Words couldn't describe all the things that I had just seen. I wondered if my eyes had betrayed me, feeding me false images.
All the blood. The murder. The deaths. The savagery...
Was it real? Or a horrific hallucination. A dreadful nightmare...
I could feel the twinges of an oncoming cry pricking at the skin of my throat. The heavy feeling in my gut hadn't left, and the terrible images of To-mas' eyeless body still flashed in my head. My body was beaten, my soul, downtrodden. Fatally injured...but I was still alive. For now.
I brought my hands to my face.
They were trembling like a leaf in a strong wind; filled with bruises, blood, and scars. Something dropped in the middle of my hand.
It was translucent and watery, salty. It burned the bruise in the middle of my palm.
Clasping my quivering hands together, I held them down to stop shaking, but they wouldn't. I threw them around my torso, only to realize that my whole body was shaking.
My nervous system was wrecked....
Rocking back and forth with my legs clutched to my chest, my mind tried to make sense of all that had just transpired. All I could clearly deduce right now was that To-mas died in a grueling, torturous, and baneful way.
Those ravenous birds tossed him about like a rag doll.
They tore him up and chewed him out, splitting him into pieces. They were like demons from hell those winged creatures, and I never thought I would see the day when an enemy predator would annihilate the ferocious feline, as if he was absolutely nothing. I remember the Fear that radiated in me whenever I saw To-mas, even just seeing him laid about casually doing nothing striked fear in me. And he made no joke to let us know that he was to be feared.
But then, those creatures destroyed him. No, tortured him. They made him suffer.
To-mas was the Enemy. It's good that those Eagles decimated him, they took care of my problem for me. Right?
Right?...
I couldn't help but feel tremendous pity for the poor cat. To-mas was a rat hating bastard, but the way he died was ruthless, for anyone. The desperation in his eyes as he fought for his life....
It was like seeing the Devil slaughtered and mangled by an even bigger, more lethal, devil.
"Damn you To-mas..." what was he thinking??? Of all the creatures on the outside, why did he have to challenge one of nature's most lethal predators?? What was he expecting after he had snatched her child from its nest? If I fell into such a depression over losing my Family, what did he think an Eagle would feel over losing her babies??
To-mas was an egotistical, greedy, self-entitled son of a bitch. He believed his species was superior to mine, and he was delusional to think that the Eagle was afraid of him. My feelings of sorrow for him began to subside. As far as I saw it,
That pussey got what was coming to him.
It was just seeing him die in that manner.... Watching any enemy that was stronger, faster, and fiercer kill the boogeymonster that you were afraid of all along was a chilling experience. I learned a lesson that day.
A lesson about Humility, and Death.
Animals that were greater than me had fallen. I was humbled.... humbled enough to know that Death had no preference in whose life it choose to take. Be it a Rodent, an Eagle, a Cat, or even the Giant.
Death, was impartial. It favored no one.
Anything that lived, must die. Whether greater, smaller, medium. There were no favorites.
And since we all died, that meant that no one was better than anyone else. We all had flesh that can be ripped and torn like mine currently was. Looking at how mangled my body was, I definitely would die from my injuries. But I had to do one last thing first...
Looking out I saw the light.
It shone through the slender stalks of grass, waving back and forth in the wind. The sun glimmered in its radiance; spikes of luminescence shot out from around its edges. The dark clouds were gone now, and the dew left on the plants from the rain made them glow, dazzling as they swayed in the morning breeze. I looked across the pasture, to the bottom of the gate at the medium sized hole in the fence.
"Thank you, Mother. For watching over me" I whispered.
With one last look to the sky, I continued my journey to freedom. I took it slowly, placing one foot behind the other, touching the wet grass, and moving forward, inch by inch. I did the same with the other foot, lifting it, touching the grass, and moving closer and closer to the hole. I heard my heartbeat in my ears again, anxious about exiting the arching hole that was in the wooden fence within my eyesight.
Strangely, the exit was swaying from side to side now, along with the rest of the fence. I could see the path coming closer to me. It's as if it was floating to me, drawing itself to me, because it knew how badly I wanted to escape from this harsh reality.
I was horrified, traumatized. Simultaneously, I was overjoyed, blissful and delighted. In fact, I had never, ever been this happy to be alive in my whole, entire life. It felt so good to be alive for once!!! All the trouble that I went through wasn't for nothing.
I was almost there! A bloody smile swept across my face. I chuckled, feeling that profound feeling of gratitude, joy and peace.
