I blinked open my eyes. Everything was a blur. A blur of greens, yellows, browns.
I tried to get up, but I couldn't. My legs wouldn't move.
Then I realized the pain. My whole body hurt.
At first, I was confused about what happened. Then I remembered.
Hawk.
Then a great wave of emotions came over me. Why did I ever leave? Sky... and he hates me now.
Now I would never go home. I would never see my chicks again. But if I did die, I thought, I would at least get to see Aqua again.
Aqua! So many things I have done in my life... Killed so many chicks... had some myself...
It all made me ask myself if there was a reason life existed.
I shook the thought out of my head, and when I opened my eyes again, everything was clear.
I was in a bunch of grass browning in the fall.
The hawk had spared me.
It was odd to thank someone you don't like for not hurting you, but I was so grateful to the hawk. Somehow, I knew that was an act of kindness and not just leaving me there because she wasn't hungry or whatever.
Flipping myself over wasn't an easy task, but when I had finally done it, I began to try to walk. My feet stung, and my legs felt like they would break any minute, but still, I pushed on.
An odd sense led me towards home.
Or what I thought home was.
I was so close to it, I knew, but when I finally got there, I was astounded by what I had found.
Seeing the wooden sides of the aviary had excited me.
I climbed closer, my heart racing.
I finally got past a tangle of weeds.
I was home.
Then I took one look at it and gasped.
What happened?