Free As A Bird

Macaw Madness

"Paige! School starts in THIRTY

MINUTES! GET UP! C'mon, move!" Mum screamed. Her voice must get sore from

yelling out for six years. I roll out of bed, only to find my fingers have

morphed into bird talons. "Ugh... not now!" I sigh. Being half asleep, the last

thing I need is to deal with is the pain of turning them back. I run down the

stairs, finding it extremely hard to walk on tiny bird feet instead of large

human ones... wait! I'll just shift! That way I get down quicker while also

releasing some energy ahead of my big school day where the feathers will be

crammed inside my soul. I close my eyes and imagine I'm as free as a bird.

"Mum, please don't interrupt me now! I'm right in the middle of a

transformation!" I thought. And Mum must of read my mind because I didn't hear

her speak a word since.

After about three minutes all I could think about was food, and fruit,

and- my mind was busy with thought. Spreading my rainbow wings, I swooped down

to the kitchen. And by the look on Mum's face, she was not amused. She just

yanked me to the ground, and the next thing I knew I had bumped my head.

"Sweetie, I congratulate you for coming – I mean flying – down, but honey you know that if someone sees you

shapeshifting, your dead! I know, I really do know how you feel... but don't

worry. Once your Dad gets into mining, we'll have enough money to buy a big

block of land, far, far, away. Then we can fly as free as a bird as much as we

like!" She sighed and I saw tears in her eyes. Being a duck, it's hard for Mum

to fly anywhere without avoiding bullets in duck shooting season. And my Dad

being a crow, well, it's quite hard for him to go anywhere without stealing a

bit of lunch from the closest tip... and that raises a lot of questions when Dad

returns to work all dirty. Working at a retail company, it's hard to get dirty

working with TV's.  

I got dressed, and ran – well, speed

walked as fast as I could – out the door. (running induces shifts to fly, so I

don't do it often.) After eating a muesli bar, I felt calm and cheerful. This

day should be good. No shifting.

I got to school, sat down in my seat

and apologised for being five minutes late. It was pretty much a normal school

day, until lunch.

I walked into the toilets, excusing

my friends. They waited out front of the door for me, as I walked into the

Ladies toilet a little embarrassed. Why had Ashley been laughing at me?