The Strange Story of...

The Strange Story of Amanda Green

      The sign over the door had seen better days, but the dog and cat were still visible, along with the cutesy words between them that said:

                                                                                Petunia's Pets

      The store was old, but it was the only pet store in the town the Greens just happened to be visiting the summer their only daughter turned ten, and what she'd wanted for her birthday more than anything was a pet bird. And her family didn't want to disappoint her.

      "Welcome to 'Petunia's Pets'" a woman at the front desk said to the family in a monotone. Amanda ignored the woman and looked around the store until she found the bird section.

     "Mom, Dad, come look!" Amanda squealed. Her parents came over and saw what she wanted: a pair of lovebirds in a cage. Amanda looked at her mother with big eyes. "Could I please get them, Mommy?"

     She smiled. "It's your birthday."

    Amanda jumped up and down, clapping her hands. "Yay!"

   The woman at the desk had been watching them, and cleared her throat to get their attention.

"I'm not sure you want those birds, sweetie. Several people have returned them after having them for only two weeks." She walked over and picked up another cage. "Could I interest you in a lovely canary instead?"

  "NO!" Amanda yelled, upsetting nearly every animal in the store. "I want those birds! I want them, Mommy!"

  Her mother sighed, and her father tried to calm her down. "We'll take the lovebirds, please."

  The woman saw that there was no changing their minds, and reluctantly sold them the birds.

   An hour later, Amanda's father was hanging the cage from the ceiling of her room at their vacation house in Maine, which they visited every few months or so. The birds, which Amanda had named Love and Dove were eyeing their new surroundings as Amanda smiled at the cage. Then her father took her downstairs for her birthday dinner and cake.

  A few hours later, Amanda went up to bed, satisfied with the day. After changing and getting into bed, she looked at the birdcage. The lovebirds were looking at her. She smiled, then reached out to the nightstand, which held her lamp, and switched it off, plunging the room into near darkness, except for the light of the full moon shining through the window.

   The light had been off for a few minutes when she noticed a change. The soft, cooing sounds of the lovebirds had gotten more gravelly, and had turned from soft and soothing to almost threatening. Amanda turned the lamp back on and looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She looked at Love and Dove. They seemed to be blinking from the sudden light, but otherwise they seemed fine. They were making the cooing sounds again.

    Deciding she'd just been dreaming, Amanda turned off the lamp again. Once again, the gravelly noises filled the air a few minutes later. Amanda quickly turned the lamp back on and looked around. Nothing had changed. This time, however, the lovebirds seemed agitated.

    Amanda turned the lamp off once more, but this time she was watching the lovebirds. And she screamed. Her father ran into the room first, and turned on the big overhead light, illuminating the room. All he saw was Amanda, staring in horror at the lovebirds.

   "Amanda? Baby, what's wrong?" All she could do was point at the cage. He looked, but the lovebirds looked the same as ever, snuggling against each other and cooing. He turned at sat down next to his daughter on her bed. He kissed her forehead. "It's alright, sweetie, you just had a bad dream, that's all."

    "The birds," Amanda said.

    "What's wrong with the birds?"

    "Don't turn off the light."

     Her father sighed. They'd been through this a few years ago, when Amanda was certain that there was a monster in her closet. He thought they were done with the monsters when he pretended to catch the monster with a garbage bag. Apparently not.

     "Honey, the birds are fine. Now, I'm going to turn off the light--"

     "Look at the birds when you do."

     He sighed, then did what she asked. For a minute, nothing happened. Then he saw what his daughter was afraid of. Before his eyes, the birds were turning into monsters. Their feathers were replaced with scales, their feet and wings grew longer and bonier, their eyes turned a glowing green, their beaks grew into long, pointy, toothy cylinders, and they grew tiny horns on their heads.

   Her father immediately turned the light back on. The birds were back to normal in under a second. Amanda jumped out of bed and ran to her father, who picked her up, made sure the light was on, and took her out of the room, shutting and locking the door behind him.

   The next day they returned the two birds to the pet store, selecting a hamster for Amanda's birthday gift instead. After they had left, the woman took set the birdcage on the desk and looked at them for a moment.

    "What is it about you birds? Why does everyone return you before you've been there a month?" She looked at them a second longer, then shrugged, and put them back on display in the bird section. As she walked back to the desk, she could've sworn she heard the birds laughing.