The Story of Tiberius

Chapter 35

Blinking his eyes open, Tiberius at first couldn't tell where the heck he was. His vision was a little blurry from sleep. But once it cleared up, he saw that he was in a cage. Remembering the pet store, the hawk jumped to his feet. Pain flared up in his beak and face. Before he could begin panicking, he felt someone touch his shoulder. "Tiberius, it's alright. We're at the clinic," Rosa's calm and quiet voice spoke kindly. Breathing a sigh of relief, the hawk turned towards his sister to see that she had been crying. Shaking himself, he asked, "What happened?"

"A little boy found me and Alfred. Some people came over. Then... somebody pulled a bag over my head. I'm assuming they got Alfred some help," Rosa recalled, shuddering a little out of fear. Feeling a burning pain in his beak and face, Tiberius slowly reached his wing up to rub it. His sister quickly whacked his wing down. Seeing the shocked look on his face, she explained, "When we got here, I noticed you had burn marks on your face. One of the vets saw it too and you were taken back. They say you were hit by a frying pan."

"Yeah, right off the stove. Feels like it too," Tiberius murmured.

"They didn't say it looked bad and that you'd heal up in no time. However..." Rosa went on quietly. Reaching the end of her statement though, her voice faded away. Gazing down at his little sister, Tiberius questioned, "What? What is it?" Her dark brown eyes looking down at the floor of their cage, the smaller and younger hawk mumbled something too quiet to hear. Sighing heavily, her brother grumbled, "You're muttering." Gulping nervously, Rosa met Tiberius's gaze as she repeated a little louder yet still a whisper, "You have a scar."

"I what?!"

"It's on your beak, this really tiny one on the right side. The frying pan caught you there and I guess it burned you. It's small so it can't be seen that well and it's on the edge of your beak. The only way anyone will see it is if they're looking up at you with your mouth open and they pay close attention to it."

Still a little skeptical, Tiberius reached up and felt along the top right edge of his beak. Sure enough, he could feel it. Just a tiny little scar like he had been told. At least it wasn't that noticeable and it definitely wasn't like his entire beak broke off. But now there were two questions left on the hawk's mind.

Was Alfred alright and how long would they be here?