Me and the Dream I Would Never Forget
Picture 1. Source of Image: https://besthqwallpapers.com/
The sun hadn’t shown up yet to greet everyone, but I already had to get up and get ready to challenge the world once again. “Work, work, and work!”, I enchanted myself with my life motto and basically the only thing I had ever done in recent memory. Wait, just work? Yup! No matter the date nor the day, I would always work, making me completely ignorant to the changing days. Then, there was my workplace. It was crowded every day, leaving not even a second for any quiet moment. It had around hundreds of stands with people roaming from one stand to the other, carrying shopping bags. Yes, right guesses, I worked in a market – a super busy market. No wonder I was such a workaholic, right? Life never stopped for anyone here (except at night of course), so I had to keep working.
Anyway, who was I in this market? What else? I was a seller sweating his sweat for a spoon of rice. I always arrived to prepare my stand at 3 in the morning. I would bet that even the mighty sun was jealous of my hard work. Well, actually, the sun would be jealous of my fellow friends too – the other sellers who were all fighting a life from before the red dawn was even ready to illuminate the sky until the sun died away on the western hemisphere. Then there were the goods that I sold. Actually, I didn’t know if you would call them goods because they were living things. I was a rabbit seller. I sold rabbits as pets, along with their basic needs: foods, cages, and others.
Alright, enough with the lengthy introduction. We begin our story here. One day, I got prepared to work as always. I brought the rabbits from my home to the market and prepared my stand. However, for unknown reason I felt so sleepy on that day. It was unusual for me to be slacking off like that. My eyes were like being worn down by a great amount of weight. I tried to stay awake and continue my preparation to no avail, falling to sleep in the end without me even noticing it.
GLUDAK…
A bumping sound jolted me awake. I instantly screamed, “Hey, be careful there!”, yet only managed to yell in the sound of ‘Citcitcitcitcit’. I was taken aback when the realization came in. “Was that the sound of a rabbit that came out of my mouth?”, I asked to myself full of confusion. In the midst of my bewilderment, I managed to realize that I was actually being caged in one of my rabbit cages. Panic quickly flowed into me and my whole body was full of sweats. Flooded with sudden anxiety, I was beginning to run and jump aimlessly, only to feed more into the fluster. It didn’t take me long to finally fully realizing that I was no longer a human. Long ears, tiny posture, and four legs, I was now a rabbit.
I tried to compose myself bits by bits, trying to accept the situation I was suddenly trapped in, yet my heart screamed, “Of course this is unacceptable!”. Nonetheless, slowly I regained a good amount of calmness as I tried to count the possibilities. “This must be a dream! Yes, this must be a dream, no doubt”, I reached into a conclusion. Bearing that conclusion in mind, I tried to hold myself together and to accept that I must now live the life of a rabbit, at least until I woke up from this nightmare.
Surprisingly, it didn’t take long for me to adapt into being a rabbit. I had no clue on whether I should be happy or not regarding it, all I cared about was to try to live through it. As a rabbit, I had the 3600 vision, allowing me to see all around. Must had been why I always had hard times catching my rabbits. I explored the market with my newfound eyes. Several meters in front of me, two women were shouting against each other, though it did sound more like an aggressive cheap talk of bargaining when I paid more attention to it. Left to me were kids laughing and running together. Not far from there, a kid was crying alone, probably lost. So far, the market was the same as always with people roaming here and there.
As time went minute by minute, my nature adjusted more into that of a rabbit with me having no saying on that. In the cage, I was not alone as there were other rabbits with me. The rabbits were very similar to those I sought to sell. The seller who handled us was a stranger to me. Other than that, I also saw other animals in the market. Right to my cage, approximately a meter away, was a cage full of chicks with different colours. “How pitiful”, I could only muse with myself. Apparently they had been deliberately coloured in order to attract buyers. Next to the chicks was a cage of birds, though they seemed to be well cared and fed. A few meters away, other animals were caged in different places according to their groups. There were chickens in cages and fishes in washbasins. I knew they were only waiting for their turn to be bought and butchered for meats. Some of them were even given a ton of food in order to fatten them up.
With my consciousness fully migrated into that of a rabbit, somehow I started to hear and understand the animals in this market as well. Just like how I imagined them to be, their voices were full of sadness and endless fear. The chicks were all screaming to be stripped of their colours, the birds were singing songs of regret and farewell, the chickens were struggling to get loose with increased fear as one friend after the other was beheaded in front of them, and the fishes were squirming to escape the washbasins while muttering for help. My rabbit friends were in no different condition. Behind their curtain of calmness, anxiety was in no short stock as each of them feared what might become of them later. “What a fearful life it is to be an animal, there are only suffering and pain and sadness. What kind of sick dream is this? This is no doubt the worst dream I have ever had.”
Picture 2. Source of Image: https://www.voanews.com/
That was how the day went by, sounds of distress from the animals put great stress on me. I could only cuddle in my own fear, hoping the nightmare would end soon. The sun started to sink and less people were roaming the market now. It was becoming quiet. I, who had mostly done nothing beside shutting my eyes and ears for the remainder of the day, could only put a tangled face in front of my animal friends. My rabbit friends who had been taken one by one by the humans had left nothing but voids in all the rabbits’ hearts. “How sad and terrible it is. I can’t bear this joke anymore. Please wake up, please!”. After my silent yet hopeful cry, I gradually fell asleep.
