To say I was excited and happy would be a huge understatement.
  
It was finally happening. Anthony was finally going to get his.
  
Rumor had gotten out that there would be a shake-up in management and all signs pointed to him getting his ass fired. This was it, I was finally going to be promoted. All the bullshit I'd been through, the humiliation, the belittlement, was going to stop. My hard work would FINALLY pay off. I had even talked to the head of the plant, and he told me how everyone has been talking highly of me, and to keep up the good work.
  
Now, Anthony and I had been fighting that whole time though. Since the whole, "we stepped on bugs" incident, he had been staying in the shop, and was always whining and bitching about how I was doing my job. Always trying to get me in trouble with the floor lead who, every time he'd go to tattle on me, would just come down and scratch his head while Anthony and I yelled at each other.
  
Fuck 'em. I got my job done, I got it done correctly, and on or ahead of schedule. I did my job, and I did it well, but it wasn’t done HIS way, so every time some bigwig came down to yell at me, I yelled back. How can you complain about me getting my work done?
Eh, but like I said. Fuck 'em.
   
Anyway. After getting the news, I had planned on going home and having a nice celebration. I was gonna relax, kick back, crack open a few beers, throw on a good movie and turn my sound system waaaay up, and I was gonna make my little slave cry tonight. Ooooh, it was gonna be crying and begging for a break and I was not gonna give a single fuck. Things didn't go as planned however. It was a very... I don't know... weird night.
 
I got home, practically kicked the door open, and... I don't remember what I had said. I was yelling at it about how it going be going to bed really sore and, I don’t know. Something to that extent. But when I got over to its cage and, it was just lying there in the corner. Awake mind you, its eyes were open, but it didn't look up at me or react to my presence at all. Not gonna lie, I was a little surprised at that. It wasn't even cowering or shaking, just, almost lifeless.
 
I slammed my fist on the cage and yelled for it to get up, to look at me, and finally, to speak. When I said "speak up" it finally turned its gaze to look up at me. I had never seen its eyes so, uhh I don't know how to put it. Soulless, I guess? 
  
It muttered, "Why haven't…" something something. I couldn't hear what it said at first. I remember when I first witnessed it speak I was surprised how well I was able to hear its voice. It was very faint, and I was always yelling at it to speak up, and this was another occasion where I had to do so. 

"Why haven't you killed me yet?" it asked.
For a second, I was a little taken aback by the question. I asked it what it meant by that. 
 
The little speck stood up, but did so in a manner that made it look it used every ounce of its energy to just get up.
It looked up at me, and I can still hear its voice, as I remember everything it said... perfectly.
 
"I asked you... why haven't you killed me yet? Did you just want me to think that, as long as I obey you you'll... keep me around? Is that it? That's not what this is. I know it's not. That's not what you macros do. I was taught by my village that, not all macros are bad, some are nice. But no... I know now...  that can’t be true. You're killers. It's what you do. You kill us like we're nothing and you don't care. You have no love."
 
That pissed me off really quick. I snapped and started to yell back at it, cutting it off mid-sentence. How dare it call me a monster! I've gave it food and shelter. I pointed out that I could have been a REAL monster and broken its legs, or that I could have simply ignored it that day months ago when I found its little pathetic body in the dirt like a piece of garbage, that it would be dead if it weren’t for me.  
 
...and then…
 
"Then you should have just left me to die! I'd rather be dead! So just do what you macros do and get it over with! I don’t care what you do anymore. If that makes you unhappy and you want to make me obey you, forget it. You can just kill me. I'd rather be a blood stain in your hands than continue to live this way. So just do it, It's what you're all so good at."
 
That last sentence... 
"it's what you're all so good at." 
 
I didn't know what it was, and I remember in the back of my head I was yelling at myself wondering why I gave a shit about what that little fucker was saying but, it made me feel cold and everything I had believed about it, you know, it being a bug, it being dumb, inferior, disposable... bugs, don't beg for death. Bugs, run from death. But he said he's not going to run? When I chase a spider to kill it, it doesn't stand there and simply let it happen. When you're trying to kill a mouse, it doesn't just let you bash its head in. When you’re hunting a deer and they spot you, they don’t stand there. They all run. He's begging for death and only... only someone like me, a thinking... person... would ever even consider begging for death.
  
I stepped back from him and didn't say another word, and that seemed to make him panic. He ran up to the bars and yelled for me to come back and to kill him. Someone was asking me to take their life. Hearing that... everything I ever thought about him changed. At that point I even caught myself referring to IT as a HIM. 
 
You know I had tried SO many things to scare him. I yelled back, I slammed my fist on his cage, which even knocked him over, but he just wouldn't stop demanding death.
 
I had lost control, annnd I ended up just throwing a blanket over his cage and went to go watch a movie to drown out his screams.
 
 
Thinking back to that time...
...man...
…it's amazing how quickly life can change.