Source: Pixabay

I am often teased about my fear of getting kidnapped by burglars if they ever broke into my house. I live in a beautiful house, sixteen kilometers away from the heart of Kolkata. It so happened that one day my parents had to make a visit to the hospital where my grandmother was admitted. My mother told me that my uncle would come and babysit me. 

It was just after eleven. Since it was a Sunday, I was still lying in bed. I had school projects pending but I was in no mood to do them. Mustering up the mental strength to get out of bed, I went to the balcony to That is when I saw a Maruti Omni and four men keeping an eye on my house. In all movies, the presence of a Maruti Omni meant a kidnapping would take place I was seized by fear. I opened a huge cupboard, stepped into it, and locked it from within. After a few minutes, I felt hot waves of air blowing from within the cupboard I ventured deeper and was baffled by the size of it. After walking for about five minutes, I tripped on something and fell. My face landed into a swampy patch of land. Disgusted, I quickly got up and tried to get the mud off my face. I ventured into this strange land. 

Shortly, I saw a couple of human beings running as if their lives were dependent on it. After a while I noticed a pack of wolves chasing after them. I looked around for a place to hide and I saw a cave. I ran as fast as I could but the wolves caught up with me and pinned me down. Fear struck, I just lay still. After a moment, the fiercest and the strongest wolf, who I presumed was the alpha of the pack, spoke. I had seen a movie about talking animals but I could not believe this was happening to me. I thought I was dreaming. 

The Alpha male spoke again. "She's old enough, let's take her away". He then looked at me and said "Look Miss, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Do not try to flee. If you do, we will rip you to shreds. Come with us and you will not feel any pain... yet". Nod if you understand what I'm saying." Speechless, I just nodded and followed the wolf. 

This wolf took me to a place called the "Slaughter House". He was greeted by two bears who I suppose were the butchers. One of them said, "We will not even get six pounds of flesh. She is too tiny. What were you thinking? I was still unable to comprehend what was happening when a truck with a huge cage at the back arrived with humans who were bound. They were all around six feet tall and were very fat. Men, women, children of all ages were brought into the house. They begged for mercy but the bears were oblivious to them. It was as if they bears could not understand the language that the humans were pleading in. Soon another truck, which in Kolkata is used to transport cows arrived. I saw women between the ages of fifteen to forty-five tied up. I was thrown into this truck. Panic seized me. I asked the other women there what was happening. They all looked exhausted. One of them, a girl who introduced herself as Amara told me that we were being taken to the Milking Factory. I sighed at this. Certainly milking goats and cows was easier than being slaughtered. 

When we reached this milking factory, I was taken into a separate room by two raccoons, who were wearing coats that doctors usually were. They injected two syringes full of chemicals into my body. Another syringe was injected that immediately made me extremely weak. I passed out. When I woke up, I found myself tied inside a chamber. When I looked around, I saw many other women in the same condition. Naked, with suction devices placed on our breasts. My condition was the same. I was horrified at being violated like this. I thought, "How dare they treat me like an animal?" 

That is when it hit me. This was some parallel universe where the animals were the superior race and humans were treated badly. I laughed bitterly at the irony. There were many other industries, like the Pure Human Skin Textiles". "The Black Market, where humans were sold to work in the fields for farmers, who were the zebras, "The Human Pig Industry" where medicines or make up were tried or experimented on humans.

About a month later, I was declared too weak to be milked, so I was going to be shot since I was of no use. Somehow, I managed to escape and found my way back to the secret doorway that connected to the cupboard. I scrambled out of it and just lay on the floor. I just cried. I'm not sure for how long. To my surprise, Only an hour's time in our world had passed since I had ventured into that strange land, although I was there for a little over a month. My uncle was knocking at the door. 

I saw those four men again. They were just workers who had come to install new CCTV cameras and were looking for the best spot to set them up. 

That night, I thought long and hard about everything I had experienced. I realized how as humans, we exploit and destroy everything within our reach. The next day, I signed up to join an Animals Rights Campaign. Animals do not deserve to be treated so badly for our benefit. When humans act with cruelty, we characterize them as "animals". I realized that the only animalistic being that displays cruelty is humanity. Animals should not require our permission to live on the earth. Both the theories of Evolution and Creation state that animals were given the right to be here before we humans arrived.

.    .    .

Discus