The Zoo

I am cow. Hear me moo. I weigh twice as much as you.

The Zoo

 

  Adelaide awoke to another chilling day. It was not chilling because of the weather, but because of the every day humiliation she had to endure. The weather, of course, was freezing too on this new planet she had been locked away on. There was once a fire that lit up the cage and managed to keep her and her only companion warm on the outside; but the people outside the bars were still as frozen as always. The fire died more and more along with her spirit. To this day, the fire had yet to be lit once more. A plant similar to hay was placed below her for bedding. Adelaide would only leave this small building when the crowd had disappeared. This hiding was pointless, though. A camera had been placed into the shelter so the people could watch her every movement. There was no privacy. They could see when she slept, ate, and urinated. Every move she made was sold of entertainment. As was her hope and happiness.

  It was just four months ago that NASA had announced that life had been found on another planet. They said it was to be kept top secret, but their top astronauts would be lucky enough to travel to the Ice Planet. They were to gather information, and possibly a specimen for the scientists to study back home. The human race wanted to know how these creatures managed to live when their bodies were made solely of ice. However, the moment the creatures saw them, they were astounded by our species. We were locked away in a strange facility where we were tested on for a month. Finally, we were let loose... only to be caged.

  Adelaide peaked outside the small wooden shelter which was the only luxury the two people were given. Her only friend, Paul, was standing in front of the large group of cold creatures that gawked at him. Paul was skinny like Adelaide, not nearly enough nutrition was given up to them since they had been on the Ice Planet. He lifted his arm and presented his middle finger to the crowd.

  A loud, "Aw!" emerged from the group who obviously did not know what it meant. None of these creatures knew our human language. Paul and I knew the language because as we were prepped to arrive on this planet, we are also prepped on the tongue these creatures spoke. As we arrived in our first town the small people that looked to be carved of ice captured the three of us. Amy, our third companion was killed for experimentation. After all, they only needed two people of the opposing gender to continue on the species. As if we would actually make love in front of all the gawking eyes.

  Finally, the sky had turned from black to bright and the crowds were all hustled away back to their homes. To their loving families like the one Adelaide used to have. She finally felt safe enough to emerge from the shelter and approach her only companion.

  "I can't take this anymore," his brown eyes swelled with tears. Just another thing the creatures on this planet found cute. "The humiliation... I need to get out of here."

   "How are you going to do that?" she asked. The bars were tall and tight; he would never be able to slip through or jump over.

   "Just watch," he told her.

   Adelaide stared intently while he ran up to the bars. Paul's hands grabbed two of them tightly as he pulled himself up. His feet would press between the metal, giving him the strength to continue his climbing. Eventually he made it to the top and Adelaide wondered to herself if he was going to slide down one of the poles before he rapidly leaped from the top. His body slammed itself into the icy ground and his leg bone dislodge itself and pop out of his skin. Adelaide averted her eyes and the horrid sight.

   He screamed as loud as Amy did when they took her away. Adelaide forced herself to bring herself to her friend. She gasped and ran to his side. Well, as close as she could get to his side before the bars intercepted my path.

   The building doors began to open up and the creatures yelled for his capture before grabbing nets and racing to the injured animal. Paul's eyes widened with panic. Still screaming, he began to run, as well as fall, to freedom. Whichever way that was, he did not know.

   "He is running! Get the guns!" A creature yelled as another one pounced on him with a net.

   "Hell, no!" Paul yelped as he shoved the man off.

   He pulled himself to his feet again until the creature grabbed onto his shin to pull him back down. Paul looked down at him with hate and lifted his arm to strike.

   "Look out!" A creature screamed.

  With that, a large explosion sounded in the distance to be followed by a large explosion of blood as a bullet the size of an apple shredded itself through my friends skull. The commotion began to die down outside the bars, while inside all Adelaide could do was let the tears stream down her face like a waterfall. A pit took its official place in Adelaide's throat. Now she was truly alone. It would not be a second later when she would become just as cold as the ice men outside.

  "The bloodthirsty animal," one of the creatures helped the one by Paul's dead body off the ground.

  "It did not have to come to this..." he looked down with sorrow.

  The ice man placed his hand on his co-workers shoulder, "Do not feel bad. They are not like us. They have no consciousness. This was not quite the loss that you would be if we did not shoot."

  

  Adelaide did not sleep that night. She was a zombie in the walls of the tiny shelter she was so sick of looking at. When commotion stirred outside the exhibit she felt the pull at her heart once again. This was the first day Paul was not there to flip the people off. No one had even gotten to bury him, but there was one thing Adelaide could do for his memory. For the first time, she forced herself to her feet and trudged outside the small wooden shelter. Her head hung low as she approached the people gathering around the bars. The people who had ripped her away from everything she loved. Had taken away her only companions, and all her self-respect. And maybe, just like they wanted, her consciousness was ready to be taken away too. Like Paul the day before, I lifted my finger to these people. To the world. To life.

  "Awe!" The people yelled as she glared at them.

  A small ice child outside the enclosure pulled on the dress of his mother.

  "Is it happy in there, mommy?" It asked.

  "Of course. Look at this one saying hello to us," she patted his head. "She will live twice as long here where we can watch her than she would in the wild."

   To this notion, all Adelaide could think was... why would I want to be alive when there lacked a purpose for living?

Author's Note

This was written quick so my apologies for the mistakes. It's been an idea I had since I was very little. It was why, as a kid, I hated zoos.

