Illusive Tears

•Chapter 5: Can't you Imagine How it Feels Like to Fly?•

It's been a while. Years. A decade at least, since he escaped this gloomy prison. This torturous place. An area where your enemy was death itself. He would always be so happy when his master gave him permission to escape. But that would never happen now, so the man continued flickering through the channels.

1989,
1990,
1991,
1992...

He grew up so fast. How could Ichimatsu go from such a precious child to an introverted beast? Jyushimatsu sighed, getting up from the floor to go grab a box of tissues, the one near him was already empty. He lived in Ichimatsu's imagination. And he's been there, waiting for the day he'd escape from this hell. Sometimes, if he flickered the TV to 2018, he'd see Ichimatsu. He could see what he was doing. But all it was is cats, why cats?

White cats, oranges cats, black cats, Burmese cats, Birman cats, Siamese cats, American shorthair cats, bobcats, tabby cats, sphynx, why so many? Jyushimatsu basically memorized each breed at this point!

He missed home. From what he could see, the house hasn't changed a bit. 'Mom' and 'dad' got older but still seemed young. That's just the magic of makeup, isn't it? Jyushimatsu chuckled at the thought, wiping the final tears that poured out.

He remembered when he went to elementary school with Ichimatsu, he would always hang out with his brothers, mainly Karamatsu and Choromatsu due to them being protective of the innocent child if they got bullied. The youngest would chat with his friends, and stay over at their houses occasionally.

Why did he have to be imaginary? Why couldn't he live like a normal person? Why couldn't he be real? Jyushimatsu tried to stop asking questions. "It's been a week since you cried! We gotta beat a new record!" He encouraged himself. But what's the point? Nobody knows anyway.

He could sob all he wanted, he could plead for help, no one would ever know! Shouldn't that be a good thing? Jyushimatsu grabbed a tissue, blowing his nose, then went ahead and grabbed the remote and sat back down. He pressed several buttons until the numbers 2018 flashed on the screen, then luckily it showed a first-person view of what his creator was doing.

"More beer please!" Osomatsu chuckled. "Damn it idjit, keep drinking and then you'll die! Even thought of your health?" A short man shouted. "And what did we say at home?!" Choromatsu deafeningly shouted, louder than Chibta could ever do making Osomatsu wince. "Dang! It's Friday, let me have fun!" The eldest pouted. "How's it going, Chibita?" Karamatsu asked, moving his cup of beer in a circular motion.

Chibita sighed, "Fine" he admitted. "There's been worse whenever you five are around." Choromatsu nodded, understanding what he meant. At least they weren't in the nude or shoving the food up you-know-where.

Ichimatsu sat on the right end of the stools, a hand holding his up his head. He could somehow hear bird noises. Do birds even stay up this late? He moved his head to glance over at his right. And on the electricity pole was a cockatiel. A cockatiel? A wild cockatiel? In Japan? Aren't these only in Australia? It should be dead by now! Ichimatsu got himself out of the chair to examine the bird closer in the darkness. It was surely a cockatiel.

Ichimatsu slowly whistled, not a song but just a note. After a few seconds of realizing what was going on, the yellow, grey and red cockatiel sang along. Ichimatsu whistled again, longer and with different notes. The bird sang again. How?

The fourth brother heard its wings flapping, as now right in front of him was the small bird. Reaching his hand out, the brother in purple attire tried to pet the bird as he did with cats. But it backfired once the creature bit his index finger. He cursed out loud, bringing attention. "What's wrong Ichi?" Osomatsu turned his head over to where his younger brother was. "Why did you say 'fuck'?"

Using his finger to grab his hand, Ichimatsu winced halfway through his reply, "The bird bit me.". "What bird?" Todomatsu gave a puzzled expression on his face. "The one right in front of me." Ichimatsu pointed. "There's nothing there. Are you ok? Totty can call the doctor for you." Choromatsu gazed anxiously at his younger brother. "Are you blind?" Ichimatsu tried to grab the bird, but it flew away. And quicker than a cheetah, he realized he never got bit by the cockatiel. As a matter of fact, there was no cockatiel.

Jyushimatsu tilted his head in confusion, no cockatiel? Then what was that? That couldn't have been-. Jyushimatsu rapidly got, once again, back up. He dashed to a room-like place in Ichimatsu's imagination, where all the new fictional visions go. And as he would have guessed, was the game cockatiel that appeared in the real world, the bird couldn't stop singing. It was such a lovely song. Smiling, Jyushimatsu carefully walked up to the cockatiel.

The 'fifth' brother was going to pat it until he remembered what happened to Ichimatsu. So he took his hand back, but strangely the bird only inched closer. "Welcome to hell." Jyushimatsu joked, but the bird didn't pay attention, as it tried to grip it's stubby feet on Jyushimatsu's left hand's fingers. "Hopefully we can make it out alive."