Brothers

You bring your foot down with as much force as you can muster and take some satisfaction at the muffled peep and crunch of bones that sound from beneath your sole. Lifting your foot reveals a mess of blood and guts and broken bones.

For a split second you feel bad for having done such a thing. Then you remind yourself of what the bird has actually done by separating itself from its family and leaving them in shambles behind. It is right and just that the little birds life has ended.

Someone should have stomped the life out of you for the same reasons.

You spit on the ground and curse at the heavens for allowing you to continue with life.

As the weeks and months pass, you start punishing animals more and more, finding relief in their pain. Seeing the last few moments of life fade from the animals eyes becomes a passion for you.

One day, as you walk home from school, you follow a stray dog and corner it behind an old abandoned house. The dog growls at you and the hairs on its back stand up. You have a thick stick in your hand and are certain that you can kill it, but something about the fierceness of the animal makes you second guess yourself.