"No, Budge. Look. Ghost is okay. See?" I laid my head on Ghost's chest.
"Tweet!" She angrily flapped her wings, perched on my finger.
"I'm going to throw that chicken in a preheated oven."
"Do not!"
"Tweet tweet tweet!"
"See what you did!? You angered her! Are you ready to face her wrath!?"
"She's a bird. What harm can she do?"
"Want to find out?"
"Bring it."
Budge seemed to take that as a challenge.
I had to hold her back from pecking his eyes out.
"Calm down, Budgy! Calm down! You can't fight the lieutenant! He's a monster! We can hate him in silence and plan our escape as we go!"
"If you hate me so much, get off me and my bed."
"No, you're comfy."
"Hmm."
"Budge, for a tiny bird, you're awfully strong!"
"You should have left her where you found her."
"You should have seen how miserable she looked in that tiny cage! She couldn't even stretch her wings! You're rich, right? Let's go back and save them all tomorrow!"
"Absolutely not."
"Please Ghost! It's not fair! If you don't help me, I'll find the man, kill him and bring all the animals back! I'll kill him, Ghost!"
"You're not killing anyone. And you can't bring the animals here. We're not a zoo."
"I'll start crying!"
"Are your eyes tearing up?"
"Yes! They don't deserve that!"
"YN..."
"They need a better place! It's not fair! We need to do something!"
"Don't include me in this."
"Ghost!"
"YN."
The next day
Ghost loaded up the last of the cages and got into the car. Budge was fixing her wing feathers on my shoulder.
"Thank you, Ghost." I smiled sweetly at him.
"Shut your trap."
"Tweet!"
I pet Budge comfortably.
"It's okay. We're taking them somewhere better."
She ruffled her feathers as we drove to the animal sanctuary.
"Hey, thanks for paying full price for all these babies. It was hella expensive. To bad you're not a beautiful 10 like me. You would have gotten a discount."
"I don't know how many times I have to tell you you're a one."
"YOU SAID I WAS A TWO BEFORE!"
"I change my mind."
"Asshole!"
"I just don't sugar coat what I say to you."
"You're mean..."
"Tweet..." Budge rubbed her tiny head against my cheek and glared at Ghost.
"It's okay hun, we'll just kill him in his sleep."
"Tweet tweet!"
The workers thanked us and we got back into the car.
I turned my body away from Ghost and both Budge and I let out a huff.
"Are you ignoring me?"
We stayed silent.
"At least now I get some peace and quiet."
"Hmph!"
"Tweet!"
"Budge, what should we do when we get home?"
She pruned her feathers and I nodded.
"A shower, huh? I guess it is needed. You should get a mist bath yourself."
"Tweet."
Ghost's phone rang and he picked it up, keeping one hand on the steering wheel.
"Hello?"
"Ghost, this is Price."
"I know, I saw the contact name."
Jesus, his phone is loud.
"Adrian is dead."
"Adrian? You mean the man YN attacked? I thought he was supposed to recover?"
I placed a finger next to Budge and she stepped on.
"He was. That's why it's so strange that he died. The medics couldn't identify the cause of death other than natural causes."
I felt Ghost turn to look at me.
It's not my fault air bubbles and the blood stream don't mix.
I wish I could have done more.