Day 12:
I woke up with a pounding headache and a sickening feeling in my stomach. It felt like ages before I was finally able to open my eyes without the light of day burning my retinas. Everything seemed much bigger than before.
Once all of my senses had gradually returned to me, the whole world around me felt different. The colours, scents, and surroundings; they were all different from what I was used to. I was expecting to wake up in my bed at home, believing that the events of yesterday were only a part of the feverish dreams that I experienced. Only, I wasn't in my bed at home; I was sprawled under a dumpster and the smell of it was pungent.
So yesterday did happen... I thought dully as I pulled myself out from under the massive dumpster. I thought it was odd that I was under it in the first place; I didn't think a boy my size could fit under such a small gap. But upon further inspection, the dumpster itself seemed much larger than before... as if I had shrunk dramatically in size.
No, no... that's not possible! I thought, wobbling on my feet and eventually losing my balance and falling over. I grunted and for a moment I laid there, too dizzy and in pain to try and immediately get back up. Even my body felt as different as the perceived world around me. I wasn't used to it and it baffled me.
When I finally did decide to get up, however, I realised why my body felt so different. In the place of my arms, which I tried to use to lift myself up, were two massive black wings. I let out an unconscious yelp in surprise when my brain finally registered the sight and I scrambled back to my feet to examine this mystery further. Looking down at myself as best as I could, I saw that my body was covered completely in slick black feathers. I realised soon after, the extent that I could examine myself when I turned my head and I was able to see directly behind me. The drastic change in how I was able to see the world disoriented me and I felt a scream of confusion bubbling deep within me.
What the hell happened to me?! What the hell did that bastard do to me!? I thought to myself and shortly released that scream that was demanding to be let out. My voice sounded the same to my ears and it bewildered me. I was half-expecting a strange caw to escape my throat.
My confusion and fear lasted for ages. Constantly, I was racked with questions about how this was even remotely possible and why Hawkins did this to me. I wasn't aware his grudge was this strong but... why use black magic on me rather than just kill me? Frankly, I think death would be better than this!
I sat next to that dumpster for hours contemplating my future in this new and confusing form. Even after my initial fear had worn off, I sat with questions like, "how would I learn to fly?", "How will I find food?", "Do I have any predators to watch out for now?" I was so racked with questions and overwhelming stress that I almost debated making that alleyway and dumpster my new home. The idea was very tempting until I suddenly heard voices above me, seemingly arguing.
"Oi! I saw that meat first! Give it 'ere!" one older-sounding voice snapped.
"Fetch your own meat, I grabbed it first, ya fat slowpoke!" another voice responded. I was curious for multiple reasons; one of them being that I hadn't heard or seen any footsteps approaching the dumpster and another reason being that it was strange for anyone to rummage around a dumpster and argue over tossed meat. I was curious as to what loons were possibly in the vicinity.
"Me? A fat slowpoke? That's bloody bold for you to say!" the older voice growled and I peered out from underneath the dumpster to see if I could see the two arguing blokes. To my surprise, there was no human at the dumpster. In fact, as I listened to the two bicker over food, a realisation hit me when I suddenly caught sight of black feathers peaking over the edge of the dumpster. The two arguing were birds... and I could understand them.
"Give me the bloody ham already, Samson!" the older voice ordered.
"If ya want it so bad then feckin' take it, Grandpa!" the other bird snapped and suddenly a small but rather portly raven or crow dashed out of the dumpster, the sound of cackling echoing as he left. I heard the other bird sigh in exasperation and curse under his breath. As nervous as I was about doing anything bird-related, I decided I would attempt to take my chance on at least getting somewhere in this new, unexpected lifestyle.
"E-Excuse me?" I nervously called out. I heard the bird give a "heh?" in confusion so I knew I had been heard and understood.
"I'm down here, sir," I said. Within a few seconds, I saw the bird hop up onto the edge of the dumpster and peer down at me with beady black eyes. He was large and ragged from years of harshness and cruelty with a white stripe on the back of his neck that was speckled with dirt and Lord knows what else. His beak was rather odd-looking compared to other crows or ravens; it was unusually thick and appeared crusty as if whatever outer layer of protection that made a bird's beak shiny was flaking off. I wondered at first if he was deformed but he seemed completely fine and not incapacitated by his strange-looking beak at all.
"What on earth do ya want, boy?" he wondered with a gravely, thick cockney accent.
"Uh... is there... any food in there...?" I responded. The old raven narrowed his beady eyes at me.
"If you mean to steal my grub like that other bloke, you can piss off!" he snarled and I instinctively backed away.
"No, no! I don't want to steal from you, I'm just asking... please, I'm really hungry and I'm having a rough time," I defended myself as well as I could.
"How old are you?" The bird suddenly inquired and I paused. How do bird years work? I wondered to myself in a small moment of panic.
"Young..." I answered.
"How young?"
