The Victim

I stood there with my head bent down thinking why I was brought here so early in the morning. The sun was about to rise and the birds were chirping with great amount of energy in anticipation of a new morning; but I despised the new dawn. Of course, I was not alone; almost all my friends were there too. One thing I noticed immediately was that today seemed to be very different. There were more people and commotion had set in. In the past also, I was paraded in front of handful of people; today, there were hundreds.

I just couldn’t help but think of what awaited me; what kind of an end will come to me? Will it be swift and painless or slow and painful? I looked around to see what others were doing; are they also going through the trauma like me? But I was surprised to see them feasting themselves; they were all eating so ferociously as if there was no tomorrow! I laughed when I realized how foolish I was; of course, there will be no tomorrow for most of us. We will not see the end of day nor tomorrow’s dawn.  With the exception of one or two, fate that waited for all is the same; death!

People came and patted on my back and stood closely and looked as if to evaluate me. I felt irritated and wanted the whole ordeal to get over as quickly as possible. I wondered what goes on in the minds of those who come here? The people around me were too busy even to think; they were simply evaluating us with the intention of buying!

Then I heard the crying sound; it started with one spreading to many. The awful sound was heart wrenching; is there no way to stop this mayhem? My friends were shrieking and making awful sounds I felt helpless. In the name of God and religion why are people resorting to mass murder? I realised that my thinking neither could be explained nor would anyone be interested in it; still when I tried saying something, the sound that came from my mouth was strange and awful.

Finally, the man who brought me to this god forsaken place came near me along with another person and the talk started on the expected line; bargaining for the price to buy me! I hung my head in shame and was in no mood to eat the food lying in front of me.

The man looked at me from head to toe and finally, with lot of protests, parted with the money and took me along with him. Once I boarded his vehicle, I looked back and saw that more or less, all my friends too were on their way with their new owners. I was held secure with ropes at the back of the vehicle and my plan of saving myself by jumping from the vehicle seemed impossible. I felt sorry for my friends too; at least I knew what is about to come, but they all looked ignorant.

One day! I told myself; I would be alive at the most for one more day. I was certain that I won’t be alive to see the sunset tomorrow evening; the fate for all of us who had assembled here today, would be similar. 

We will all be simply killed; of course, men who will kill us, the sheep, won’t call that as killing; it will be termed as sacrificing!