As The Final Sun Sets

There appears to be a constant clicking under my feet and my head shudders as I try to get a peek out at the ironically beautiful day. I try and play a game to distract myself; I even have myself convinced that I see the figure of a cow in the white freckles of the sky’s giant face, and suddenly I’m thinking of home. It’s a crowded house – not that I expected much different, I’ve seen enough of them packed up by now – I just didn’t imagine it to be this uncomfortable and unbearingly lonely.

I hear sounds of indignation and complaint from the other passengers. I hear someone crying out and feel sadness envelope me in their cries, then I realise it’s me who weeps. I miss my family - my little ones, back at the farm as someone new care for them and raise them in order to take my place. It distresses me to think my presence is no longer required in their life, and that by the time the sun has set, they will have probably forgotten once more. I weep for them.

Crying suddenly seems hopeless, I’m aware of my fate. I have known it ever since my own parents were taken away from me, of the becoming age my own children have now reached. The realisation might be sinking in now as I drift closer and closer into the sunset.

Today we are transported, tomorrow we die.

After, we become food for the humans who raise us to die at the appropriate time.

The end is near and shedding my tears on the truth seems wasteful. Nervous chatter starts around me and I join in, hoping for that distraction. We sing the few songs we know but all of them fall flat, seeming gloomier than what they really are. We pass people on our journey and we call out, hoping they’ll understand. That they’ll see our doom. They just moo in return and giggle to their friend beside them. The cycle begins again: silence, crying, chatter, songs, helpless calls to those who can’t or won’t listen, silence.

The truck comes to a slow and rolling stop as dirt curls around its silhouette. The sun is sinking below the hills in the distance, and I know, by morning, it will be the last sunrise I see.

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