They said it was going to be a short trip.
The Big People would take me away for a while, and then return me home.
Ever since I was born, I lived in what they called the ‘mess’. I always thought my home was relatively clean compared to the outside, where the big people were. Granted, I didn’t have the most privileged youth, since I couldn’t really go anywhere, but I didn’t mind - I was made of steel. I grew up in relative peace compared to my elders. They came to this place amidst the chaos of its creation, growing old in fear of them.
Them. The Big People. We never knew what they were exactly - just that they were larger than us, and loud. Our species is rather quiet, you see. We don’t make a sound unless we are provoked. They always talk, especially when they eat.
Officially, the story was, because they made us through their craft, and routinely gave us baths, the least we could do is let them eat off of us. The alternative was that they’d look like savages during dinner, which we couldn’t allow. That’s what the official story was, and I never questioned it.
Until the disappearances.
…
Despite the official story being described to us as a trip, more often than not, some of us wouldn’t come back. It wasn’t exactly like they went missing - but when the ‘disappeared’ did return, it was usually when most of the Big People were gone. Those who ‘disappeared’ for a long time came back extremely dirty, as if they’d been exposed to the elements with no shelter. Most of them also came back wrong. It was like they had gone rusty from the inside out.
I never bothered checking up on those who ‘disappeared’ - they were too dull for my taste. I was busy enjoying life- going on these trips, and coming back and gossiping about the big people who took me with my friends.
I never bothered, until it was too late.
…
The first thing that struck me as odd was that I was taken out of the mess. The Big Person who took me wanted me to come with them to help a friend. “It’ll be quick,” they said. “They’ll eat dinner and then you’ll go back.”
They took me to the Residence Halls, inside a room. The halls were dark, and the room reeked of smoke. I was trying to tell them, we aren’t allowed here! I’m not supposed to go inside! But they didn’t listen.
They never listen.
I don’t remember what happened after I went inside the room. All I know is that they used me, and left me outside for dead.
Here I lie, with others of my kin, outside the RHs, waiting for death. I don’t remember how many others have been piled up on top of me, or how many rats have feasted off my skin. I can’t breathe, I can’t sleep, I can’t go home - I don’t have legs like you.
I wish I hadn’t been so careless. I wish I had listened to the elders.
I wish I wasn’t a mess plate.
so