This is me

Chapter 4: An accident

Shortly after I was under the sofa, the boy left an ear of corn in front of me to tempt me out. Unfortunately, I was hungry, but I wasn't going to give up, not yet.

Hunter came to sniff me. He wanted to snout me, so I bit his nose. The thing flew off, howling in pain.

"What a coward you are, Hunter!" The boy yelled and went after him.

Silence invaded. I fell asleep for a few minutes, maybe. I didn't know.

I could see the dog sleeping in the corner of the room. The corn was intact outside the sofa, and it looked like it was already dusk. At last, I felt happy. I went out and looked. Everything was too still.

"Gotcha!" I listened. A rag was going to fall on me, so I shot into my hiding place. "I got you... Awe!" The boy was disappointed to see that he had caught the corn and not me. "I'll catch you, Paco!" he announced in a cry of revenge.

***

I saw my parents flying. I wanted to follow them, happy to have seen them soar through the skies. I spread my wings and launched myself, but something stopped me. I turned around to find that one of my legs was tied to the couch. My parents were going away, and I started calling them desperate.

"Dad, mom!" Hunter appeared next to me.

"Here you were, dwarf." He opened his jaws and caught me.

"Crrrrrrriiiiiiiiii!" I yelled.

It had been a dream. I snuggled myself down. It was dark. The humans had decided to go to sleep and leave me there to whatever happened to me. According to them, they would take me out tomorrow.

"Well, it's now... or another day..."

I left. I couldn't see because I was a daylight bird. I was guided by the dim light from the window and climbed there. I looked outside. Full darkness.

A shadow jumped beside me, startling me. Her eyes gleamed, reflecting the moonlight. It was the cat; she came closer to me, and we were both enlightened.

"What do you do?" she asked as she approached.

"I'm leaving," I announced. She purred.

"At this time? Ha! You will die."

"I want to go; I want to go home!" I sobbed.

The cat brought her snout dangerously close to me.

"Forget about that," she threatened, "now this is your house. Your jungle is extremely far from here", she added as she looked out the window. "You will never find it."

I cringed in sadness.

"I can get there, I know..."

"Well, if you want so much... escape during the day, not now." She looked at me. "I have acquaintances outside, and they will not have mercy on you if they see you." She started to walk away. "Also, you are missing feathers on your wings. Think wisely." She glanced at me, and her eye shone again, reflecting the light.

It was unfair that I couldn't see at night, and she could. I stood there sad. It was true. I couldn't escape now.

So, I stayed... for a while...

***

"And Paco takes the lead!" The boy yelled.

I was riding the remote-controlled super racing car 3000. Mr. Bear was about to catch up with me in his truck. Hunter appeared to claim his new racing victim and took him.

At that moment, a huge, fat human burst onto the racetrack, and I ran into her.

"Oh, a bird! How cute!" She screeched. I'm not a cute, fat human. I am a parrot. "Awee!" She picked me up like a thing, and she started squeezing me.

"Auntie, leave Paco. He is a male!" Claimed my owner.

"But what a beautiful bird, does it speak? Let's see, say hello, hello, hello."

"Madam, here the only parrot is you," I said. But of course, she didn't understand me.

The only thing they heard from me were noises like criii, fiu, cruak, and grrrr. I knew how to whistle, which drove them crazy. With that, they were content for a while. I was their feathered walking circus.

"Peep."

"Oh, he whistled!" The madwoman screamed. She brought me closer to her mouth.

"Wait!" She squeezed me and drooled. "Ewww, let me go." I started to push her away with my legs, but she was too strong. "Mercy, don't eat me!"

She left me in my cage, which was now located by the window. I sighed in relief. But what the hell was wrong with them? It didn't do me any good if they tried to taste me to see if it would be nice to eat me!

"Hey," called me a tiny voice.

It was Pikio. A thrush that had become my friend perched outside to see me through the glass.

"Hello, Pikio."

"They haven't left any breadcrumbs in the garden today," he complained.

"They have visitors."

"Yes, I saw. The human became fond of you."

"Gross! How did she get attached to me?"

"Humans like to taste each other to show affection."

"Wow..."

The humans had gathered in the living and were with their picture box on, hearing horrifying screams from other humans. They began to imitate them.

"Budaj, what's wrong with them? Are they dying?" I asked.

"They are singing," replied the thrush, "just as we sing in the mornings and afternoons."

"Hey, shut up, you, for mercy!" I asked them. They turned to see me and laughed.

"He wants to sing too," said one.

"I don't want to sing; I want you to shut up." They laughed again. "Oh, I always forget that they don't understand me."

After a while, they stood up and began to move strangely. Some hope shone in me.

"What about now? Are they dying?" I wanted to know. Pikio laughed.

"No, they are dancing." I snorted. "Hey, I'm going," he said. I turned to look at him.

"I will try to signal these uncivilized to leave you breadcrumbs." The thrush looked terrified.

"Watch out!"

I turned. All I could see was the fat woman sliding towards my cage. She crashed into it, taking me along. I felt falling. I hit the ground, followed by a crash, a stabbing pain, and thousands of pieces of glass shooting out.