“That’s unfortunate,” she said with a pout. “I guess your only hope is the lions then. Maybe you can explain yourself in the same patronising way you did with me every time I tried to make my point here. Remember? How you thought you were above me and you giggled along, talking down to me? You can try that with the lions.” She chuckled. “I’m curious if they’ll be as patient with you as I have been. Where do you get off? Harassing me unjustly while I was being an honest patron.”
“Oh, come on,” I said. “We both know you’re as far away from an honest patron as can be.” I looked around the empty square behind her. “It all makes sense now. You were scoping the place out, exactly as I expected. What did you do? Steal some supplies, spike the security guard and then hide behind the restrooms until I came in here?”
Shabby pursed her lips, then she sarcastically clapped her hands. “Wow, maybe you do have some intelligence. Perhaps we should move you over to the monkey section? You can lose your mind along with them, knowing you’re capable of so much than swinging from the single tree you allow them.”
“I get it,” I said. “You’ve made your point. Just stop with this already. I have work I need to do.”
“Ummm,” she said, looking at me in confusion. “I haven’t made my point at all. Actually, I haven’t even started in making my point. By the end of this, you’re going to really know what it’s like to be trapped against your will. To be locked up in a cage and treated like an animal.” My eyes widened as Shabby slipped the key back into the slot. She turned it, and then the light came on above the button. “Looks like it’s activated,” she said, before scowling. “I’m so annoyed that you lied to me all this time.” She flung her head back. “I don’t know what it does,” she said in a mocking voice. “I’m the head zookeeper, but I don’t know what this button does in my own zoo.” She then dropped her forwards, before snarling at me as if she was one of the creatures in the neighbouring cage. “You deserve to be punished just because of your attitude.” She let out a sigh, before she rolled her eyes and moved her finger towards the button.
“No,” I gasped, reaching out with both hands in desperation. My face was pressed up against the bars, but with the angle of the cage, I couldn’t reach her. It was obviously a failure in the design, and I was cursing that I hadn’t been more observant during the risk assessment and safety checks. But then, we never imagined that someone like Shabby would do something as unhinged as locking an employee in the cage and purposefully opening the enclosure. “Please, I’m sorry, but don’t push that. This is serious. It’ll open their cage.”
“Duh,” Shabby said with a nonchalant shrug. “You already told me that. I’m fully aware of what’s about to happen. You deserve it as far as I’m concerned, and it’ll make perfect headlines to get this place shut down. I can see it already: zookeeper eaten by her own zoo animals. No parent will bring their child here ever again. This place will be closed down for good, and, all I have to do is push this button.” She shrugged. “Maybe it’ll start the conversation about closing down every zoo.” She glanced at me. “A worthy ambition, wouldn’t you say?”
“Can you just stop with all of this, please? This is ridiculous. Haven’t you embarrassed me enough? You’ve made your point, but this isn’t my zoo,” I said. “You’re acting like I’m rolling in dosh or something. I’m just trying to earn an honest living like everyone else.”
“Honest?” Shabby said with a snort. “There’s nothing honest about this kind of living. There’s plenty of jobs you could be doing that would leave you with your head held high. Look at that logo on your shirt. You might not be the owner, but you’re certainly a representative of this criminal enterprise.”
“You have no right to do this to me,” I spat while stamping my foot, letting my emotions get the better of me. “You have no authority to do this. I’m in charge in this zoo, and I demand you let me out at once.”
Shabby appeared completely unmoved by my tantrum, and she simply leaned back against the pillar, running her finger lightly over the red button. “I think the lions want to come out and stretch their legs. Shall we find out?”
“No, don’t,” I added desperately. “Don’t do that.”
“How does it feel?” she asked provocatively. “All of your strength and supposed authority being completely useless?”
“I’m scared,” I whispered, as I dropped the charade. “And I feel powerless. Are you satisfied.”
“That’s exactly how those lions feel. They’re the king of the jungle, but in here, you’ve reduced them to nothing more than entertainment. Do you know how humiliating that must be for them? To be treated in such a belittling way by someone like you? Someone they could gobble up and spit out with little effort. You’ve humiliated those wonderful beasts. So, do you feel humiliated?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. “Locked in there, with no control at all?”
“I do,” I said. “Please, just let me out.”
