It was a clear, tranquil afternoon out in the meadow. Emerald green grass enveloped the ground like a silk blanket — a blanket that stretched up to the horizon. Magnificent flowers of every color imaginable were peppered across the vast sea of green, the field’s unbroken beauty elegantly accentuated by a rainbow of tulips and roses. The enchanting fragrance of Spring was omnipresent, seeming to follow you around like a loyal pet. Petite sparrows sang their worries away atop the mighty oak that stood tall and proud amidst the delicate blossoms. The Sun was beginning to return home after a long day of work, getting closer and closer to setting behind the rocky hilltops, soon to fade away, just as the flowers below eventually would.

As dusk approached and the sky lost its blue tint, the whiskered mice began to scurry to their warm burrows that lay underneath the eternal oak, unwavering in its strength and persistence. Looking at the scene as a whole, it seemed as though the meadow was the surreal setting of a fairy tale — something that didn’t belong in the real world. It was nice to feel free from the terrors of civilization, not needing to constantly feel confined by the shackles of society; in this meadow, life ebbed and flowed just as it was meant to.

✹✹✹

Midnight had fallen, and deafening silence filled the air. No sound, no light, no movement — it was like you had been robbed of your senses. The sky was almost as dark as my humor, like a canvas glazed with a sleek, uniform coat of expensive black paint. A pearlescent full moon interrupted the expanse of darkness, peeking through the smoky haze, watching over Earth intently. The field mice snored mutely and the sparrows roosted in their straw nests high in the

canopy when suddenly, Jonathan, the eldest mouse of his clan, was awoken by a resonating purr. Several birds also awoke from their slumber, asking each other about what could have made the sound. Frightened and angry, Jonathan hesitantly poked his head out of the den, furiously furrowing his eyebrows. He cautiously peered around himself, making a 360 degree turn. Perplexingly, he couldn’t find the culprit who cost him a few minutes of valuable sleep. With that, he slowly clambered back into the burrow, letting out a deep sigh in dismay.

“Must’ve been the wind,” Jonathan mumbled.

But Jonathan made a grave misjudgment; there was no wind that night. In fact, the felon had been lurking in the shadows all the while. A cat whose fur was the color of obsidian slowly emerged from the shadows, only becoming visible for a brief moment when being suspended in a narrow ray of moonshine, before vanishing into obscurity once again. His neon green eyes seemed to float independently from his body as he prowled stealthily along the grass — looking into those cloudy eyes was like staring through a telescope into another galaxy. In no time, the lofty feline pinpointed the small lair in the dirt. He curiously dug into the burrow, making the entrance wide enough to squeeze through, soon to be welcomed as an unwanted guest.

In nearly half an hour, the midnight black cat had finished toiling away, and after resting for a few minutes, he nonchalantly lowered his head and eagerly listened for any noises. While the rustling of the little mice surely was quiet, the sound was not quiet enough to evade the creature’s radar ears. A smug Cheshire Cat grin took over the feline’s complexion.

“Finally, I’ve got ‘em right where I want ‘em!” he exclaimed in a subdued, yet booming baritone voice.

The cat stuck his ebony paws into the opening and cackled uproariously as he clawed at the mice’s home. One by one, ten mice were seized by the inhumane beast. Half were eaten; the others’ fate would soon be decided. Meanwhile, the sparrows, hidden in their elevated fortress, sat with their beaks gaping wide open, watching the massacre as if it was a sporting event, not even attempting to take action. The door of opportunity had opened, but no one entered the room it led to.

“At least it’ll never happen to us — we can fly,” a female bird said calmly to her children. The sparrows closed their eyes, relieved.

Thick, crimson blood dripped from the furry assassin’s paws like the tears of the mice from their faces, the soil given no choice but to absorb it. The fugitive gripped onto the five remaining mice in his paws, nearly choking them while giving them a cold stare, with not even a hint of regret to be found anywhere in the far reaches of his mind. A good ten seconds passed before the pitch-black fiend spoke to his hostages.

