The Story of Tiberius

Chapter 71

Four months had passed since the attack that had killed Rosa. Three months after Sleet and the Council had left for Canada. Fully healed from his wounds for the most part, Tiberius had stopped flying towards Central Park. In fact, every time Alfred tried to get him to fly and enjoy the day, the hawk stayed on the roof with him. After seeing that the red tail wasn't going to go anywhere, the old man stopped trying and let him do whatever he wanted on the roof.

There were a few times when Alfred headed out that he took Tiberius with him. The trips were always to head over to Pedro's Flower Shop. The man of Hispanic descent was delighted to have them come over and had given Tiberius the nickname of 'Rojo' due to his fire brick red tail. After hearing how the hawk had a sister, Pedro declared that if they ever wanted to leave a flower upon her grave, they wouldn't need to buy any of them. To the hawk and his owner, they would be free.

Night had fallen upon the city once more. Having been in a depressed state for months now, Tiberius laid on the floor of the shed, a habit he had fallen into since last week. His hood was on his head. It had now become a regular thing for the red tail. Though it freaked him out at first, it was somewhat comforting. However, he woke up from every nightmare to be welcomed by the darkness that it provided. That was another thing. Ever since the night of the attack, Tiberius was plagued in his dreams by constant nightmares. Sometimes he would see his little sister Rosa in them. Most of the time it was just the hairless cat that had murdered her, though there were some where they were both in the dream. Then there was the rare few of his parents' deaths or the times he had been teased in the pet store. He would have up to three or four nightmares a night. The most was seven. Whatever dream that came to the red tailed hawk now, it was always a nightmare. Tiberius hadn't had a peaceful night's sleep in months.

Waking up from one such nightmare, Tiberius laid on his back. Seeing nothing due to the hood covering his eyes, he was about to fall asleep again when he heard something approaching the shed. And it smelled like a cat. A hairless one too. The hawk snarled when the shed door opened.