Reviews

[Avinash]

This story completely stirred me. It is a brilliant peace of writing and is quite hits the nail against every notion of superiority of mankind. We have no right to cage animals as we can not see ourselves in the same position. Gives a tight slap on the face of readers. I am a big fan of such turn table writing. I am going to share this with some of my friends.

[Skai Rain]

Aw. thank you for your kind words! I was worried I would get a lot of backlash for this story but I am happy that some people see my point :)

[Wraith]

Beautiful story. It has a rather unique perspective but the main characters are still human, making it relate-able. The irony is my favorite part, that a race that cages animals would later be caged just the same.

[jo]

Well done this is a very beautiful story, I also don't Zoos.
Unfortunately I couldn't read so she fades because its rated mature. But your story is great.
Jo.

[Ragini]

Oh, my. This is really very heart-breaking. As an animal lover, even I hate zoos, and i can totally relate to this. Wow, this really touched me. :)

[jjwilbourne]

This story has a lot of potential. I loved what you're going here.
You have a great theme and with a little work, it can really resonate beautifully.
The biggest thing I noticed is that you do some swapping between 3rd and 1st person narrative. If this is intentional, it can be done a bit more elegantly. But I'm assuming it isn't because you did say you wrote it rather quickly.
Some structural cleanups on a line by line basis and finding a piece of imagery or a phrase to circle back to will increase you emotional resonance.
Excellent work here.

[Skai Rain]

No, it is because I personally don't like anything other than 1st person so that is always how I write. However, I thought this story, quick as it is, would be told better in 3rd person. My mind went back to 1st person a lot and I thought I edited all that out. Thank you for your review, I shell edit it through a few times more! :)

[icelandicblue]

A very nice twist on what we do to animals. I am opposed to all zoos and circuses whether an animal is endangered or not. Better to live in the wild no matter the circumstances. I feel pretty passionate about this and your story made me feel the same outrage, but I understood the purpose of the zoo in this story was for the reader. A nice parable.

One small thought:
down my face like a waterfall- you probably want to change my to her since it isn't written in the first person.

[Skai Rain]

Thank you for pointing that you to me! You're a rock star!

[Prabha Salimath]

It feels very bad to see animals caged yes they have very free spited animals they like freedom to be alive, like you explained at final why would I need to be alive. It is a very pathetic and heart wrenching piece...
How brutally human can do this I don't know...

[Laura Lynn]

This is a lovely composition; please do not fear zoos forever, are they not a vital part of our appreciation for many wildlife? ... they may get a lot of attention there, (or like athletic clubs?) We would rather climb mountains and run through the forest. But there are people as well as animals in the city, or animals with the people. I don't like zoos as much as the amazon; I might rather go on safari, where the sheep are grazing, or the great barrier reef. You have a great writing talent nothing amiss in this set of paragraphs here. Quite interesting and thought-provoking.

[Skai Rain]

Thank you, my friend. I do quite enjoy Safari's and Reserves.

[Ruth]

As someone who shares the pain of seeing this, I understand.

Mankind assumes animals have no consciousness when in fact it has been shown that they truly do. They feel pain, fear, sorrow, compassion, love or terror. How mankind can cage, harm, ridicule, consume, look down on or just not see animals as a conscious life form is totally beyond me.

I don't agree with any magnificent force of life being caged or used for entertainment, I have been vegetarian for 16 years...I fight for animals freedom daily in the only way I can, by sharing articles, petitions and the word in the hope that mankind sees they need our voice and action.

Totally guts me...whoever could take an animal and cage it or do far worse to them...well, I have no words for their ignorant soul. Any animal caged or kept in captivity is a monstrous act of mankind, we have forgotten how to respect and revere our wilderness, our scaredness, our connection to more than just the material.

Mass modern production and coporate entertainment companies have brought animals only suffering ... poor souls ... more than that, it spans to all the animal kingdom, the ocean is in a shocking state and more than ever, mankind needs to realise that slaughtering innocent lives will upset the Eco system and we too shall fall on our knees...

I applaud you for this writing...it needs saying, damn right it does!

Thank you for being a voice when so many remain silent ... it is needed more than ever ♥

[Skai Rain]

Could not have said it better myself! This may be a far jump but I think the way we look back disgusted at slavery now, we will look back in the future and be disgusted with how we treated our brother creatures. Thank you for reading and reviewing!

[Ruth]

I truly hope so hon, you are most welcome :) xi

[NoelHC]

An interesting tale you have written. I think this definitely needs a re-visit, and re-working, there are a number of grammar errors to clean up, and some of the sentence flow is not as smooth as it could be.
The story has strong potential, I think it would be worth your time to improve it and share it here.

[Skai Rain]

Yes, it definitely needs re-visiting. I think I wrote this at 3 AM when I couldn't sleep, haha. Thank you for reading and reviewing.

[Bee C.]

Wow. Just... wow. This story is like a slap to the face. But in a good way, somehow. I've always disliked zoos, circuses and the like for just this reason. I'm constantly torn between those establishments that clearly do care for the animals and only want to protect them, versus the obvious fact that they are in a cage. And there are some zoos that... It destroys me even to think of those awful ones. I really wish there was a simple compromise.

But anyway, your writing is superb! This is really powerful. I'm glad to have read this, even if it did make me feel sad.

[Skai Rain]

I am glad you enjoyed the story and my apologies for slapping you in the face, haha. I do understand that with some animals and zoos it can not be avoided... but I believe sanctuaries are better. Personally, I know I would have no interest in life if I was unable to live it. That sounds bad... but it is true.

[Bee C.]

No, I understand completely. Sanctuaries and protected, extended reserves I believe are much better in that way. I certainly don't know if I could bear being alive if I couldn't live.