All The Lights Going Dark And My Hope Is Destroyed - Tumblr Posts

animal trap / captivity / no one will find you (all the lights going dark and my hope’s destroyed)

Pain.

Confusion.

The horror of being alone when once there were many.

Where were his siblings? The absence of their presence was felt in the cold air pressing in on his sides where once other squirming bodies squished him in from not just the sides but often above and below as well.

Where was his mother? Her soothing scent, the warmth of her fur, the reassuring noises of her body that had loomed so large in his existence for the entirety of it thus far.

The solitude was terrifying. Never had he been apart from his family. Even after his eyes had begun to open and he and his siblings started to tumble around one another in games of play, he'd never been out of sight of the rest of his family. Barking, licking, biting, wiggling, jumping, learning how to walk on wobbly legs... drinking milk from mother until they all passed out into the most blissful and comfortable slumber.

There had come a day when mother had decided they were old enough to venture out of the cardboard box that had been their home since his birth. She led them from the torn up newspaper bedding and it had been exciting yet scary. The sky was so far overhead it wasn't even a concept he grasped. The ground underfoot was laden with smells and so too was each and every building they passed! And then people! Giants roamed the streets and took no care of where they put their hard-bottom paws. He yipped when his paw was nearly stepped on but the human paid no mind. He hadn't realized how good they had it at the time. Being beneath notice was better than being observed, as he was beginning to realize.

There had been some sort of cage... his memories of this were vague. Distress was the most prominent part. An animal trap that he had not known was a trap at all. But how would he have known? How did he know that now? His head ached with all the thoughts racing through it. Connections being made, pathways being forged.

A whine escaped him. He hadn't even known to enjoy freedom before it was taken away and replaced with captivity.

The room he was in now stank of chemicals and other scientific human scents. He was one of the few things that smelled natural. There were a handful of other creatures. Things he could not have put a name to as a puppy but which he could now identify on sight and scent and sound. A giant tank filled with water held an octopus. A cage near the ceiling with a faux branch within it held a squirrel and he instinctively wanted to chase the frightened animal as it huddled near the top of its enclosure. Other cages, other creatures. A pig, a raven, a raccoon, several rats, a parrot that kept saying "fuck you" to the men and women in lab coats as they came into the room and performed tests. Even a cow, or a calf at any rate.

None of the other animals seemed any more certain of what was going on than he was. None of them seemed at all content with their current lot in life.

He whined unhappily again and one of the lab techs kicked at his cage in irritation. "Shaddup, mutt! No one wants to hear you! You pathetic little-"

"Don't be cruel, Elon. And you're wrong anyway - hearing him speak would be incredible! Just imagine if the process works... if we're able to figure out how to communicate with these creatures..." Another white-coat individual spoke then.

A snort from the first. "Oh yeah I'm sure they'll have amazing things to say. We'll be lucky if they don't go mad like the last batch. At least the group beforehand didn't go into a frenzy - I'm still not positive it was wise to just release those dumb bastards but I guess why keep beating a dead horse... just a whole herd of ignoramuses."

A third scientist chimed in. "Wouldn't their being able to talk get us in trouble? I can't imagine they're happy here. They don't look happy..."

The first laughed darkly. "You're right about that. But we don't have to worry here. Hear me, all you ugly beasties? No one will find you here! You're our playthings to study. You're all supposedly some of the most clever creatures in existence... well, we'll see about that."

"Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!" Screamed the parrot.

The second scientist sighed. "We had the most hope for you, Sam. Your species can already speak words if taught."

The first rattled the cage of the parrot while baring his teeth in a parody of a grin. "Keep it up, you bird bastard. We don't need you alive - we can glean all sorts of information from dissecting your brain."

And so the days went. Only now he was able to easily determine the passage of time. He didn't need to rely on scents fading over time, he was somehow more attuned with the numbers on the clock in the room. And that wasn't the only thing he was able to comprehend. They put screens in front of him and played videos and then put devices in front of him and let him work out what they did - if anything. He was able to match shapes and could recall images he'd seen on the display and more. He watched the raven and the cow play chess. He watched the rats work their way through complicated mazes. He watched the pig demonstrate its memory of how a mirror functioned. He watched the raccoon use its clever hands to access the computer system when the humans weren't paying close enough attention.

He watched the parrot get its neck broken by the cruelest of the scientists, though the others didn't seem perturbed by its sad fate.

That night he felt fear coiling in his belly. The parrot had been the most outspoken of them all but his courage in the face of the antics of the humans had buoyed his spirits that entire time.

all the lights going dark and my hope’s destroyed

Their lives were forfeit if they couldn't - or wouldn't - produce the results the human scientists demanded. They might be destined for death regardless. They could not possibly stay here. But how to escape? He had no idea where they were... how many rooms were outside of theirs? How many levels to this building? Perhaps the racoon knew... it had had a chance to study the schematics of where they were. And the door... could it hold up to a solid kick from the cow?

He felt a brief pang of sorrow for the octopus. Even if the rest of them were able to break free, there would be no hope for it.

Unless outside forces were involved. Individuals with the proper gear to transport an aquatic creature to its rightful home.

They didn't have much of a chance stuck in this room by themselves, trapped within their cages except when they were taken out for testing and injections. But perhaps the racoon could get word out somehow. If some animal rights agency learned of these atrocities...

He got to his paws in the darkness and barked. Some of the others might be sleeping but he knew the racoon kept the nocturnal hours of his species. It was time to see exactly what the other animal knew and could possibly do. Their captivity was going to come to an end, on their terms.