-Elizabeth-

As I followed the grown-ups to the birdcage outside, I saw so many budgies! It was insane. They were either eating, drinking, cleaning, itching, chewing, or standing there, staring into my soul. Even though most of them were yellow and green, there were a few blue ones, and one stood out to me like a shining star in a pitch-black sky. He had a pink cere, yellow and smooth-looking beak, and faint lines on the top of his head and wings. Even though I wanted to pet it, the beak was accentuated, causing me to inch backward.

While my mom's friend's husband grabbed him, he wiggled around, wanting to get out. However, his wings weren't clipped, which meant that he could fly away if he managed to get out: my worst fear. He was then put in the cage that I brought, and when my mom put the provided vitamins and food in his cage, she commanded me to block the opening of the cage door.

While he attempted to get out, his beak touched my hand; I jerked away that I let go of the cage completely, freeing him from his rough capture!

"Elizabeth, why would you do such a thing?" my mom shouted in my face while she and her friend ran upstairs to check whether or not the window was open. To my surprise, it was.

The budgie flew upstairs and bumped into a closed window. In all honesty, I thought that it was over for him since his body was almost as fragile as gold leaf foil, but he persevered and continued going outside. They couldn't survive in the wild, but I saw and heard the most magnificent thing happen to me. I heard wings flapping, which was getting nearer and nearer until I decided to turn around. There were his wings. Then his stomach. Last came his face. He, the only budgie I ever wanted, came back inside the house and flew all the way back down to his designated spot: his cage! My heart went from eighty beats per minute to a hundred and fifty, then back to eighty, and I was immediately taught a lesson to never let that happen again. I couldn't handle such stress and anxiety any longer and neither could my mom. I shouldn't blame it all on the poor bird though as it already had to be handled, which it clearly loathed.

I then had a disturbing thought that has haunted me ever since.

How can he fly so high when he has never flown before?

Everything became clear when I walked up to their green-cheeked parakeet since I noticed that his wings were clipped. The only birds whose wings weren't clipped were the babies and parents where the soon-to-be-my budgie was brought from, but they were in a cage outside the house, in their backyard.

The budgie was put inside the cage, and we didn't have to pay anything since my mom was friends with her. On the way home, my mom and I just admired his adorable face.

I put him on a table that I didn't use often; after about half an hour, he chirped. The sound was a little sharp yet bright; it was from then on that I would be titled "Bird Owner" with him being my first ever bird. Because of the color of his stomach, I named him Bluey, and though I did think of Cloudy as a possible name, I immediately pushed it out of my head as it made him seem so gloomy.

My dad suddenly came out of his workroom, and I almost burst out laughing when his jaw dropped to the floor.

"Who is this?" he asked, staring at Bluey.

My mom and I explained everything, and he warned me not to get too distracted as I still had to study for my test.

Of course, of course. I'll manage my time in a wise manner.

In reality, instead of studying, I spent the entire afternoon looking at Bluey and took approximately a thousand selfies with him and posted my favorite ones on Instagram. For every second I spent with him, the more attached I felt to the little one.

I did want to bond with him, but when I stuck my finger in the cage, his feathers became tightly glued to his stomach, showing that he was frightened. Not wanting to cause him any more stress, I only watched him for some time, sitting on my hands to ensure that they're out of his sight.

There was one thing I could do though: talk to him. I've been told that if I repeat a word to him for a month or two, he'll learn and speak it back to me. It only took that long for the first word.

"Peekaboo!" I said with clarity and annunciation, wanting this to be his first word. He looked at me as if I was crazy.

"Peekaboo! Peekaboo! Peekaboo!" I went at it again, putting more enthusiasm into it though being careful not to scare him.

After a few hours, he started to open and close his beak as if he was attempting to learn it. I knew that I was doing it right, but he just needed some time to absorb all this information and accept the fact that I was his new owner along with my mom.

If he doesn't talk, will that indicate to everyone that I'm not fit for being a bird owner though?

Despite that, I truly hoped that he'd bring happiness into my life, especially after I quit ballet and the fact that I have scoliosis. My life had been quite empty since that happened; I needed to learn how to manage my time between him and my school work.

"My friends are going to love you!"

-Bluey-

While I was attempting to rest, some female human being crept up on me, which caused me to almost end up like my poor cousin, who died a few days ago due to a black cat at night.

What did I ever do? Am I in trouble? I mean, what will they even do to me? I can easily fly away.

I had always been healthy and active, but when Strange Human, the name I chose to go with, for the time being, appeared for the first in my life, everything within me stopped.

After I was so internally arrogant, I got my consequence: getting grabbed. Some man did that; even though I summoned all of my wing strength, they were useless. At least it went by rather quickly, and I was put in a small cage.

The girl kept the cage door closed. Luckily, I knew most people's fear when it came to birds no matter their size: beaks. My beak touched her hand, to which she immediately let go, and I decided to use my small body size and quick reflexes to my advantage. I jumped out of the cage in time before it closed on me and flew up. The higher I flew, the more free yet terrified I was since I had never been to this part of the house. It was quite dark with many boxes lying around, but I didn't care. There was light coming from a corner, so I turned to it and flew. However, there was a gigantic tree-like monster standing there, who looked like it was about to eat me alive; a window blocked me. I flew back to the girl, knowing that it was probably safer there anyway.

I went inside the cage obediently and was put inside a semi-circle moving vehicle that her mother was in charge of, and I was next to the girl. The ride was extremely bumpy for my liking, but it was quite short regardless. Every bump did make me want to fly; when I tried, I only hit my beak on the bars of my cage. It hurt a bit, so I concluded that it was dangerous. I shouldn't have done it in the first place. I could never understand how they as humans could withstand such movement.

When we arrived at a place somewhat similar to my former home, the girl put me on a platform. I thought I was safe, but there was some dude who appeared in front of me, pointing at me like I was some criminal! He began to say something to the girl, but I didn't want to listen in. It could be about me and why I was here. It was as if no one liked me apart from the girl and maybe her mom. Besides, it wasn't my fault I was brought here. It was without my consent.

However, my dream came true: I became the center of attention! The girl whose name I somehow learned was Elizabeth, stared at me for who knew how long. Her long hair sometimes squeezed through the cage bars and bounced against me, but I never minded it since I always wanted to chew on it.

When she put her hand in the cage, my feathers stood up as still as a metal pole.

You think bringing me, a nonhuman, home and sticking your hand in my "safe" place is cool?! Nuh-uh.

I opened my beak at her and squinted my eyes at her as if they'd squirt poison, which did the trick.

Next, I heard her voice loud and clear but didn't quite catch onto what exactly she was saying. As she repeated the word over and over again, I got used to it and thought that she might've wanted me to say it. I, again, opened my beak though in a concentrating and less monstrous way to show her that I really was an intelligent bird despite my size.

She then pulled out a rectangular device and pointed it at me. I decided to look closer at the black circle on it only to find myself. Another me!

Afterward, she posed with me on the right of her.

"My friends are going to love you!" she exclaimed. I never knew what she meant by that, but I agreed with her bewildering statement.

A/N:

I never intended to become famous with him or anything (and I never did, haha), but I just wanted to share my life out into the world!

Do you guys have a pet bird? Here's a present for making it this far:

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