"Very young... I was forced out of the nest- young," I elaborated as well as I could. The old raven glared at me for a long while, boring his gaze into me until I became sure he didn't believe me and knew what was up. However, just when I thought he would call me out on my lies, he sighed and told me to come up.
Great... another predicament... I stared intently at the dumpster. Never in all my life did I think I would one day need to learn how to climb a dumpster or fly into one and now, here I was, wanting to cry from the stress of being a completely different species.
The raven had disappeared back into the dumpster and I could hear him rustling about and cursing to myself, all the while I was struggling to use my talons and my beak to climb up the side of the damn bin. My nails scraped against the metal and I was only able to save myself from slipping many times by holding onto little nooks and crannies with my beak. I surprised myself when I finally reached the top and tumbled into the pungent rubbish.
"Oi! What took you so long?" The old raven sneered and passed me a hunk of stale bread.
"Oh uh... I climbed," I answered as I eyed the hunk of bread disdainfully. My stomach was begging for me to forget about my human appetite and eat but my brain was in firm refusal to take such a fowl thing and put it in my mouth. It already had a few ants crawling on it as it is and the idea that it had been sitting in this stinking heap for who knows how long put me even more off.
"Why didn't ya just fly...?" The old bird asked before pushing aside a few empty glass bottles with his foot to reach an almost empty container of take-out and pecking at it.
"I uh... I don't know how..." I responded quietly.
The bird straightened up to look me up and down and once again, his gaze intimidated me, "You don't know 'ow to fly? And you've been booted from your nest? What are you? An orphan?"
When his words hit me, I couldn't help but feel my heart sink painfully in my chest. I hadn't completely accepted the fact that I was, in fact, an orphan because that word hadn't crossed my mind at all. Hearing it was what I needed to realise that it was true. I was still alone whether I was a bird or not.
The old bird must've noticed my sudden change in attitude, because all at once his gruffness disappeared slightly and he said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know..."
"No... it's fine..." I answered him and for a while after that, we remained in awkward silence. I eventually decided to just overcome the disgust I felt and eat the bread because I didn't know if I would find more food again or if this bird would stick around or not.
I was almost surprised with myself when I realised the bread was completely gone and I had eaten it without hesitation or feeling sick to my stomach. I guess a bird's stomach is much stronger than a human's. Also to my surprise, the old bird had not left and when he saw that I finished eating, he looked up from his meal and said, "Oi, kid... I decided I'll teach ya 'ow to fly but after that, no more favours from me. Deal?"
I was taken aback but I didn't hesitate to agree. I would take any opportunity to get my life back on track even if it meant starting a new one. So, once the old bird was done with his rather lengthy meal, he grabbed my wings in his talons and took flight.
"Wha-? Wait! What are you doing!?" I cried as the ground began to drift further and further away. I could feel my heart begin pounding in my chest out of fear that his talons would fail and I would plummet to my untimely death.
"We're going to the roof, quite stressin'," he told me and before I knew it, I was dropped back down to a solid surface again. I was alive, albeit shaken and I was beginning to debate whether I even wanted to take to the skies or not.
"What's your name, boy?" The old bird asked as he shook out his ragged feathers.
"U-uh... Edgar. Edgar Craaven," I answered, still recovering from my brief flight to the roof.
"William Tuck... anyway, before we begin, I need to brief ya on a few li'tle things," The bird, whose name was William, told me. I listened attentively while he explained how he would teach me quickly and he would only teach me once so I needed to pay attention. He began very quickly about a bunch of nonsense regarding aerodynamics, I believe, and he spoke so fast that it was nearly impossible for me to keep up.
I had quite a few questions regarding everything he said but he didn't give me a chance to ask any and, before I knew it, he was demanding that I spread my wings and try to lift myself off the ground. It took more times than I'd like to admit and, each time, Will had to point out something that I was doing wrong: I wasn't using my tail, my wings weren't flapping in the correct direction, I wasn't spreading them out enough, I wasn't putting enough effort into it. The knit-picks went on and on and I became reasonably frustrated. I could tell Will was becoming frustrated as well because his tone would grow more and more gruff and cold as time went on.
Eventually, however, I finally got it and I felt excitement course through me the moment I felt my talons lift off the floor. However, my excitement turned out to be short-lived, as Will wasn't too proud of me and wanted more than just a small hover. He asked me to go even higher and, despite my wings becoming painfully sore, he wanted me to start moving to different areas. I started on the roof of the building we were on and then when he was satisfied with my progress, he wanted me to fly to the next roof over, and then to a building across the street.
We had done almost ten rounds of flying building to building and on our eleventh stop, I collapsed to the floor with a huff and groaned, "Will, please can we stop for a moment? I can barely move my wings!"
"Nonsense! I will stop when I'm tired and then-" but the old bird was cut off suddenly by a screech in the distance.
