Read at your own fucking risk.
Jill’s mouth quivered in a tearful pout. “Mama, please…”
“Now, darling, you know that today’s the day.” Her mother set her hands on her hips. From one of them a big kitchen knife stuck out, glinting. “We’ve talked about this.”
“I know, but…”
Jill’s arms squeezed around her precious Kitty. Kitty was her own special cat she’d cared for since she was a little girl. Her constant companion during all the long years she’d been forced to live Inside, as all young girls were forced to do. Kitty was her beloved pet—her very best friend during a childhood spent in lonesome confinement.
In order to go Outside, as all Big Girls had the privilege to do, certain conditions had to be met. Certain sacrifices had to be made. This was just the way the world was, or so Jill’s Mama had told her.
“…But why, Mama? Why does it have to be this way?—I just don’t understand it. I don’t understand it at all!”
Mama huffed, gesturing impatiently with the knife. “There’s nothing to understand, sweetheart. It’s what the Government tells us to do, for our own good.”
“But it doesn’t make sense!”
“It doesn’t matter,” Mama said flatly, her lips thinning in the way that Jill had come to realize meant ‘end of discussion.’ “It’s for your Health—the Government says so, and we have to do what they say.”
“Isn’t the Government supposed to do what the people say?” Jill continued to protest, clutching the mewing feline to her that much closer.
Mama waved with her free hand. “Yes, in general, but this issue is so much more complicated than that.”
Jill scowled. It sounded to her like absolute bullshit. But what did she know? She was only twelve years old, and Mama was an Adult. In Jill’s arms, Kitty’s howling grew plaintive, his claws digging and scratching in distress.
“I won’t do it.”
“Then you’ll have to stay locked Inside forever,” Mama retorted. “Is that what you want?”
Jill scowled still, finding it difficult to breathe through the bitter tightness in her chest.
“I can see on your face that it’s not what you want. And it’s not what I want for you, either. I want you to go Outside—I want you to experience life to the fullest! I’m sorry that the price is so high, but you won’t know what you’re missing until you see for yourself.” The glaring knife tip pointed straight at Jill’s chest. “This is the only safe way. The only legal way.”
Jill sighed dismally, supposing that safe and legal must be one and the same. The tears that had been pricking at her eyes since the very beginning now began to flow. Sniffling, she prised Kitty’s claws from her shirtfront and handed him over. His sweet little furry body went stiff with fright as Mama placed him on the cold hard countertop.
Gently, lovingly, Mama pressed the knife into Jill’s bloodless hand. Her fingers were so clammy and trembling she could scarcely grasp it. But somehow she managed to maintain her hold, and screwing her eyes shut, plunged the blade point first into Kitty’s prone little neck.
A shrill animal scream tore through the room, making Jill wince and wail herself. The smell of hot blood made her stomach twist and churn. Opening her eyes, she saw Kitty’s poor twitching little body, his cries becoming increasingly muffled by the frothy blood that was drowning him from the inside out.
Jill’s hand was still as she raised the knife over him again and brought it down, hoping it would kill him. But it’s hard to kill something that doesn’t want to die. It took many, many stabs. With each one, Jill felt like she was killing something in herself. By the time it was finally over and Kitty stopped moving—except, of course, from the jolting of the knife coming down again and again into his defenseless flesh and glancing off his tiny kitty bones—Jill didn’t feel anything anymore.
Dead-eyed, she let the bloody knife fall from her numb fingers as Mama tearfully beamed.
“Now, you have to Fashion him, sweetheart. That’s the last and most important step before you can go Outside.”
Jill nodded robotically. Pulling out Kitty’s steaming intestines and butchered organs, she hollowed out a space just big enough and placed him atop her head, just like the Government said she must.
Liquid gore seeped into her hair. Bloody bits of viscera slid down her face.
It was a perfect fit.
“I know how unpleasant it is,” Mama cooed, brushing Kitty’s limp soggy tail back behind Jill’s shoulder. “But I’m proud of you, sweetheart. You’re doing the responsible thing. The thing that’s best for you. Now, let’s go shopping!”
Not bothering to clean up the mess from Kitty’s slaughter—that could be done later or better yet by somebody else—Mama ushered them both toward the Door. In all her twelve years, Jill had never gone beyond it. So many hours she’d spent imagining what it must be like, to go Outside. To really live.
She’d used to share her musings with Kitty, even after she’d learned that to ‘live’ meant to kill him. It hadn’t seemed real to her, back then, what she’d have to give up in order to meet society’s expectations of her. Now that she’d done it, it still didn’t seem real.
With wooden footsteps, she went through the Door after her mother, whose own hat of a cat had been dead for so long that neither she nor Jill nor anyone else recognized anything living in it.
Outside, people milled about, in the streets or at the store. All of them were doing what the Government said they had to do in order to survive in this strange world—wearing eviscerated cats in varying states of decay on their heads, that is.
And if the people looked even deader in the eyes than their hats did, well, they were alive, weren’t they?
7/19/20 – Comments are closed. I won’t be replying to any of them. I’m a little tapped out on being personally attacked over a work of fiction. Not very classy, guys. Read the note. Or better yet, the PSA that’s sticky-posted at the very top of this site.
To those of you who’ve been positive, supportive, and non-judgmental, thank you 💕
Because animal abused killing is analogous to wearing a small mask to protect the people around you, and other people wearing a small mask to protect you, in the event that someone is an asymptomatic carrier of a virus that’s killed hundreds of thousands.
This is so incredibly disappointing. Doctors are already wearing masks for every shift, somehow surviving the “horrible burden”. I hope that you and your loved ones won’t carry or suffer covid, or covid’s potential post-illness side effects. I can’t continue to support your work or enjoy it knowing the selfishness of the individual behind it.
