This is me

Chapter 8: Not so good, not so bad

I saw how Juan pulled the dead rat out from behind a masseter.

"Here it is," he announced with a smile.

His mother screamed and ordered him to throw it away. I did not understand the reason for her fear; if total, she was already dead. Silly human.

"I told you," Aurora murmured.

"It's not fair, it's not fair at all," I claimed.

"Hey... It's good that she died," said the turkey.

"Shut up, turkey," I scolded him. "Why do you say that?"

"Because they bring many diseases. They ate my food, and once one wanted to bite me."

I sighed. I could see that if one animal got a bad reputation, everyone else paid. The humans did not observe and did not forgive anything.

***

The house was decorated; they had put a hideous fictional tree in the corner and hung things on it. I was dying to go, bite them, break them, and throw them on the ground. Not because I didn't like them. On the contrary, most of them shone and attracted my curiosity. There were little lights that played strange shrill melodies. They had already forced me out a couple of times when I fell into temptation and went to destroy some of those.

"Bring the wine... I don't want him to suffer," Juan said to his brother.

She handed him the bottle of that detestable liquid that had made me lose my sanity and become their personal circus once. He went to the garden and began to give the turkey a drink. Was it that they also wanted to see if he started behaving like me? How they loved to experiment with us, they were the last straw.

I got out of my cage and went to the garden. Juan had left the turkey lying on the ground.

"Hey... I feel like I'm flying," he mumbled barely.

"Don't worry; you'll be fine later," I encouraged him. "They gave it to me, too, not long ago. They want to see what you can do."

"I don't know why I feel like I won't... I won't be okay," he whispered.

"Of course, you will..."

"Something tells me that I'm not here just to be free like you... An adult turkey once told me that we were never going to return. I feared it when they brought me in; as the days went by, I began to believe that no, and I was happy, but I could see that I was wrong. Here it ends... If only I could fly..."

He looked at some little birds that were perching on the plants to watch us.

"Sorry, friend," said a sparrow.

"Don't say that; he'll be fine. They've given it to me before, too," I claimed.

The sparrow flew off with his companion. The turkey was gazing at the sky.

"Maybe after this, I can sail it..."

"Where is Cherchy?" Juan asked inside the house.

"It was in his cage; you should have tied the door so that he wouldn't escape," his mother scolded.

"Don't let the lady come out yet," Juan warned. "I must put it away; I don't want him to see anything."

"It's an animal, by God, Juan! It doesn't matter if he sees. He doesn't understand," his brother mocked him after laughing like a retarded dog.

He went looking for me in the garden, but I went to hide; I would not leave the turkey alone until he was well. He searched and searched until he gave up.

"Goodbye, friend," said the turkey.

A woman came out with a container and a metal object, the kind that scared me, a very sharp one. I moved a little, and terror came over me when she seized the turkey, which was lying unable to move, and cut its neck.

My eyes widened; my blood ran cold. I screeched and flapped, slamming into the masseters.

Juan came out calling me and, seeing me in there, he tried to make me go out, but I didn't think to do it. He found me shaking as hard as I could. Humans were terrible, and the worst thing was that I did not know where the turkey had failed to get killed too. Maybe he made a mistake without knowing it and ended up dying like everyone else. Perhaps that time they gave me the wine, they had planned to kill me too, but they decided to forgive me since I started doing funny things.

I was in hiding for hours, sobbing in my parrot way. Juan tried to make me go out from time to time, but he couldn't.

"You see? So, you said he didn't understand?" he claimed his brother. "Now he is traumatized."

***

In the afternoon, I scurried over to my cage and ate.

"Wow, I thought you escaped," Aurora said.

"Tell me what I shouldn't do so they don't kill me," I asked desperately.

"Huh?"

"They killed the turkey," I sobbed, "and I don't know what he did wrong, what if I make a mistake too..."

"Silly, the turkey was here for that," he explained. "You see, a human festival is coming, and they get different animals to eat them; that's how they celebrate it."

"How sick is that!"

"Give thanks that we are small, and we are not on their menu. The only thing that could kill you is not being careful."

I went to a corner of my cage to continue sobbing.

***

The next day Juan managed to get me out of my cage after offering me endless sweet things, words, and promises that nothing would happen to me. Like never before, he took me out of the house. I was perched on his hand, we arrived at another nearby home, and a girl opened the door.

"Juan, I can finally meet Cherchy," she said enthusiastically. She tried to pat my head, but I pulled away.

"He's half traumatized now; he accidentally saw the turkey being killed," he told her.

"Oh, poor thing," she consoled me, "nothing happens."

"Yes, of course. What do you know?" I spoke.

We entered, and I saw that we were going to go out to her garden.

"I suppose you have missed your friend since we found them together," she told me.

"My friend?"

In the garden, there was a cage, and inside was Pikio. Pikio!

"Pikio!" I yelled happily.

"Parrot Chicken!" He sang.

"Wow," said both humans, "yes, they were friends."

I jumped down from Juan's hand and stood next to the cage.

"I thought you were dead," I exclaimed.

"Me too, but apparently not; they have had me bandaged and numb for many days," he said.

"Merry Christmas, little birds," said the girl.

The humans entered the house and left us there, playing for a while. Maybe not everything was bad.