Modified: How It All Began (ORIGINAL)

30. What lies ahead

I wake to a nudging in my side, I furrow my eyebrows together and look down to see the boy stretching with his elbow digging into my ribs. I roll my eyes as I feel him freeze, oh yeah it would be completely pitch black for him right now, I move my wings out the way and he slowly sits up and looks toward the window, he plants his palm against his head and groans,
"I've got a massive headache", he grumbles slightly wavering, I scoff,
"No surprise since you got knocked clean out yesterday", he moans at the memory and I look over at the curtain just as it starts to open, I feel the boy stiffen beside me as Osiris come into view,
"Morning you two", Osiris says as he opens the gate and ushers us out, instead of giving mine and Midnight's food in our bowls he puts them on the floor and closes the cage back up behind us, I look down at my arm to see that it is more yellow than anything indicating that it is near enough healed, I catch the boys eye and he stares at me in shock.
After eating my fruit I pick up a slab of meat and start to unfold my wings,
"Wait! Can I come with you?" A small voice comes from behind me,
"None of you can go up there I'm getting work done in here and in your cage so try and stay out the way", Osiris buts in as he passes by me and heads out the door.

Not soon after a group of people came with a bunch of ladders tools and wood, they then built a platform connected to the skylight windowsill especially for me. Once they finished with the skylight I brought the boy up with me and with my bowl of meat, I watch people come in and out going into my cage and cutting out a lifesize door for me, my heart races in anticipation at the possible air that will soon be racing through my feathers.
Once they are done cutting out the hole they put in a plastic flap connected with a lock, I look out the window to see a bunch of trucks go by and unload loads of wire mesh fencing.
"What are they doing?" The boy asks from beside me who is also looking out the window, I shrug my shoulders even though I have a pretty good idea what they are doing.

I look up after a few seconds of silence, I look out the window to see that the trucks have all left back through the parting in the trees, I hear a slap of hands against knees and look down to Osiris wiping dust off his knees at the entrance of the flap,
"Well come on then", he says as he beams up at me, I smile and quickly hold the boy to my chest and glide down towards the cage.
I touch down and let go of the boy and crash towards Osiris, he steps in my line of sight,
"Hope you like it Belle", he says as if talking to a child, he steps aside and I cautiously go out the flap, I'm rooted to the spot as I look around to see the wire firmly secured in place by beams and connected to the house.
I run and take off flying around the perimeter of the fence and as high as the wire will let me, my long blonde hair whips around behind me at my growing speed, I enjoy the the little and much needed fly and decide to land on the side of the wire, I grip on with all four sets of claws and look closely at the fence, it looks like chicken wire, I bring a claw up and scratch at it, nothing.
I raise an eyebrow and take off of the fence and glide around the area again. After a few more minutes of peaceful flying I see the boy come through the flap, I change course and head straight toward him, I land and walk a few metres until we are in ear distance,
"Ma- I mean Osiris wants you inside", he says and quickly goes inside, was he going to call him master?

I walk back inside to see Osiris with his back towards the cage, I let my feet fall a little louder so he can hear me approach, he turns around and lifts his lips up into a smile,
"Good could you stay in here for a bit, we've got people coming over and checking on your progress", my stomach twists, I nod which he responds with going to the kitchen and retrieving the bag, I feel my eyes light up in excitement.

I'm perched on the branch outside of the cage bars watching Midnight chase her own tail while periodically gazing up at my own dangling tail, I snap my head to the door as my feathers raise slightly on end, Osiris quickly stands and starts heading towards the door, he opens the door to a surprised looking human woman with her hand hallway towards the door,
"Oh hello", she quickly rushes out as she looks up at Osiris, he steps aside so that they can come in, the woman is followed by two men and they start to look around then straight at me still on the branch,
"Oh wow looks like a lot of progress has been made then", the woman sighs out with a smile, Osiris walks towards me and hands me a walnut, I gladly take it while still watching the three strangers.
"Do you want to tell me some stuff about her that you have learned please Osiris?" The woman confidently says as she brings out a notepad and looks up at him,
"Well whatever humanity is left is a considerably small amount, she retains the ability to speak in our language but she mainly communicates through body language as you can tell", he waves his hand to the back of me indicating my raised feathers, the woman nods as a man starts writing down in his own notepad,
"But the main question is, is she dangerous at all?" The woman says as her gaze flicks to my twitching tail and then to Midnight trying to grab at it,
"Well any wild animal is really", he says as if he was talking about a tiger or something, the woman cocks her head at him,
"Wild?" She asks, the man noting down notes abruptly looks up between me and Osiris,
"Yes wild, she has more animal traits then human now, so she is technically a wild animal, she wants nothing to do with the society anymore she just wants to be in her 'natural habitat' the jungle", the woman's look deepens at his words, she looks down as she sighs tapping her pen against her clipboard,
"Let's talk about the future for her then", she begins, I slightly flinch as a walnut comes into view, I take it and look back to the woman as I crunch down on it,
"Does she get on with humans?" Osiris nods his head and she looks back down again,
"That's alright then, there is mainly one option for her which would be the best really, but if she didn't get along with humans she would ultimately be sent to either a viewing zoo or be put down", a rumble begins in chest and my feathers star to shake, all three people notice and they all look towards Osiris, he bends down and picks Midnight up and stuffs her into my arms, she begins to purr in my arms and snuggles up to me, I calm down a small amount,
"But because she is alright with humans those two options are still up for grabs but the best we think would be is shipping her off to a rural farm where there are quite a few predators and trespassers, that way she has all the space to fly about and she also has a job to do, and there's animals", she finishes with a smile, Osiris nods in thought, then he turns to me,
"Would you like the farm?" I look at the woman and back at Osiris, I slightly nod my head he turns and beams at me and looks back to he woman,
"The farm is a go", the woman then smiles and hugs her clipboard to her chest,
"You can go now if you want Belle", Osiris says to me, I quickly drop off the branch and go outside, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and place Midnight into the grass, I look up into the sky as the knot in my chest forms tighter as I think about Caleb and when the next time we are going to see eachother.

After a few hours of being outside and playing with Midnight the sun begins to set and I decide to bring Midnight back in, the warmth of the radiators hit me and I blow out a breath, I quickly take a drink as Osiris rounds the corner and walks into the cage and to the flap and securely locks it and walks back out, I stan back upright as Osiris turns to the boy,
"You in with Belle tonight?" He asks, the boy quickly nods and Osiris steps aside, the boy rushes in and smiles at me, I smile at him in return and carry on drinking.
After Osiris closes the gate he pulls the curtain round with a click, I settle into the base of the tree again, the boy huddles into my chest and I tightly wrap my tail and him and cover my wing over us.
Soon a quiet snore can be heard from both Midnight and the boy as I drift off to to sleep.