“I have a deal for you,” the cat whispered, baring his teeth with his signature grimace. “If you help me tomorrow, I’ll spare you. If not, you’ll end up like your friends over there. So, which will it be?”

Out of the blue, a young grey mouse named Edward chimed in gleefully with, “I’ll help you, Mr. Cat!” It was crystal clear by his decision and the tone of his voice that he didn’t fully understand the complexity of the situation. The four other mice gasped in shock.

“Don’t listen to him,” Edward’s mother told the cat, looking at her son.

Only one of the five mice survived through the night — it wasn’t Edward.

✹✹✹

Watching the Sun rise in the morning did not give the mice the same feeling of resurgence and joy that it once had. It still welcomed a new day, but today, “new” wasn’t synonymous with “good.” The entire day was spent trembling in fear and camouflaging the burrow with broken twigs. The sorrowful mice said their goodbyes to one another, in case it would be their final day together. It was such an incomprehensible concept for the young ones — they had hardly experienced anything, hardly seen anything outside their own home, yet their time on Earth was soon to come to an abrupt end. It was like they had been born at the wrong time, given an unjust disadvantage, or had been sold an inferior product. While dispiritedness occupied the whole of the den, the birds seemed unwilling to associate with the very same creatures who had always been their allies. In the span of only one day, harmony was replaced with strict isolation in the meadow that had, for millennia, promised unity.

That evening, the heartless black lion returned with his ear-to-ear grin, along with the lone mouse who had reluctantly sided with him the night before. That mouse was the feeble, elderly Jonathan. Although he wore a convincing mask of loyalty when with his new leader, Jonathan had covertly devised an elaborate scheme early in the morning, which he was soon going to execute. When the two located the lair near the oak, the abduction process occurred in the exact same manner as the previous time, as if being played back in a loop. The little rodent nimbly dove into his burrow, eluding the murderous barbarian’s vision and grasp. Afterwards, the ferocious savage had a lengthy feast comprised of over fifty captives. By the time the cat thoroughly gorged himself, he had already forgotten about his slave. With that, the beast trailed off into the darkness, disappearing like a magician on stage.

“That fool!” Jonathan yelled in his head. “I’m going to live tonight!”

✹✹✹

The following afternoon, Jonathan lay secluded in the burrow and the sparrows hopped about on the ground, ceaselessly searching for seeds and worms to eat. They knew the feline wouldn’t come before nightfall, as that was clearly becoming a recurring pattern, so they decided it would be a good time to forage for food. Little did they know, that logic wouldn't hold up for much longer. Not only did the insatiable demon appear during the daytime, but he also came with his starving comrades. By the time the birds caught sight of the haughty cats, it was far too late to escape the imminent danger — the assassins had already set their eyes on the target.

Once again, the cats used brute force to achieve victory. As the opposing groups clashed, Jonathan courageously leapt onto the scene and managed to salvage three small hatchlings. He proceeded to quickly carry them to his den.

“You’re all safe now,” Jonathan murmured to the weeping birds.

After the cats had left, mocking the weakness of the sparrows, Jonathan emerged from his burrow, still rocking the babies back and forth in his arms, singing a soft lullaby to them. He gazed at the cherry-red Sun slowly setting in front of him. Jonathan knew that like the Sun that will soon stop giving light, like the flowers that will wither away, like the day that turns to night, like the storm that makes Earth grey, today the hateful cats may reign outright, but soon will come the triumph of their prey. Like the Sun that will soon rise,  like the flowers that will bloom, he who wins is he who tries — he who doesn’t meets his doom.

The End

Fun Fact: The title, “Schadenfreude,” is a German word that means “malicious joy.” It in no way shows that the story is about Germany; there is just no English equivalent of the word.

What the Story Represents:

The middle of the Holocaust and the beginning of World War II.

What the Characters Represent:

Mice - Jews during the Holocaust

Cats - the Axis powers

Sparrows - the Allied powers