A Loss That Can Never Be Redeemed
By: Scratch

A dark figure
silhouetted against the sky
high in a tree
in the sunset
The figure is a cat
a cougar
standing still.

The figure on the ground
a human
tenses his body
raises his gun
points it
at the cat in the sky.

The cougar
waiting, watching
waiting to be shot
waiting to feel the pain
waiting to die
ready to die
ready to admit defeat
to surrender
to the human who wants his head.
The cat is ready to accept it by now
not feel helpless, just ready to go

Waiting.
Watching.

......

POW!

A direct hit
straight into the cougar's head
right to his brain.
Fading away...
The life fades from the cougar's body
He falls...
he falls from his branch
A long drop that he can no longer feel...

......

SPLASH!

Into the rushing water
the stream
His bright red blood
spurts from his mouth
and mixes into the water
He lies in a stream of blood
the gore
the brutality
the injustice.

The cougar's bright green eyes
flicker, open and close
sparkle
one last time...
and shut.
And then...
he dies.
He will never move again.
The animal will never come back.

The one who killed the cat
the hunter
cheers.
He is blind.
He doesn't see the wrongs he has done
he doesn't see the fallacies he has committed.
He selfishly,
thinks only of himself.
He grabs his prey
the cougar
who was once the predator
but will never be again.

The hunter
does not see the loss
the loss that can never be redeemed
That cougar
that precious animal
a species of rare beauty
a symbol of wild independence.
His life came to an end.
His loss can never be redeemed.
A loss...
that can never...
be...
redeemed.