The girl felt her way through the darkness with what she would have liked to call the stealth of a panther, but was far closer to the clumsy flip-flop of a misguided animal-rights activist on her way to breaking the law, which was, unsurprisingly, what it was. Anu felt a warm sense of pride run down her spine - she had dreamt of this moment for several years. She was after all, on the verge of achieving something that would make a difference.
The mainstream establishment, which Anu knew as a good liberal was utterly evil and an entity to be rebelled against without question, was an active participant in both the holocaust against animals that was perpetrated everyday in the name of non-vegetarianism and the organized system of slavery that humans imposed on animals by owning them as pets. P.E.T.A documentaries had opened her eyes to these horrors when she was merely twelve, but it was only now, at the wise age of nineteen, that she had mustered the courage to act on their advice and fight for the voiceless.
‘For Friends and Family’ was the name of the pet shop. Anu’s blood reached feverish temperatures whenever the sinister name crossed her name. "What about the friends and family of the precious animals that they keep imprisoned here?" she muttered while fighting back her tears of rage, and switched the flashlight on. It was not a particularly big shop, the two padlocks at the back door had been relatively easy to break with the tools she had stolen from the landlord’s garage. The shop dealt primarily with birds, but also with dogs and rabbits.
The canines, immediately alarmed at the presence of a stranger, voiced their displeasure in loud, openly hostile growls. Anu approached the cages and smiled at them. "Don’t be scared." she cooed soothingly, "I’m not going to let them hurt you anymore, I’m here to rescue you." Pulling a can of spray paint out of her jacket, she walked to the walls and designed elaborate threats on them, warning pet owners across the city that what she was about to do was just the beginning. 'STOP ANIMAL SLAVERY’, 'ANIMALS DESERVE FREEDOM’ and 'THE LIBERATION HAS ARRIVED’ were only some of the subliminal messages she sprayed across the interior of the shop.
Yes, this was just the beginning, she told herself. She had been careful to wear gloves and even had an alibi prepared if she came under suspicion. Once this rescue operation became a huge success, others would join her in future missions. She would become one of the new faces of the animal rights struggle and with the aid of other courageous souls who were willing to fight the establishment’s cunning machinations, would usher in a new era of animal liberation, where the fascism of the human species would be brought to an end.
She jogged to the dog cages enthusiastically and, with her painting done, opened the first cage, her heart singing in joy. "You’re free!" she exclaimed, "These bastards can’t keep you trapped here anymore! You can finally..." her sentence was cut mid-way as the frightened and angry dog lunged out, straight at her throat. The last thing she remembered was the sheer speed with which it’s fangs, dripping with saliva, ripped into her jugular vein.
The police identified her corpse the next morning as Anu, a botany student. Her face had been mauled beyond recognition. It took precisely four hours longer to wipe the blood stains from the floor than it did to remove the sprayed paint on the walls, which came away with a bucket of water.
The dog, found wandering the streets with a blood-stained mouth, was sold to a security firm. It lived happily ever after.
- Nilan
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