soon I was glad that I’d taken my window to get out of there. What happened to the rest of them shakes me to think of. I didn’t know any of them, we just happened to be swept away together but I feel for them even more sharply knowing that it could easily have been me. They were cooked. They were roasted under intense heat until they turned a dark dark brown colour. Then, probably the worst of all, they were group up to a fine powder, hot water was forced through their remains and then people came and drank this liquid in some kind of sick morning ritual.

It disgusts me, I see this happening from under this bench where I fell. I’ve seen new batches come in, not knowing the fate that awaits them. Every day I see the people come in and enjoy the drinking of this carcass water. I don’t know how long I’ll last here, several times I’ve seen them sweeping for escapees. It happens in a kind of absent minded way that is only really thorough in the wide open spaces of the floor. In some ways I welcome being found. It would be a relief from the daily torment I see here.