Write from the perspective of an inanimate object. (Bonus points if you do not reveal the narrator's identity till the end.)


Something had to die before I was made. That virtue alone set me above many other created things, like metals or stone. They were always cold and lifeless, but I was born of a living sacrifice. Perhaps that is why I was able to mind.

I had been cut and shaped, and built on a hilltop by many hands. I was filled with warm things that moved inside me. Some were heavy- others tickled. My purpose was to shelter- my door let them into a place of refuge, where they would be safe. That was my purpose, and it was good.

Years went by. The big things that moved left me and did not come back, but I was never really alone. My companions gradually became few, and of the smallest sort- with six raspy legs, chiefly, but I didn't mind that. They were good. Holes were gnawed in me here and there. A mouse had a family in me, but they were good. I didn't mind.

I grew old, but still I stood as firm as when I had first been built. The outside of me turned rough, but I didn't mind.

Then something came.

It was one of the things from before. I knew the general feel of it well, and it made me happy. It had been a long time since I had felt a Big Thing. Though with it came something else. Something that was also big, and heavy, but it felt wrong. Like it didn't belong. I didn't know what to call it, and I wasn't sure whether to mind or not. But it didn't stay in as long. I didn't mind.

Fires started being built at night. More moving things- big ones- came to be around me, but would not come in. The one that made me happy would only go out when it was dark. I didn't understand why.

Something else crawled in to me, took away the creature and left me empty. I was sad, and wished they had stayed. More fires. The other things around me seemed to be scared and angry. Some lay as still as stone until it was dark. A new thing stepped into me; one with two legs. I tried not to mind.

Then came something that was so horrible that I shook. It was a thing fouler than the freshest manure, more beastly than a rabid wolf. It was not good.

I minded.

All at once, I became a part of something bigger. I was swallowed up, and my doors began to lead to Somewhere Else. The foul thing disappeared, and I was glad of it. All at once, I realized I had been holding more than just old hay, the man, and that hideous thing. There were five other people; new people- good people. I didn't mind them at all. I was stretching further than I thought possible- to a place where my floor was soft grass and my rafters blue sky. My old parameters were a mere shadow. I was happy.

I need not mind anymore.