Almost Instantaneously an erratic wave of pain shot straight across my back, a numbing force driving through my legs and my arms.
My legs gave out and I slumped to the ground. I fell back into the grass, on my stomach.
"Oh come on!!" I grunted, cursing under my breath. I knew I was going to die. But I couldn't die here. Not here, not now. I'll save dying for when I reached out the hole.
So I rose up, focusing on my goal.
The hole in the fence. It was right there. Right in front of me.
Come on Burrow, we made it. Don't punk out now when your so close.
"Almost...there..." I gritted my teeth, digging my hands and feet into the plush soil, my elbows and knees buckling as I rose, only to fall down to the grass again.
My body was giving up on me. It couldn't. Not when I was this close. I had gone through way too much to give up now. I had to go on.
Breathing in and mustering up all the strength I had, I anchored my feet into the soil and started pushing up. I could feel everything, the palpitating bruises, the numbing aches, the weight of my body, the blood I was losing.
But I bit my lip and endured the pain. This was nothing. This pain is nothing compared to what I've been through. I told myself that over and over again. I wouldn't stop.
Finally, I stood shakily on all fours.
"Okay Burrow! Just one foot, in front of the other" I warmly encouraged my body.
Watching my left foot tremble as I forced it to move forward, going back down to push off the grass. I tried the other one, biting my lip as it shook forward.
The grass felt like needles underneath my feet, but I kept going at a tortoise's pace. It was better than not moving at all.
With each step I was inching forward to the Fence. 20 feet closer. 15 feet closer. 10 feet. 5 feet. I was directly in front of it.
The hole was only a foot away from me now...
While my feet moved up and sunk into the grass again, a sweltering heat moved from the tip of my tail to the top of my head, and then my entire body shivered. I felt the life escape out of my breath, and as I put the next foot forward, I was knocked down again by my injuries, into the blood-stained grass.
"Drats!!" I peered around at my limbs, commanding them to move, but all that happened was a slight twitch of the fingers. I moved my neck, twisting it slightly to look down at my body.
All around me, the place had gotten dark, pitch black like the night. My eyes felt like ten-pound bricks were tied to my eyelashes, they kept closing and I struggled to keep them open. I drifted off for a second, my head faceplanted straight into the ground; as my skin touched the cool soil it shocked me, shaking me out of my sleep.
I was going unconscious again, and this time, I couldn't stop it.
My body had given up on me, and it wanted me to give up with it. But I couldn't. Not yet. What if I went to sleep right here on this lawn and the Giant came out and finished me off? What if the Eagles came back? I made a promise to my Family that I would get out of this yard. I came such a far way.... I was almost there. Dying without fulfilling that promise was not an option. I just needed one more push...
Immediately I imagined Mothers face smiling at me. Seeing Sharp's and Cheese's welcoming expressions and waving hands, gearing me to come to them. They were on that sturdy bridge with the calm, clean waters peacefully strolling down the stream. I could hear the soothing chimes in the wind, the palm trees dancing in the distance, the sunset on the horizon. I remembered how calm and happy I felt on that bridge, with the ones that I love. There was no fear or worry in that place.
In that moment all I could see was their faces. All three of them. Sharp with his arrogant, cocky smirk, Cheesy with that goofy, one-sided smile he always had, and Mother. With that heartwarming, cheery peer of eyes that screamed at you to run up to her and embrace her, that beautiful smile...
This was all the motivation I needed. They, were all I needed...
My eyes flashed open, and I looked at the hole that was right before me. There was a bright, white light shining out of it this time. I squinted, using my hand to cover my face.
I saw them there, in that light. The three of them were holding each other's shoulders, waving at me.
"Come on Burrow! You can do it!! Your almost there!!" Sharp remarked, his voice echoing as he clapped above his head. Mother jeered me on, waving beside him.
"I'm...almost...there!!" I shouted, through gritting teeth; A burst of energy exploded through me like gunfire, and I pounced up, my feet straightened on all fours, the pain of my wounds hurting like never before.
"I'm almost there!!!" suddenly, I could feel my legs trudging through the blood-soaked mud, trampling the grass, and going to the light.
I zoomed through the hole in the fence, and I was there, in the light. I could feel it, the warmth of it glowing all around me, charging my body with vitality; it was thrilling. All the pain that once covered me had gone; all the fear dissipated. All the strength that I had lost felt like it was being called back to my body.. I was out of the Fence,
And into the light.