The next day came with me still being in the same dream. It had me starting to think that the whole experience was not a dream at all, yet I remained faithful for the best of chances that I would wake up. This morning, I was brought to the market and again was cursed to wait for whatever thing that would happen to me. As I expected however, the only thing lied in serve for me was the torment of hearing the distress scream and cry of the animals. Frustration rushed into me the whole day, only to be broken by the sunset. It was truly a boring and frightening day. Everything that happened today was no different from yesterday. I could only sit in horror and force myself to eat, poo, eat, and poo again. I actually could no longer distinguish between the thing that I ate and threw away, “Wait, what? Urggh, just ignore it! Ignore it!”. Even I could no longer cheer myself. I was so done with all these, I wanted so badly to become a human again and to live freely.
“Live freely, huh?”, that thought brought me straight into the whole pack of rabbits sitting right beside me in the same cage. “Oh, I am sorry for putting you all here this entire time and bringing you here. I am sorry for only thinking of my own gain and putting you all through this endless suffering. What a terrible karma I have done here. I promise I would restrain myself from hurting other living beings again and I would care for you all after this”, I carved that promise and resolve on my mind, decided to really do it. Suddenly, I felt sleepy and decided to sleep. Not even a second after closing my eyes, I fell asleep. Amidst the voiceless darkness in my sleep, a ray of light came close and hit me.
Picture 3. Source of Image: https://24newscom.com/
I was still half conscious. I heard voices around me. “Wait, shouldn’t the market be closed by now and I have just fallen asleep?”, the question hit me straight. Slowly, I began to scramble voices that calling out to me. “Sir, good morning. Sir? Sir!”, the tone of said voice went high, jolting me and making my eyes wide open. Right in front of me, a woman was standing with her hand holding a little girl – must be her child. Seeing that I had opened my eyes, the woman continued on. Yet, none of her word was registered by me as I was stupefied by my current condition. “I have changed. I am awake. I have arms and legs. I can stand. And I have no long ears. WOHOO! I HAVE CHANGED INTO A HUMAN AGAIN!”, my excitement was uncontained as I rabbled and jumped, making the woman and her child taken aback by my actions and the whole market set eyes on me. The market that I thought would never ever lose its noisiness was stunned with bright silence as of the world was taken to a halt. I was ashamed no doubt, but I tried my best to hide my shame and calmed down. I took several breaths until I was perfectly calm.
After brushing off the heat, I asked the woman about her business with me and I quickly realized that the woman and her child had come to buy my rabbits. The woman explained that they were rooting for a pet to be considered as their own. From her words, I grasped no lies, only honesty and sincerity. Her smile bore no ill will. “What I have even done all this time”, a thought crossed me as tears starting to swallow the corner of my eyes. The woman was panicked by my sudden outburst. I was even surprised actually to be crying here and now. I wiped my tears, not wanting to show this soft side of mine in front of strangers. I then said, “I no longer sell these rabbits, I care for them, I want them to keep growing and living a happy life. If you promise me that you will care for them with the best of your abilities, you can just take them. You need to pay nothing, just raise them, that is the payment.” The woman and her child were confused at first, but then they smiled and laughed, emitting a strange happiness for the three of us. Afterwards, I prepared the basic necessities needed for the woman and her child to care for two of my rabbits. I picked the best cage and the best rabbit food I could find. I bid my farewell to the rabbits. I told the woman not to pay me, bus she refused and insisted that I took the money anyway. I tried to argue with no avail, so I accepted her payment.
After that day, I stopped selling rabbits. I focused myself to only sell their basic necessities instead. I also buried myself in study of animal science, wanting to open an animal clinic of my own. Well, of course, it was a long and heavy load for me. I needed to earn a bachelor degree and license afterwards to open the clinic. So, how did I get the money for my study? And how about my remaining rabbits? I thought of releasing them at first, but then I realized that there were possibilities of the rabbits unable to fend for themselves in the wild after being caged and fed for too long. It would only invite more suffering for them in the end. I then discussed my intentions with the monks of a temple. I told them that I needed a place for the rabbits to live freely. The monks were eager to help, they provided me with a land that I used to create a rabbit farm. The fortune continued on when a rich friend of mine offering me financial aids for my education. I had no idea how did he know of my plan – maybe he was acquainted with some of the monks.
And that was the end of the story. Quick recap, something strange happened to me and it became the turning point of my whole life, the end. Thanks to that whole experience, now I walk on a different path, a path that I believe is true as I no longer inflict harm on other living things in order to sustain my own life. And I can only hope that this tale of mine will inspire you lots to do just the same.
Picture 4. Today’s motivation (Source of Image: Personal Document)
Oh, anyway, this one is an epilogue. Several days after I quitted from selling rabbits, I came across my fellow seller on the market. “So, you really quit this time, huh?”, he said to me. I nodded and I was on the verge of explaining my reasons to him, but then a line of thought interrupted me. “Wait, this time? What do you mean? You are asking like I have ever quit before”, I replied to him. I was telling the truth. I had never even skipped a day on the market. When did I ever quit? My friend’s answer sent a shiver down my spine, “But how about those two days when you were gone? You were replaced by a stranger I had never met before. I thought you quit the job, man.”
Writer’s Profile:
Pratama Dharma Surya, currently a penultimate student in the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta. I am interested in literature since childhood and I aspire to use my knowledge to combine ancient and modern literature. If you have the same interests as mine or want to ask questions, kindly reach me via email pratamadharmasurya@gmail.com or Instagram @dharmakovida27
Editor’s Note:
This story won the first place in Short Story Writing Competition that was held in part of Dhammasanti Tri Suci Waisak 2565 BE Kamadhis UGM 2021. The short story was originally written in Bahasa Indonesia and was translated by Geraldy Kianta, Editor in Chief of Eka-citta.