I cried. Just looking at him made me cry. I went past him and didn’t think of it again.

Yes, that’s what happens when you see animals lying next to a highway. The blood had been splattered by other vehicles, and the (some) animals eventually manage to make it to the corner of the road. Their legs, or tails covered in blood, at times even their heads. They lay down their exhausted body and pray for a miracle. A miracle to just get healed, somehow.

They see other vehicles going past them, moving at such high speeds that they don’t want to see or feel anything anymore, but they are helpless. The body is exhausted, and trying to heal. It can’t move even a centimeter from that position. What if a vehicle suddenly drives on top of them? After all they were still on the road even if it was an inch or two across the white lines. They would often wonder, why do these two-legged creatures make a white line on the side of the road. Is it so that vehicles don’t cross that line and stay on the road? No. That doesn’t seems to be so. Maybe the cars are supposed to be driven on top of the white line? But not many people do that then. I wonder what it is used for. Probably to make it brighter in the night when vehicles come by.

The animal lays down, on the side of the road. It tries to look up but the head is exhausted and it doesn’t have the strength to lift it. All it could see by rolling it’s eyes is the passing of something black and circular. And very fast. Was that the thing that hit me? I think something similar drove on top of my tail. It hurt. A lot. Why did I come here? Since I look different, am I not considered a living creature? Do I need to learn how to walk on two legs? But if I do, will I be able to live? Will I be able to sit in those big things? I have seen other creatures like me who are sometimes sitting in the vehicle and I can see their faces. They look happy. Maybe they have mastered the way to walk on two legs. I need to try it too.

Oh, It looks like I won’t be able to do it. My back hurts and blood is coming out from my body. I can’t move it. I am trying to lick it to stop the blood from coming out but it is not working. Maybe the wound is very deep this time. It hurts. It wanted to look up at the sky, the moon and stars. What is that I see shining above? Are those stars? Or the moon? But it looks too near to be the moon. What is that? I can’t see the sky because of it. But it is so bright, it is lighting me up.

There goes another vehicle. I wonder how many have passed till now. I lost count after ten. They run at such high speeds. Oh, the light is gone. I can look up at the moon and stars now. It tried to raise his head but still it didn’t lift. I suppose the injury is too deep. What is this light again? Is it morning again? I might not be able to see the moon and stars anyway now, so it doesn’t matter if I am not able to lift my head.

It heard a faint sound. Rolling it’s eyes, it couldn’t see anything coming in front of it on the road. The sound was still faint but it seemed like it was approaching very fast. For some reason when it had it’s ears touching the road it could hear the sound, but when it straightened it’s head on the road, it couldn’t hear the sound in the air.

Now it could hear the sound in the air. It was approaching fast it seemed.

Something big was coming with high speed. Why is this vehicle so big? Even bigger than the other ones? Oh, wait a minute, this is a different vehicle. But I just see these big ones in the night and not in the day. It looks so different in the day. And it drives faster in the day.

The vehicle swished here and there, and “by mistake” drove the right tire of the truck right on the head of the lying animal. The passengers looked at the corpse in their rear-view mirror and said, “I didn’t know it was lying there. Was it dead already? I am sorry.”

And no one remembered it after this.

Please, help animals. Road/Traffic accidents form only a small part of animal deaths, many are intentionally killed and other burned or worse.

Help an animal you see, or help your local animal shelter by volunteering for just a few minutes in a week. Please Share.