I Wish...

14

I quickly got dressed under the covers. "Rubi, are your hands and knees ok?" my ma questioned. "They don't hurt?" I shook my head. She replied with a confused look. My dad entered the conversation, "Darlin', are ye sure? You fell off the tree. "

Oh right. That happened. I looked down at my hands. I examined them as closely as possible. Not a single scrape or scar. They healed? What... what if my legs got better? Were they normal now? I glanced down at my legs hurriedly. Nothing had changed. Why? Why hadn't they healed?

I felt like crying. I'm such an idiot, why'd I think gaining powers would suddenly make everything better? Probably all those fantasy books. Sighing, I inspected my knees. No cuts or scars. So it only worked on newer wounds, I guess.

"Are ya alright, darlin'?" Dad questioned. I jumped, I didn't think they were still in the room. "Y-yeah, Da, I'm alright," I replied. Mom shuffled, "Well, let's go eat breakfast then." Again, we ate breakfast and went on with our day.
My mother on the porch reading among her plants, my father checking up on the animals, and I was walking through the meadow.

Nothing too interesting was happening, until a saw a little crow. The sparkle in his eyes seemed very familiar. "Turot!" I yelled. He jumped and whirled around to face me properly. "How do you know my name, human?" he said, menacing in every sense of the word. Oh, of course he wouldn't know how I looked as a human... Did I just understand a bird? And did he understand me too?

I face-palmed. Obviously, I could understand birds, I talked to him last night didn't I. Guess I'm not so bright at night... or at all. "Its me, Turot. The pipsqueak from last night. Little red, y'know?" I sighed and looked up at him. His slick feathers ruffled slightly in the wind and his eyes seemed to be probing me. "Prove it," the words flew from his mouth.

Prove it? So should I shift into a bird or what? Deciding that was the best course of action, since Turot seemed like he wouldn't trust me if I didn't, I headed behind a bush. Again, I closed my eyes and thought of flying and birds. Again, my bones crunched as they morphed into what I thought of. Again, I felt pain throughout my body. And again, it stopped altogether like it never happened.

I opened my eyes and saw white. Fudge, I'm trapped under my shirt. I squirmed to no avail. I was too small. "Turot, a little help here?" I chirped. "Where'd ya go, kid?" he responded. I screeched, "Here! Over here! I'm stuck under my clothes!"

A small bulge beneath crumpled cloth squirmed violently, a butterfly trapped in a spiders web. Turot flew over and started pulling at the shirt from every angle. Eventually, I tumbled out of my trap in a mess of feathers. As I tried putting all my firey feathers back into place, I sighed, "Thanks, Turot." There wasn't a response.

I stopped my terrible attempt at grooming, I honestly think I made it worse, and turned towards Turot. He looked confused, or as confused as a bird could look. His yellow eyes were pinned on my smaller size and seemed to be searching for answers that weren't there. "Earth to Turot," I said as I hopped up to him.

He wasn't responding. Maybe I should peck him. No, I shouldn't, its rude... I'm going to peck him. Having decided, I closed my beak around his feathers and pulled. He jumped and flew a few inches away. "What'd ya do that for, kid?" he complained.

I spat out the small feathers in my beak. "Maybe respond next time," I said. He started staring again and I got ready to pluck a feather. He started, "It's just... you're a human. You're not a bird, or... well, you are right now, but... it doesn't make sense." I sighed, "Turot, it makes sense. These are my abilities, most humans have one."