Genuinely, please be safe. I know nothing anyone says and no amount of research will change most people’s minds that are made up, but please take care of yourself and anyone in proximity to you.
This is a free blog, and no you are not supporting her , because well…you are not paying for anything nor will you help her if something is wrong and if you read between lines she Express the destruction of democracy and that doesn’t mean to stop wearing masks……..it means that we have to do what is legal and what is legal sometimes is not morally right …….. it means that in simply less than 3 months democracy was dismantled.
If you dont want to read leave.
Reading some back asswards analogy to complain about wearing a mask at 2am is not something I was expecting, but here we are. I’ve never bothered to comment here before, content to lurk and support but man this is actually the worst take; no “read at your own risk” could cover it. Surgeons have to wear multiple kinds of PPE for hours on the operating table and folks get mad that they are asked to wear a mask outside so we don’t, oh, I don’t know, end up with the death of thousands like previous plagues. My mother has nursed for years and not once complained about wearing a mask.
This is a huge disappointment but oh well. I can’t continue to support, even silently about such a blatant disregard for your health and others around you. Wear a damn mask.
you shouldve just sat there and ate your food.gif
Never commented before, but I have to say this one has me scratching my head and thinking I’m just not smart enough to read underneath the glaring analogy. You haven’t directly stated your opinion on it in a commentary(and fair enough you’re under no obligation to), which is why I’m re-reading this and trying to see if there’s a deeper meaning you’ve got going on here, or if you’re possibly even using this as an over-enunciated allegory that anti-maskers use themselves? But I would be more curious to know what you would come up with on the subjects of a vaccine. I don’t know though, maybe this is something that you just wanted to shove out of your mind as catharsis.
I’m hoping this is something along the lines as what first timer posted because otherwise its beyong insensitive. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, yes, but the analogy here is waaay skewed. People barking about their personal rights being infringed on over a mask is not the same as animal abuse. As someone who works retail 40 hrs a week wearing gloves, a mask for sometimes up to 11 hours, and stands behind plexi-shields, I STILL GOT COVID. My sister got Covid. Two of my friends also got it. They all took precautions and the common denominator was the people they were around who were too prideful to wear a mask. Countries like Japan who are very densely populated understand the need for masks to quell disease. Its not an infringment to help your country.
This is the most disappointing post that I’ve ever seen here. I hope first timer is right, but this was bad delivery. No thanks.
Really, I also got covid and my husband also and we are fine.
We did a quarantine for 3 weeks and we are fine.
Oh and yes it has an underline the story read what is in italics.
This short story is not about wearing a mask.
Is about what the government knows what is supposed to be the best for society….and by reading history books we should know as that it is not true sometimes.
Sometimes politicians dont give a fuck for their society if they have to sacrifice the coins in their pockets.
Not all of them, there have been amazing politicians that have honor….but most of them dont care.
I live in Europe and work for a government agency while my mum works at a hospital. So I get how you feel about people following rules without understanding them just people just because the authorities said so.
We are bombarded by news how ma y have been infected and that the number rises but funnily the number of related deaths is falling. So do we still need to panic and huddle in fear?
Every year people die from cancer, some even call it the new pandemic yet no one is restricting our freedoms.
What I find most funny about wearing the mask is that there are no official guidelines. A) In order to be effective the mask must be made of special material otherwise it becomes a health risk to the wearer. B)Mask can be worn only for a limited period of time before they lose their effectiveness. This is why doctors switch masks during an operation. C) The virus is spreading through aerosols which means that a mask is protective only when is small spaces. There is no need for a mask in large, ventilated spaces.
I find it very troubling how all societies across the globe accepted restrictions on their freedoms and rights without questioning the governments or trying to understand the reasoning behind the decisions. In a way it’s amazing how easily democracies can be dismantled by a virus no one still understands.
I agree with the last comment , how freedom is being lost.
That doesnt mean to stop protecting yourself and your loved ones from any virus.
But yes it is amazing how democracy is destroyed by a virus…. even in my country the politicians are approving laws without the consent of the people. While with news they create chaos , no helping the entrepreneurs, so they also loose their enterprise and the jobs they had created to help society.
Small entrepreneurs are not transnational companies and they can’t withstand 4 months with no income and still have to pay rent and salaries in full to their employees.
And btw all now have to be politically correct so you won’t be shamed by others.
You can’t discuss a point of view because you will offend someone.
Am I the only one that didn’t think this was an analogy to wearing masks? Apparently… I enjoyed this fic. My guess is majority of you came to the comments to bandwagon the 1st persons thoughts. No originality. Be more creative folks. 😉
Nope! You’re definitely not the only one. I dig it a lot …..kinda got a Ray Bradbury meets Chuck Palahniuk feel. 😉
Wow. I absolutely love your stories. And this one short was a perfect piece subtly detailing what’s wrong with our times right now. We have a wide variety of interpretations, and what I interpreted was vastly different from what people in the comments have taken this story to mean.
I think the cat was a metaphor for ‘conscience’ and ‘cognitive’ ability of a person in a civilised society. For the government to ask people to kill their cat is just a precursor for them to start following their orders, however illogical and inane, in a bid to remain in power.
We are taught to follow the footsteps of our adults and to have implicit trust in their abilities, which is why even a conscientious kid can second guess his/her own reasoning when an adult is explicitly against it.
There is so much I interpret from this story that I am having a hard time organising my thoughts in a coherent manner and express them in words.
But all in all, it was a wonderful story and yes it did make me a bit uncomfortable with how realistic it is.
Thank you! Keep up th good work!
This is some edgelord shit and you’re a better writer than this. Keep tryin bc you ain’t there yet.