Gifted

Chapter 21

Rita woke up to the sound of birds singing, she threw a pillow over her head to block the noise out, but the sound seeped through. Rita pulled the pillow tighter, not wanting to have to get out of bed quite yet. But the birds were persistent, Rita pulled the pillow off her head and threw off her covers. She was immediately greeted with a rush of cold air, she jumped out and rushed to the restroom.

"Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold." Rita muttered under her breath as she closed the bathroom door behind her. She culled herself up onto the counter and reached into the drawers, she pulled out a pair of socks and stood up again. Rita turned to look into the mirror, her hair was tangled, but it was nothing a hairbrush could fix. She dragged the borrowed brush though her brown knotted hair, soon it looked nice and neat.

Rita pulled her shirt off and she pushed the varying shades of brown hair behind her ear. Then she pulled it over her shoulder. She turned around so her back was facing the mirror, craning her neck to see her wings. They were folded tightly against her back, Rita unfurled them, relishing the feeling of being able to move her cramped extra limbs. She looked at the brown feathers of varying shades, the way they formed a pattern. She stretched them out and let out a sigh, Rita felt so free without them trapped under a shirt. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she should probably go eat. Rita folded up her wings until they were folded tightly against her back, creating nothing more than a shapeless feathery mass that hardly would've stood out with a shirt on.

Speaking of shirts

Rita slipped on her borrowed nightshirt, it was a faded red with the words

IT'S FUNNY HOW YOU THINK I'M LISTENING

Printed on it on bold letters. Rita looked at and found it surprisingly easy to imagine Sandy saying this with a smirk on her face. Rita chuckled to herself as she walked out the bathroom door, she closed the door behind her.

Rita opened her blinds and sunlight flooded the room, her eyes adjusted almost immediately.

There wasn't and light source in here before

Rita closed the heavy curtains, for a fraction of a second, the room was dark. Then her eyes adjusted, she could see everything, as if it were as clear as day, it all looked so clear and normal, not dark. Rita opened the curtains again, light filled the room once more, bringing the sound of birdsong with it.

"Those birds, are so annoying." She muttered to herself, then she cautiously checked the room to make sure that no one had seen her talk to herself. Rita looked through her belongings, she couldn't find her phone though. She grained, the high pitched tweets of the birds were driving her mad.

"Shutup would ya!?!?" She screeched angrily. The birdsong stopped at her sudden outburst, and strangely enough, it didn't continue.

Did they stop because of me?

It's a silly thought

But I am part bird

Maybe.... Maybe I can talk to them

Shutup that's impossible

Stiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Rita sighed.

Might as well give it a shot

Rita pushed the screen of the window off and placed it propped up against the wall. She stuck out her head and looked down, strangely, even though she was countless stories up, she didn't feel afraid. Rita called out to the birds, only feeling lightly silly.

"Come here! One of you!"

There was a pause, and silence. Then the sound of fluttering wings, and then a bird. It landed on the windowsill, its small head cocked in curiosity. The bird had a long tail and a blue body which turned darker and darker until it transitioned to black.