A Bird of a Different Feather. By Quinton Tillery


     I sat there perched on a branch looking down at the couple as they setup for a picnic under the moonlight. It's funny how they never noticed me up in that tree. But, I guess the two of them were busy lost in their haze of romance and love. Even at that height, I could hear thier two heartbeats as they embraced each others for kisses. It was true love. I had that once.

     I used to walk up just before sunlight, and I'd make a surprise breakfasts in bed or I'd leave silly love poems under the pillow when I knew it would be a late day at work.....but those days have been gone for a long time. The time I felt love has been so far distant that I can barely remember my love's face.

     It was a night like this that I was changed forever. In fact, It was this very tree that some monster sat in and watched me and my love dine under a full moon. Like them, We paid no attention to tree, but we did hear the squawks and the shifting of branches. We only thought it was some restless bird. How right we were! But, This bird was hungry and had quite the appetite for my love. And as I laid there injured from the scratches and the gashes from it's talons, I could feel my world fade as it ripped into her like a large carrion bird. I passed out either from the trauma or the loss of blood;I'm still not sure. But, I awoke. Damn, I wished many times that I didn't survive....I wished the creature would come back and finish me off. He did kill me. Ruined me and left me with a curse like his.

   I'm all but a lonely bird now. Filled with a love-sickness and a hunger that doesn't stop. "Squakkkk...Squakkk!"