The Night I Met My 'Brother'

The Night I Met my 'Brother'

It had just been two hours since I left my mother. Yet it felt like a year for me. The circus tents had long been dismantled. Yet the people were still roaming around in the vast open circus grounds. I could only hear the faint, muffled voices of people running hither thither in search of one person. That was me.

As I sat gazing at the patch of green grass on the ground, I heard a faint roar right behind me. The slender, majestic body moved towards me with great difficulty. The scars and blood-stained wounds could still be seen on its body as it crawled towards me. It insisted that I stroke his back until it could fall asleep. I readily agreed to do this and began stroking its golden-brown mane. For the past two hours, I had been stuck with a lion in a cage and I never felt like it.

I still remember the day my they signed the divorce petition. I sat in between my parents like the meat in a sandwich. The judge asked me whom I wanted to stay with. Even though I felt like telling I wanted both my parents, I kept mum knowing that they wouldn't hear of it. Obviously, my mother won the game.

I had become a loner since the day I separated from my father. My mother tried several means to prove that she was the best mother in the planet. At last, she came up with an idea. She decided to take me to the circus to make me forget the past memories.

I had been sitting in the front row when I saw the majestic creature enter the stage. Shouts and words of praises came up from every corner of the circus as they watched spellbound at the breathtaking performance of the lion. I had never shown any interest the whole day long. As I looked through his eyes, I realized that it longed to get back to its parents…just like me.

And now, here I was trapped in a cage with the same lion. In fact, it had never once tried to harm me in spite of the heartless torment that we humans give him. I had strayed away from the circus and had mistakenly been locked up in a cage by someone. That was when I saw the big cat lying down in a partially conscious state. It didn't even have the strength to roar for such was the torture it had to suffer. Surprisingly, it had moved towards me in the hope of being comforted. I was terrified at first, but when I looked through his eyes, I could see myself being reflected in it.

Suddenly, I woke up hearing the faint noises becoming more audible. The lion too woke up hearing the sound of footsteps. It understood that it was time for me to leave. As I came out of the cage and looked back at him, I felt like it was biding me goodbye. I ran towards my mother before she could find my new found friend. In the midst of all the commotion, I saw my long lost ‘brother’ being taken away in the same cage that was once the place where I met my ‘brother.’