Anna stormed into the kitchen where her father was sitting eating a snack. “Where did Mathilde & Max end up? What is the strange horse doing in her box?” Anna asked flatly. „The horse is there, the owner pays a lot of stable fees and I had to give them both away,“ the father replied unperturbed. “But those were my animals!!! You can’t just give them away,“ Anna insisted. „Do you have that in writing?“ the man asked calmly. Anna let herself fall weakly into a chair. Was that meant seriously now? She got dizzy. „I bought the animals from you and was sure that I can trust you,“ she said flatly, whereupon the father just shrugged his shoulders as if it were none of his business, as if he had nothing to do with it, so that Anna got angry. Adrenalin flooded through her and gave her new strength. „Where have they gone? Who did you sell them to, Judas?” she demanded. „On the way to the slaughterhouse,“ admitted the father. „Maybe I can still save them,“ thought Anna, jumped up, ran into the yard and sped away in her father’s van, „At least I have to try.“ Behind her she heard her father’s angry voice, but it was her doesn’t matter. He had betrayed her, but she would not let herself cry. There was no time for that now.

An hour later, she braked sharply at the gate of the slaughterhouse, jumped out of the car, and headed straight for the hall she knew was used for killing, past trucks full of unfortunate creatures awaiting death. Tears of anger and helplessness ran freely down her cheeks now, but she didn’t care. Finally, she was in the hall. Just in time, because she saw that an employee was about to put the bolt gun on Mathilde. With a well-aimed kick, Anne knocked the same thing out of his hand. „Tell me, you’re completely stupid,“ snapped the kicked one. „No, I’m just stopping you from killing,“ she said, „And I’ll get my cow and calf back.“ I’m just doing my job. Without me, you have no meat on your plate,“ he said. „With you and without you there is no meat on my plate, because I don’t eat anything from living beings,“ Anna said only to take Mathilde by the rope, as did Moritz, who had pressed close to his mother. „Hey, I paid for this,“ the employee said, for lack of other arguments. Anna looked at him, reached into her pocket and pulled out a few bills to throw at his feet, in the middle of a pool of blood. „There, your blood money,“ she said, which it actually was. With that she turned and left. Mathilde and Moritz followed her. Did they know they had just narrowly escaped death? If they had just been born, they would have been brutally murdered just to satisfy people’s disgusting cravings. She would have liked to take everyone with her, everyone who was queuing in the hall, everyone who had to wait in fear in the trucks, but it wasn’t possible. These two, she was able to save them. And she dreamed of the day when not a single living being would be imprisoned, mistreated and murdered for human enjoyment.

Anna walked a bit along the road before turning onto a dirt track, where she was finally able to untie the two of them. They trotted along behind her. „How much trust they have in me,“ thought Anna, „they don’t ask where we’re going, they just go with us, no matter where we’re going.“ Then Anna realized that she didn’t know where to go. She stopped in an open meadow and sat down on the grass while the two four-legged friends enjoyed themselves on the grass. It was all well and good that Anna had saved them, but what should she do now? At that moment she heard a pleasant voice behind her, so she turned to it. „Hello! Where are you going with the two beauties?” asked a strange woman, but the way she was addressed gave Anna hope. „I have to admit, I don’t know,“ she said, „I only thought about rescuing them from the slaughterhouse, which I managed to do. But what then, I didn’t think about it.“ „If you’re looking for a place, then I’d have one,“ said the woman, „My name is Zoe and I live on a sanctuary.“ „Anna“, Anna introduced herself, happy that Mathilde and Moritz had found a place together where they could live happily ever after.