Anima: The Bird House

Chapter 13

By the time the changes stopped, everyone in the room was watching me. All the eyes locked on my face were not a great help, and my eyes could only focus on one person at a time.

"Lyall?" Matthew said quietly.

I opened my mouth to speak but was distracted by the feeling of my mouth hinging open. I experimentally opened and closed my beak a few times. Touching the hard surface with my tongue assured me there was zero give to the rigid material. My eyes always saw a small amount of it in the bottom center of my view, and moving my head around did not affect its position in my eyesight.

"Lyall? Are you feeling alright" Matthew asked in a more natural volume.

"Yeah, I heel retty good" I attempted to speak but had difficulty with specific sounds. The lack of lips prevented sounds that were not entirely in the vocal cords. "Why can't I say that?" I asked, getting antsy.

"Relax, it'll come with time," Matthew said as he slowly walked toward me. "Does everything feel fine? Any new thoughts or anything?"

I reached up my hand to my face. Expecting to cover my mouth with my hand, I was surprised to find it blocked. I ran my hands down the length of my beak, down to the hooked tip. Then moving from front to back, passing where my nose once was and back to what was once my cheeks.

"I uhh, need to go," I said, standing up and walking toward the bathroom.

Once inside, I could not bring myself to look in the mirror. Taking a seat on the toilet, I sat and felt the beak some more. It felt alien but oddly correct, as if it were new but also always meant to be there. Reaching up, I grabbed the upper section of the beak and gave it a tug to the side. My whole head moved with it, one piece with my skull. I reached for my phone to take a photo, snapping three images, one straight on, one from the side, and one holding my beak open.

I Selected all three images and started to send them to Kole. Right before sending it, I glanced at the previous messages, and Kole was gone. I closed my phone and sat it on the counter, resting both hands and leaning toward the mirror. This was going to be my most significant adjustment yet.

I can deal with eyes sensitive to the dark, a tail that catches on things, and even the changes to my lower anatomy. But the beak, that's a whole other set of issues. Struggling with speech, the screeching, the apparent mental episode, all of it happening just after losing Kole.

I stood up straight and looked at my reflection. The face in the mirror did not reflect the person I knew just a short while ago. I tried to force a smile, but the hard beak was unmoving. I was permanently locked into a neutral expression, no smiling and no frowning. I turned to exit the bathroom to find the group awkwardly waiting for me just outside. Walking toward them, Nash was the first to speak.

"Everything feeling alright?" Nash asked. "No extra surprises, right?"

"No, just this thing, ay-e a -ew extra -eathers," I tried to answer, struggling with a few sounds.

"Gonna need to work with you on your effs," Matthew said lightly, punching my shoulder. "They won't be perfect, but you can make the right sounds if you know the trick."

"-eah, I'll need that -or thanksgiving," I said, trying to smile. Although I wasn't too much in the mood to talk about it, I knew everyone had the best intentions.

Everyone broke off to do their things. Nash and Rylie decided to make lunch while Matthew tried to work on making "eff" sounds without lips. His method was using this tongue against his beak to mimic the sound. Although completely unnatural to do, he could make an incredibly convincing "eff" I guess having as much time to practice as he has can help. He seemed excited to teach his little trick, and maybe with time, I could do it as well as he could. Assuming my speech sticks around a while longer.