Nurse's Pet

Golden

    I was what you'd consider a "natural musician." I apparently came out of the womb singing instead of crying. Such a lovely voice! All of the newborns at the orphanage used to hush at the sound, which made the nurses appreciate me. Not that any of them found my ability to be anything remarkable. In fact, they seemed to only enjoy the silence that would ensue after my singing.
    But one day, a new nurse was hired. She seemed particularly fascinated with not only the results of my singing, but also the singing itself. Each day, she had me sing for her. And each day she began to become more of a friend than an authority figure. I never once saw her frown at me. She wasn't harsh towards me like she was towards the other children. I began to feel this odd feeling of superiority I'd never felt before, which didn't seem to be a problem to me at the time..
    However, my attitude began to change. I started treating the other children badly. Insulting their singing as they played their silly games, because it could never live up to mine. I even belittled the other nurses. Oddly enough, this seemed to only make Nurse love me more. She would laugh as the children I insulted cried and she would rescue me from the reprimands of the nurses I angered. It seemed the nastier my actions towards others got, the sweeter her actions towards me became.
    Nurse began asking me to sing for her more and more until our once a day singing sessions turned into three and even four times a day. I started growing tired of nurse. After all, why should I have to sing for her?
    "Nurse," I said. "I won't sing for you anymore.."
Her ever present smile oddly didn't disappear at the news, so I explained further to hopefully draw out some sort of reaction.
    "I shouldn't be singing for such a small..." As I started my sentence, my voice seemed to grow smaller, and the world began to grow bigger. Yet I talked on. "...audience of people. And I shouldn't be stuck i n  a  p l a c  e  l i..." My voice had morphed into a tweet. My soft golden hair was now replaced by soft golden feathers. I frantically flapped my wings as I felt a hand wrap around me. I opened my newly gained beak to speak, but all I could manage was a choked twitter. I was stuffed in a cage. Nurse simply smiled her sweet smile.
    Nobody ever missed me. Who would, after the way I treated them? So here I sit "superior" in my silver cage, forever singing. I always was Nurse's pet...