Chapter 1: Farewell home

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I left my tree hole in the beautiful Amazon rainforest. Both my parents were waiting for me on a branch. They had green wings, a blackhead, a white chest, and yellow spots. I could not say why; we were parrots, so colorful.

"We will go to the ravines so you can see the place," ordered my father.

They both took off, and I was stunned. I had to follow them. I looked down, and it made me nervous. Apart I saw a rather ugly thing moving on the ground full of dead leaves; it seemed to be moving somewhere. My parents had warned me not to approach any being that walks too low or flies too high.

Now, to fly. If my parents could, I could too. I jumped in and did what my mother told me to do. I flew.

"Oh yes, I am flying!"

My blood ran cold when I felt eyes fixed on me. My first reaction was to turn suddenly in the air, and luckily, I managed to avoid that predator. His colossal mouth landed on another strange being on a nearby branch. My parents also warmed me about those Snakes. 

I managed to catch up with my parents, and we reached the ravine. There were a whole host of species like us, of different colors and sizes. They were perching near a waterfall. They played around, they chewed things, among these: fruits, leaves, and clay.

"Be careful and listen to our call," my father ordered again.

I landed on the ground and began to walk around the place, happily greeting everyone. I said hello to the big red guys, I think they were macaws, but they ignored me. I greeted middle-sized birds like me, green with a red crown, who were arguing over some fruit.

"Stay away; it's my fruit!" they both yelled at me.

"But share," I suggested.

"NO!" They shoved me with their heads.

I didn't go back far because I collided with something big. I saw its shadow covering the earth under my feet.

"Dwarf, move," warned the giant blue macaw.

My father appeared suddenly.

"Excuse me, he's still young. He is in training."

The macaw spread its vast, majestic blue wings and flew away. My father glared at me.

"Sorry."

The two parrots that had pushed me were laughing not far away. I approached, determined to get revenge when another larger green, an Amazon, pecked them off and took the fruit they had been fighting over.

"That's what you get," I murmured.

They approached me.

"Ok, you win. Join us."

I followed them without knowing why. We ended up near a nice pool of water, together with some very kind blue-headed parrots; they said they were of the Pionus species. They had assembled a small pile of fruits and leaves. Everything was happy with them.

"We will share this little hill of fruit... but not with you," one of them finished saying very haughtily.

"Ok, and I thought they were sweet."

I got upset and started doing my fight dance. My father had taught me to stretch my neck and begin to raise and lower my head while spreading my wings a little to look bigger.

"What the hell is he doing?" wondered one.

"I think he dances," said another.

A rather large animal suddenly burst in, making us all flap.

"Fruit!" he screamed desperately.

It was a capybara, according to my scant parrot studies. The Pionus began to defend their small pile of fruits, I also wanted to jump to protect it, but there was a loud crash.

When I had some consciousness, chaos hovered around me as I heard some rumbles everywhere. My sight focused on a nearby parrot; it had a kind of mesh on top that did not let it move. It asked for my help.

Panic.

I looked around for my parents amid the chaos.

"Father?!" I yelled.

Din.

"Flee!" the red-headed parrots screeched.

"Mother?!" I kept asking, panicked.

More din.

I located them and could see with horror that they were trapped, I flew towards them and tried to undo that mesh, but it was useless; it was a kind of fiber that was too hard.

"No, son. Run," my father muttered with difficulty.

"No!"

"Flee!" He yelled, and I flew off.

I flew while others hit me in the air in their attempt to escape.

"It gets away!" Said a strange and ugly voice.

Humans. They always warned me about them; once they caught you, there was no return.

Suddenly darkness.


***

"Father!" I screamed.

I couldn't see anything; I was in a kind of dark cave while listening to the sobs of others like me huddled against me.

"I will die! I don't want to die!" one shouted.

"Where are they taking us?" I asked.

"No one knows. No one is coming back," said another.

"I don't want to die!" the first yelled.

"Shut up!" the second scolded him.

"I won't!"

"We can make a hole," I suggested as those two started fighting again.

They looked at me, but did not seem to reason, seized with fear.

"Mom, Dad!" they began to shout.

"Enough..."

Everyone started calling their friends and family at the top of their lungs, and I ended up lost in the screaming. Where were they taking us? What did we do wrong? I didn't know... I didn't want to die either, so I started screaming. 

 

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