Shabby stood from the pillar, biting her lip as she shook her head at me. “Nuh uh,” she said. “I don’t believe you. You can’t feel true empathy for these poor animals, until you’ve been put through a similar emotional test.”
“Are you serious?” I asked, and there was already a cold shiver that ran through me. As I looked at her, I saw no compassion or empathy staring back. With bright, neon green hair and that ring dangling from her nose, everything was so loud, attention-seeking and aggressive. Even her stupid dungarees and sandal combo was infuriating in its overtness to be subversive against fashion trends. It was like her entire being was dedicated to being rebellious, and she’d clearly demonstrated that she was someone that operated outside of the law. She cared little for other people, signified by the fact she’d been callously squatting in someone else’s property for months, even though she could obviously afford to pay rent. But, even after all that, it was murder we were talking about. If she pressed that button she’d be condemning me to death. Surely, she wouldn’t go that far to make a political point? “This…this isn’t some game,” I said while trying to appeal to her reasonable side, if one even existed inside her stubborn, ignorant head. “You’ll get in trouble for this.” I nodded behind her. “There’s CCTV cameras and everything. They’ll know this wasn’t some accident. You’ll go down for this.”
I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, as Shabby appeared momentarily hesitant, glancing over her shoulder at the camera perched on a pole. However, she then shrugged in the same casual way. “Do you think I care? I’ve been in trouble with the law for years now. That’s just part of fighting against the state, and I’m committed to the cause. This is a price worth paying as far as I’m concerned. People like you lot are killing the planet as it is anyway. We’ll all be dead soon enough, so what’s the harm with starting it early for people like you?” She moved her hand even closer, her finger straightened and poised to hit the button.
We made eye contact, and for a moment, I saw nothing staring back at me. No emotion. No awareness of consequences, and for that second, I honestly believed she was capable. “Please,” I said, and in my desperation, I dropped to my knees right there in the feeding area. Some leftover swill squished beneath my knee, and I knocked my cleaning bucket in the process, splashing water over my boots. I didn’t care though, and I clasped my hands together beneath my chin. “Please, Shabby. I’m begging you. I know we’ve not seen eye to eye, but it doesn’t need to come to this.” I sure as hell didn’t want to be kneeling and begging at the feet of someone like her, but I honestly believed she was crazy enough to actually push the button.
Shabby snorted to herself, then she put her nose in the air as she loudly cackled. “See,” she said smugly. “I told you that you would be down on your knees and begging me.”
“I’m doing it, aren’t I?” I said with hands still clasped. “Please, let me out.” Yet, she just laughed, right in my face, and the longer she did so, the more agitated and frustrated I became. Eventually, despite my best efforts, I began to sniffle, tears trickling down my cheeks as my nose became snotty. I was embarrassed while it was happening, but it was like my frustration was getting the better of me. That feeling of being trapped and the subsequent claustrophobia, along with my sworn enemy goading me: it was all too much. “Please,” I whimpered in more of a whine. I shuffled forwards and grabbed the bars, shaking them hopelessly, before I clasped my hands outside of the cage. “I’m begging you, please.”
She continued to laugh for a few seconds, before she caught her breath and settled down. She looked at me lazily as I was still kneeling, and then she inexplicably blew a raspberry towards me. “How many times have you looked into the sad, begging eyes of one of the animals here? Did you set them free? No, you didn’t. So, why should I set you free?”
From my kneeling position, I peered up at her, baffled and unsure what else she wanted from me. My vision was blurry through my teary eyes. “You told me to beg,” I said. “I’m begging. Come on, let me out.”
“Bring that bucket over,” she said while nodding towards it, completely ignoring my desperate pleas.
I was still so terrified and overcome by my emotions, that I could barely process what she was saying. I just kept looking at her through my tear-strained eyes as my chest continued to huff and heave. “Please,” I whispered again. “I’m begging you. Please.”
“I said get me that bucket,” Shabby said in a slightly louder voice, and she stamped her foot and pointed towards it. “Either get me that bucket, or I’m pushing this button right now.” She then rolled her eyes. “God, you really are like some dumb animal with your blubbering. It’s like you can’t even understand what I’m saying.” She then explicably began mocking me by making over-zealous monkey noises while scratching her head. “Do you understand this better? Is this more your language? A couple of minutes in a cage and you’ve been dumbed down, huh?”
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