blue bird

8 - Dead Or Alive

I was awake but refused to open my eyes due to how tired and drowsy I felt. I turned over to lay on my right side and felt a strain on my neck and my back. My neck felt stiff and my back felt extremely sore. I put my left hand down and felt something prickly and dry. I heard crickets in the distance and some wing flapping. I slowly opened my eyes but couldn't stop myself from squinting because there was a bright light shining in my face. I sat up and shielded my eyes with my hand. I looked around and realized that I was not in my bedroom anymore.

There was a great willow tree a few meters to my right, it had a rigid and strong trunk, there were many branches spewing out the sides with vibrant leaves the colour of limes. I got up slowly, still in pain from the awkward sleeping position and checked my surroundings; I was standing in a field of grass.

I looked into the distance, and in all ways there were trees, lots of them. I could see different types of trees, they seemed to be scattered but in an organized way. The white ones were on the far right and the black ones were on the far left. Past that, I could see there was a castle gated with high stone walls.

I then looked to the left and past the big tree I woke up next to, there was a craggy mountain with walls built in the divots of the mountain. There was also a castle near the top, it was so high that the tip of the main towers touched the clouds.

The rest of the land was covered in grasslands, valleys and forests that stretched for long distances. I walked around the tree admiring the strong branches and the beautiful leaves.

"Where am I?" I whispered to myself.

Suddenly I heard rustling above my head and looked up; I could see a speck of blue hiding behind the leaves. I moved to the side to get a better view of what was in the tree. I squinted my eyes while staring at the blue shape and then saw a wing lift up from the body.

It was a blue bird.

I chuckled, "what're you doing here?"

I was overjoyed by the fact that I was not alone and had some company, especially considering I had never seen this land before; I definitely wasn't in Barry's Bay anymore.

As I was attempting to get the bird to come down from the tree, I remembered that I had buried the body of a deceased bluebird last night.

"Oh shit." I mumbled. Was I dead? Was I in heaven; like the after life? I began to pace around the area of the tree, mumbling to myself things like:

"I'm dead...."

"Oh my God, I must have died in my sleep...."

I then looked up at the sky and gave a defeated shrug, "seriously?! I couldn't have died in a cool way?" I rolled my eyes to the universe. I continued to look around and panic, in disbelief that I was most likely dead.

I sat down with my legs crossed, and leaned my elbow on my knee while pulling grass. I thought about the possibility of my death, tears started to well up in my eyes and I started to laugh knowing how stupid all of this was. As I was hysterically losing control of my thoughts, the blue bird hopped down from the tree and slowly started walking towards me. I turned my attention to it with blurry eyes and it nudged its head on my knee like a cat asking to be pet. I reached out and patted its head; it was for sure a girl.

"So you're friendly?" I teased while holding out my pointer finger so she could jump onto it. I pulled my hand towards my face and inspected her face and body.

"Well since we have formed a companionship, you're gonna need a name."

I thought, "hmm what about Mave?" I shook my head "What about Blue? Nah too cliche." I pondered for a while but then remembered the name of my mom's childhood pet which was a pig.