Pretty Bird

"Run." And that was it: the beginning of the end. Or maybe it was simply the end of the beginning.

With one word he had altered my life, my existence, and whatever there was before didn't matter anymore because the world had changed. And no one even knew.

According to my – admittedly limited – sources there had been cults like this for years. Only a few dotted around the globe, nothing to worry about. Why should we worry? They were just a bunch of stragglers who had found each other and wanted a life for themselves. What's wrong with that? Personally I don't think it was meant to go the way it did, all crazy and that. I think they just wanted a bit of equality for their minority; an ounce of power. No one knew what was coming, how big, how far, not even Them.

They would come to a town or a city or a village and remove people. The same people would then turn up days later on one of Their Reserves with no recollection of ever being moved or ever being anywhere else. They changed the people; they were happier in the lives that they believed had always been lived on the reserve, they did not recognise an outside world and did not particularly want to. That's what made it so hard, why I was so angry. I was filled to the brim with the frustration that comes with knowing how much everyone had lost, lost things that would never be found because their owners won't recognise their existence. Can't recognise their existence. So much had been taken and the world didn't care or didn't know. The thieves would never be forced to pay because no one recognised any injustice.

Sometimes I wish that I was average, like everybody else. But then I think about the price that everyone has paid. There's something wrong with me, or maybe there is something wrong with the rest of the world. Either way I am different. The night they came to my town and we were taken, I don't remember, but every detail before and after that night, is as clear as day – and hell. My memories are where they are meant to be, I am not happier, not changed like the rest. I have not lost anything, I still have my family and my friends, but then they aren't the same. So maybe I have lost the most. I no longer share the same memories as the people I love and who are supposed to love me. I no longer feel what they feel and so, although surrounded by thousands of walking, talking human bodies, I am alone.

I'm not usually like this, wallowing in self-pity, fuelled by emotions that, although seemingly justified, are futile. But I need the anger and frustration to give me strength to run when hope is lost and home seems so far away. The rage reminds me of my differences and why I'm fighting. I suppose I should really tell you why I decided to fight, and to run, especially since it all seems so pathetic and useless when I really am up against the world.

* * * *

"Hey, Pretty Bird. Come here would you?" They laughed at that.

They would roam the reserve, peacocking and acting like they owned the place.

He would lead them around and they would laugh behind him. He belonged to the family who ran the reserve and since the world was one big aristocracy, that meant he had power. Power and peacocks.

"Didn't you hear me, Pretty Bird?"

I stopped and he pushed me to the ground. I closed my eyes because I knew what was coming but they just laughed.

Whenever I was alone they would hunt me down, push and pull, do things that no one knew about. It had started as soon as I had arrived – they knew that I was different. At first I hadn't bothered much about the people who went missing but when They took my brother that had changed. Bad move. I wasn't happy like the others but I slapped on a smile and pretended. I put up with their rubbish because no one would notice if I disappeared and I deserved the freedom to live at least.

I knew exactly why they did it. It made them feel strong. They called me 'Pretty Bird'. I was only a toy to them, something different, something new. They liked the tears and the blood because they had never seen either, they were special. And as it turned out, despite someone's best efforts, the cruel curiosity of humanity couldn't be stamped out. I was a game for them to play.

"I think it's high time I had a go, right boys?" He said. They just smirked and nodded.

He had never looked at me before, never touched me.

He dragged me up off the ground and pulled me nearer to him. I prayed to anyone who was listening that he wouldn't take me to his family.

Instead he took me to an old house. It smelled like dust and the old world. It didn't fit in with its musty curtains and gritty fireplace. Like me it didn't fit into the pristine world of the Reserve.

He asked me if I would like something to eat but I shook my head.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled as he looked away. I was shaking with anger and fear. I scratched the dirt off my hands with ragged, bitten fingernails. We sat in silence for what seemed like a life-time.

"Why can't you ever be with other people?" he asked me in a voice that made him shrink. The question was almost a plea, devoid of hope.

"The same reason you are never alone." He nodded and seemed relieved by my answer, a small smile flicking across his face before it fell back again into its tight façade.

He walked towards me and gave me an old envelope before running one quivering hand along the right side of my face and leaving the house. He was greeted with cheers and song and I was left alone.

In his absence my cheek burned and I looked at the creased, brown envelope in my lap. I ran my fingertips along the many lines and opened it carefully. Inside was a map. On the reverse side it read 'we will never forget and so we must run'. I stared at the words until they were seared into the skin beneath my eyelids. He had reawakened the fight within me and re-lit the flame.

I don't blame him. I never did.

We had a plan. We would meet at the one unmanned post that surrounded the Reserve and end it all together. We would run.

It began as we had imagined. We both had bags packed with food and water but before we could fly They came. His peacocks had followed him to me.

"Wanted to steal our Pretty Bird all for yourself, eh?"

They thought it was a joke. He laughed along with them.

"Well, since we're all here, I suppose we should take advantage of the situation. You can have first ... bite."

They laughed again and he just smiled and pushed me up against the wire fence. I felt his hot breath as he whispered something softly into my ear.

"Time to fly my Pretty Bird."

Then he circled me like a predator and grabbed me from behind. I closed my eyes as he hoisted me up over the fence.

As his world came crashing down around him, in one word he had changed my life, my existence. It didn't matter what had happened up until that moment. Everything had changed and I will never fail to obey his one last instruction.

"Run."