Rise Of The Hybrids

Chapter 1

He slowly awoke to the sound of the rain. He smiled to himself.

What a beautiful thing the rain is. It comes in tiny droplets, running through your hair, and soaking your skin. He wondered why the rain was always a sign of sadness. He was the happiest when being gently stroked with the watery hands of the cloud's tears. He couldn't understand why humans always said it was a gloomy day. He shrugged. He has never understood the ways of humans and he probably never will. He's accepted that. 

He slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He stared disapprovingly at the room around him. He always hated this room. It was probably because of humans. Things were usually their fault. He wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for them. Instead, he would be back in the city, with his sister.

His sister.

He thinks about her quite a lot. They are identical twins. He remembers his sister cutting her hair short and then refusing to talk the entire day. His mother nearly had a stroke trying to figure out who was who! He smiled again. That is a fun memory. His smile quickly turned into a frown. That was only a few days before it happened. He usually tried not to think about times before it happened. The memories usually only led to the bad ones. 

He blinked three times, clearing his mind, before carefully sitting up. He winced as his muscles screamed out in pain. This was normal. He was used to it. He looked through the bars of the cage door at the big grandfather clock. He frowned again. He also never understood why humans kept such impractical items. Why not just get a digital clock? Or a watch? Those things were small and easy to read. You didn't have to learn which hand is the hour hand, and which one was the minute. It was small and portable, and practical. He liked practical things. He read the clock anyway.

6:05 am

He sighed. Man was late again.

Privileged humans

Man was his "master" as he liked to say. He never called Man master. It made him sound weak. That usually ended with him getting beaten. He didn't mind, he was used to it. He heard footsteps on the ceiling above him. He shook his wings, desperate to be out of the confined space. He peered through the bars as the door opened. To his surprise, he found Woman. Woman was Man's wife, as he had been told, whatever that means. He was supposed to call her Ma'am. He did. She was nice. Sometimes, when Man is away from the Den, she brings him to a grassy field which she calls a "park" and lets him fly. Not usually. Woman comes down the stairs and opens the cage.

"Sorry for being late Ren. Bruno left early."

He said nothing. They like to call him Ren. That's not his name. His name isn't a pathetic small bird. His name is a great name. One that all should fear. She will soon fear his name. Soon all of them will. He just had to be patient. He was very patient. His mother had always told him so. He slowly crawled out of his cage and stood up. Woman was taller than him. Most were. She smiled at him. Small running footsteps were heard at the door.

"Mommy! Can I feed Ren?"

He sighed inwardly. The short ones were the worst. So much energy with so little space. And usually a LOT of drool.

"Of course Izzy. Ask your brother if he wants to do it too."

Isabella, or Izzy, was the tallest of the littles. She was sometimes the hardest to deal with, and sometimes the easiest, he couldn't decide between the two. He was supposed to call her "Miss." He didn't. He called her Girl. Girl ran out of the room supposedly to find her brother. He glanced at the window with the beautiful rain. How he longed to squeeze through that window, take off and never come back.

Patience

He reminded himself. Soon enough he would. He just had to find an opening to-

"I WANT TO FEED THE BIRD!"

He rolled his eyes. Boy came tumbling in, almost falling down the six steps that came into the room. He counted them himself. He liked counting things. He also liked numbers. They were very practical. Woman caught him just as he was about to smash is germ-infested face into the concrete floor.

"Careful Joseph! You almost fell!"

He imagined Boy's scream. And the blood that would have been pouring out of his nose. And his pathetic little face scrunched up in pain. He smiled at the thought.

"Look! Ren is happy to see you!"

Boy squealed in delight as he immediately glared at the small thing.

Suddenly, Boy ran over and hugged him. He stood very still, clenching his muscles. He was trying very hard not to hit this child. Woman saw his expression and laughed. He glared at her as well. She thought this was friendly play, "all fun and games" as she liked to say. He glowered at her stupidity. The disgusting child finally let go and went over to his mother. 

He watched sadly as Woman taught Boy how to open the package and pour it into the bowl. It reminded him of his own mother. They never kept pets, but he remembered, when he was very little, his sister coming home with a sad, dirty kitten. They kept the small thing for a week. It didn't survive long. 

Once his "food bowl" was filled, the humans left the room. He looked at the food and cringed. Man always bought too much so by the time the package had almost run out, the small dry pellets the humans call "Hybrid food" are stale. He sighed again and walked over to the bowl. He's been doing a lot of sighing recently. Maybe because he knows that he's so close to being free. After swallowing the pills with much effort, He walked out the door.

Word Count: 1024