"Ah, shit!" Will cursed and before I could even inquire as to what was going on, he had grabbed me awkwardly by my sore wings and took me to the air. I yelled in protest and demanded to know what was happening but he wouldn't answer me, he simply flew as fast he possibly could and carried me in his talons.
It was only when I heard the screech again and I looked behind us to see the source, did I realise what was going on. A large buzzard was angrily pursuing us. I had never seen a buzzard that big and the sight of its glare made my heart pound with fear.
"Will! There's a buzzard! Why is there a buzzard!?" I screamed in terror and squirmed in the bird's grasp.
"Shut up! I know there's a bloody buzzard!!" Will yelled back. The buzzard screamed again and it was much closer; the vastness of its wingspan carried it far quicker than Will was going and the horror that we would both die horribly in such a short amount of time crept up my tail feathers and made me whimper and yell uncontrollably.
The buzzard outstretched its talons when it came nearer but Will thought quickly and dived out of the way. My tail feathers escaped the bird's grasp by just a hair and I was able to see the pure rage in the bird of prey's eyes. It screeched in frustration and dove after us but Will was quick to change directions once again and pull up. The wind was pulling at my feathers and making my eyes water, not to mention the different forces of the earth acting on me as Will made sharp turns every which way. He held me by only one wing and, unlike the first time he carried me, this time felt significantly less safe and secure. I was panicking about falling as much as I was panicking about being snatched by a predator.
The bird was still hot on our tails and as much as I urged Will to fly faster, the old bird's wings could only carry him so fast. I was practically staring eye-to-eye with the buzzard and I was able to make out the fine details of the predator's appearance. It had two differently-coloured eyes, one orange and the other was green, and its feathers appeared even more tattered and older than Will's. If I were to make a comparison, I'd say the buzzard looked remarkably similar to Hawkins.
"Will! Please go faster!" I urged yet again and I was met by Will's angered cursing as he struggled to fly faster and swerve out of the predator's way. Will made another sharp turn; however, the buzzard thought quickly and twisted its head to grab for us. To my utter dismay, the bird's sharp beak latched firmly onto my small leg and I yelled out in pain.
"Aye! Tomtit! You've got to be feckin with meh!" Will yelled as he turned to fight against the large buzzard. I was stuck in a battle of tug-of-war and I couldn't do anything except flap my one free wing hopelessly and yell. Will was cursing furiously at the buzzard but the predator paid no mind and instead started to pull us away despite Will's efforts.
"Peck 'im, boy! Peck 'im in his ugly noggin!" Will yelled and let me go. I didn't hesitate to listen and I jabbed my beak right between the buzzard's eyes. I managed to get two good, hard hits before the predator made a pained noise and let me go. All at once, I began to plummet to the floor and my panic set in. I barely knew how to fly and my mind was still that of a human. So I uselessly flailed my wings and screamed as I fell, feeling the wind pull at my feathers and sting my eyes until they watered.
The buzzard was thankfully still recovering from my pecks and Will had gotten a head start on the dive to save me. The world around me was a blur as I spun out of control and fought to gain stability. Suddenly, to my relief, I felt scaly talons grab onto my own and the world stopped spinning enough for me to see Will. I allowed the relief to wash over me, but I knew that we weren't out of the woods yet. Behind Will, I could still see the buzzard aggressively approaching us although he was now a good distance behind.
I kept my eyes on the buzzard while Will flew and I was unaware of where we were going. I was actually surprised when all of a sudden, buildings entered my peripherals and then a bedroom of some unexpecting citizen. The occupants of the room began screaming and panicking from Will's sudden invasion but he was far too focused on escaping the buzzard. He let me go when he had reached a tall bookshelf and we both watched anxiously as the bird of prey came crashing against the open window that was too small for its large wingspan to fit through. The poor women who had no idea what was happening screamed in confusion and fear; they were so dumbfounded that they couldn't move to close the window and for a moment, I thought that the buzzard would be so bold as to follow us in here. However, after screeching angrily and hissing at the small window, the bird flew off and we were left with the frightened girls.
One of them had grabbed a broom handle and was trying to swipe it at us to get us to leave, but Will stubbornly hissed and pecked at it while I flew to their ceiling fan.
"Charlie! Get them out of here!" one of the girls yelled. She sat on the bed and did little to nothing to help.
"I'm trying!" the girl with the broom responded and the third girl helped by trying to get me off the fan. The girl ended up turning on the fan and I flew back to the bookshelf that Will was still stubbornly on. They tried for ages but because we refused to leave knowing that the buzzard was still hovering around outside, we remained by hissing and cawing back at the girls whenever they tried to get us to leave.
We did leave eventually though; after two or three hours, we decided that had been enough time to wait and we allowed the girls to usher us out the window. I was getting the hang of flying, slowly but surely, so we flew to a nearby park while keeping close to the buildings and houses and settled in a nice tree for the rest of the day.