Liger

• Aochen (Allen) Lu, Grade 5, Woollahra Public School
• Short Story
• 2022

Excellence Award in the 'Summertime Fun ONLINE' competition

Beasts roam in urban city streets. Or the beast I should say. A white coloured beast sauntered along the footpath adjacent to the road, its thick coat of fur reflecting the cool bitterness of the air. Hot fumes from the nearby factory dispersed into the eldritch sky sending wraithlike columns of smoke into the air, the sheer bitterness disturbing the creature's nose. A distant cacophony of rumbling engines from nearby vehicles ached its sensitive ears. Then, the sound of a gunshot reverberated through the air.
The creature pounced across the concrete, the animal's thick, white mane reflecting the utter coolness of the air. Shouts from vexed people echoed through the alleyway as the beast made his run. Then, they met. The mere shadow of the men sent shivers down the helpless creature's spine. Just as the creature turned around, ready to run, the sound of a second gunshot echoed off the city walls. The animal dragged his immobile hind leg across the cold concrete as his white fur turned a tint of red. The now grinning men danced around the white liger as it realised it was already too late.
Bang!
The cold atmosphere of the paragon building sent shivers down every person who stepped foot into the stark, concrete infrastructure. Callous men dragged the black and white striped corpse across the floor making a sandpaper-like sound. A steel countertop waited in the dismal room as the hunters dragged the beast's dead body inside. Hurling the body onto the countertop, a man in white walked into the eerie atmosphere. The humming malagrugrous glow illuminated the room, painting the plain walls and plain white tiles with light. The man lent over the corpse, drew a scalpel from his white coat, cutting across the creature's torso as blood spewed across the shiny steel. The door slammed shut, leaving only the two of them in the room.
Glass surrounded the creature, its snowy mane and black and white striped coat frozen. The soul of the creature cried out in agony, mourning the life that it had lost. The white liger, it was called, the last of its kind. Were they bothered? Are they remorseful? Their reaction was nothing but a cursory glance, before quickly walking to the next glass cabinet. Row upon row upon row of glass cabinets, filling the concrete walls of the building, infinite. From the liger to the vaquita. From the exotic to the rare. From the endangered to the extinct.
But
No,
One,
cared.
At the end was a book compressed full of names, never ending names. The owners of these names did not exist. Not anymore. The pages were filled with crimes, the crimes that people have committed, all of the blood, all of the death, all of the murder. The annihilation and slaughter of these creatures did not register, as their stony expressions, dull gaze and careless thoughts drifted towards the next animal for extinction. They are humans.
We,
are,
them.