I had so much time to think, I think that was the most crippling thing about my life- next to the relentless, unending  pain of course. I would sit there in my crate and think about my past life and even worse, the things to come. I thought about my mom a lot, I missed her so much and wondered  if she’s still alive but deep down I knew the haunting truth. I each day I watched other cows in my gated section be taken away, only to hear their tortured cries minutes later. Every hair on my back would shoot upright as I knew that I had yet again lost another friend. I survived in a house of horrors- well that isn’t true. I technically only lived in my own sectioned off crate, in a factory farm, unable to even turn around, while almost drowning in my own feces. When I would look up beyond the square holes all around the tops of the walls, I could see some sort of light that looked different from the ones within the walls. Sometimes I see blue too, which is so confusing to me; who would take the time to paint their ceiling blue?
   

Many days ago, a women dressed differently from everyone else came walking down my aisle. I must have caught her eye because out of all the cows in the factory, she started to walk towards me. My mind and body went into shock. I felt as if the world was crashing down; I didn’t want to go through the same agonizing death that my mother and friends had faced. Except all of a sudden, the unthinkable happened- she smiled at me and gently laid her hand on my snout. I studied her, she seemed genuinely kind; unlike any other humans I had ever seen. After sitting with me for a minute she said something that changed my life forever, “Don’t worry, you’re gonna be safe soon.” Then she left -with tears weighing down her eyes and with a frog in her throat.
   

I waited, and waited, and waited some more and felt my hope of rescue slowly fading from my soul. During the time of waiting, my best friend in the crate next to me whom I had grown up with for years now was taken from me. The people had came to him and let him out, and started beating him brutally until he was incapable of fighting back. As they beat him, he kept his eyes locked on me as long as he could and in that moment I realized that he found comfort in our friendship just as much as I did. I wondered if the people even realized that we felt emotions the exact same as they can. Obviously they didn’t know, because workers preceded to carelessly drag him by his hooves to the death that had been awaiting him his whole life. 
   

I knew my time was coming. We were the same age and were built almost the exact same way. I lived in bone crushing fear for days until… there she was again. The woman who promised my freedom returned despite my disbelief. On this day she brought a many other people that were just like her; kind and good hearted. None of the workers were there that day and I wondered where they had gone but I hoped she sent them away. All of a sudden, their actions matched up to their words- I watched as one by one, they started opening up each of my friend’s cramped cages and led them out to large trucks. I watched as the people got closer and closer and suddenly, it was my turn. I couldn’t believe it. I could walk and even though my legs were trembling and weak; it was the best feeling in the whole world. I more than willingly went where they guided us, and with a bit of help from a nice man, I used what strength I had to climb up into the truck and then we were off. After a short time that felt like days, the truck stopped, the doors opened, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was magnificent! The ground was soft and we had endless space to roam and bound as we pleased. I ran and ran with the others until my legs couldn’t carry me anymore. I stretched out as far as I could and rolled around on the grass and the moment I looked up, was the moment I understood. The blue was the sky and the light was the sun. They are my saviours, they are my symbol of freedom. It was so bittersweet, my only last wish was that I could share this moment with my mother and best friend.
I thanked the sweet workers for my beautiful freedom.