Magic, Madness And Sadness

The Birdcage

This is a bizarre tale about a rather strange man who lived inside a bird cage. He was not in there by choice mind you, oh no. One fateful day, he somehow wandered into it and couldn't quite find a way out. Years had gone by since the first time he had entered it, in fact, the memories of how he ended up in there in the first place had grown a bit foggy. With little to no memory of life before being trapped in the cage, he had no choice but to call it home. It wasn't all that bad, there was silence in the cage - peace. He was in there alone and that's how he liked it...most times.

Everything was brightly lit inside the cage, with no corner obscured by shadows. It was the outside that wasn't so clear. Only darkness surrounded him. The further away from the cage, the darker it got. If he was quiet enough, he could hear voices around him, indistinct chatter and laughter. Despite the faint voices he heard, he hardly ever saw any faces, not unless they ventured close enough to the cage. Not many people dared get close. Only a handful of them, like his brother, ever approached the flimsy bars of the rickety birdcage.

"Hey, I'm going out with some friends today. Wanna join me?" asked the man's brother.

The man sat in silence and shook his head. Unsurprised by the response, his brother slowly turned away and walked into the darkness outside the cage. The man watched so closely that he could count the number of steps his brother had taken before disappearing from view. It wasn't until his brother had vanished into the darkness that he stopped staring. He looked around to see if anyone was looking. Of course they weren't, he thought to himself. He gingerly stretched his fingers through the bars of the birdcage, almost as if he feared he may lose them should they cross its threshold, or break the cage if he wasn't gentle. For a few seconds nothing changed but then in an instant, the noise began.

The faint laughter and chatter he heard while in the cage suddenly became deafening. The noise caused him to pull back his hand and retreat to the centre of the cage. Everything was quiet again - peaceful. He cherished the peace, so he pulled out a cloth and began to polish the bars. Despite already being thin and not that strong, they had a tendency to corrode when left unattended to, so he got to work. He took special care when polishing, making sure his touch was so gentle that the bars remained unbroken.

Several people ventured close to the cage, too close for his liking. They were remnants of an old life, people he had known before the cage. Some begged him to go out, while others attempted to force him out. Weak as it was to the man's touch, the cage proved impregnable from the outside. The harder they hammered at it, the stronger it got. He watched on as every attempt to enter failed until all his friends retreated into the darkness. Sometimes he could recognise their voices in the chatter but even when he wanted to join them, he simply couldn't, the cage would never allow him.

From the darkness emerged something he never thought he'd ever see again, another person - a woman. He hadn't seen her before so her presence was quite puzzling. At first it looked like she was about to pass him by, until she suddenly turned around as if drawn in by the cage. The man retreated to the centre, hoping and praying that she'd walk into the darkness, after all, everyone else had done the same.

She circled the cage as she surveyed every inch of it. Her eyes were filled with a level of contentment he hadn't seen in ages. She looked at the cage, not with contempt but rather, curiosity. He pivoted at the centre as she moved around the cage, keeping a close eye on her every move. The more she looked, the greater his own curiosity became. She stopped at certain sections to run her fingers down the bars and admire the craftsmanship, no one had ever done that before. Without realising it, he had somehow moved to the edge of the cage. He still couldn't get out though, the fragile bars could never let him.

"Hi!" he whispered.

His voice broke her concentration for a split second before she returned to admiring the birdcage. His courage to speak disappeared almost as quickly as it came. Much to his surprise however, he still didn't to return to the centre, he didn't want to. While she admired the prison he had built for himself, he just sat back and admired her. After a few minutes had passed, she finally turned to face him.