The Extinction of the Peacemakers

tomorrow is my birthday, and i thought i'll write myself a piece. it is not really relevant, but it is the only thing that came to my mind.

“We are peacemakers, Shannon, we don’t fight,” spoke an elderly mouse.

“I don’t get it! We get chased out of our own home that we spent so much effort to build and we can’t do anything about it! What are we? Wimps that run away from battle?” spat the young mouse, probably too young to even know what was going on.

“We are not wimps. We are merely peacemakers. They must have their own reasons for chasing us out of our own home. You are blinded by rage, little mouse.”

“They think that we are dirty. They think that we make them sick. They think that we are… rats.”

“There is a misunderstanding here. And they often lead to unnecessary conflict and war.”

“I don’t care about misunderstanding and war. I say we stand and fight.”

“You still do not understand. We fought a war with the humans so long ago, and we lost so terribly that our species is almost wiped out. The humans probably don’t remember this, considering how bad their memory is, but I am sure they are unconsciously preparing for another battle with us. Instinct, I call it,” explained the elderly mouse, still patient with the tiny mouse.

“If you’re too scared to fight, so be it! I’ll go gather the mouse and fight. Just give me the permission. You won’t even realize that there is war going on.”

“Shannon, like I’ve said, we are peacemakers. Fighting war is not the way we solve problems.”

“I DON’T CARE! THIS IS THE ONLY WAY! I’M SICK OF RUNNING AROUND!” Shannon yowled, before stomping out of the chamber.

The old mouse shook his head and waited for some report about a mouse recruiting warriors. No doubt. After about fifteen minutes, his butler marched in.

“Greybeard, Shannon is…”

“Say no more, I know what he is doing. You have my permission to stop any warrior from following him.”

“Greybeard… actually… I don’t think we can go on escaping. Perhaps it is time to counter attack. After all, nearly a quarter of our mice have been slain in the previous attack from the humans…”

“That is precisely why we are moving. We only have three quarters of the mice we had.”

“But Greybeard… our population is decreasing rapidly. We can’t go on like this…”

“FINE. DO WHAT YOU LIKE. YOU ALL JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION WE ARE IN.”

Then after a few seconds of silence, after Greybeard cooled down, “Sorry, but I still don’t think it is the right thing to do. I don’t think I have the right to stop you all now. No matter what I do, you all won’t listen.”

Greybeard stood up from where he was lying and hobbled out of the chamber and the mouse burrow.

A week after Greybeard’s departure, Shannon was using the burrow that the old wise mouse had used from so long.

“Shannon, it is time for you speech,” the butler informed him.

“Yes, indeed.”

He made his way to the speech chamber, where about ten thousand mice all over the world have gathered.

“Fellow mice from all over the world, I thank you for gathering here today. As you might have heard, Greybeard has left the mice community. It is terrible to lose such a talent mouse, but at the same time, I want all of you to understand that it is time for us to fight back.”

He paused a while, letting the roar from the crowd die down.

“I am sure you have enough torture from the humans. We will show them that we are not the one to bully. We will show them who the boss is! Now, I declare that A WAR WITH THE HUMANS HAS STARTED!”

There was more cheer from the crowd and Shannon felt a surge of pride.

Somewhere in the crowd, an old mouse shook his head as he watched the mice march towards extinction.

A mouse lay limped, in the middle of the road. There was no blood, there was no broken bone, but the mouse did not move. His eyes that were shiny before just stared blankly before him. He did not blink. His legs were not bent; they hung lifelessly from his body. His tail was a bit squashed, caused by careless humans who stepped on it.

“Hey Lester! Look what I found!” a little girl called out to her brother.

“Ewww! That is disgusting! Leave it alone. It might be carrying some disease, you know,” her brother said.

“Yeah, rats are disgusting.”