10:19

I remember. I remember the blood: the salty-sweet taste, sticky and thick, yet somehow running like water across my skin, into my eyes, my ears, my mouth … I remember …

The cage and the curious vets and zoo keepers and the bright, bright lights …

Lights. Light. Streaming in from the ceiling, dancing and playing and then that sound, that tiny moment of blinding, deafening, overwhelming noise that seemed to go on and on and on yet was gone before I could recognize it. What was it? The light dancing; the noise smothering; I remember…

I forgot? How did I forget? How could I? I …

Where am I? Where was I? The police. The people, the crowd screaming. No one had ever looked at me like that before. No one had ever treated me that way. They kicked me, stepped on me, tripped over me in their selfish panic. They treated me like nothing, an animal; and the blood. Leaving me lying in the pool, drowning in someone’s life.

What the hell happened? Why don’t I remember? Why am I remembering?

What …