FirstLineFiction beta

from Contest #5

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks.  Night was coming and flashing lights showed in the darkening sky.  The wind blew through the trees like a siren wailing a warning.  The boy tried to balance on the narrow rail.  He stopped as his arms swung around and his body swayed back and forth, like an acrobat on a high wire.

"Keep going", the blue parrot said.  The boy stumbled  and almost fell to the ground, catching himself in time.  He tripped on the rail and jerked over to a large boulder, leaning on it to catch himself.  Startled, the blue parrot dropped off his shoulder and fluttered up and down the boy's back. The boy groaned and put his hands behind his back, to help the parrot regain his perch. The bird squawked over and over, flapping his wings frantically until he was once again sitting on the boy's shoulder, clutching it tightly in his claws.  The boy winced, wishing he did not have the burden to carry.

"You go right! Be quiet!", the blue parrot said.  The boy stood up slowly and they continued on their way, the boy carefully watching his steps to keep from falling again.  The air grew eerily quiet as the sky darkened further.

"Get in!", the blue parrot said.  The boy looked up and saw a small cave.  He began to lean down and enter, when suddenly he whirled around.  The bird screeched and flew off his shoulder.  "I won't!", shouted the boy hysterically, "No!  I can't fit in there!  Don't make me get in there!"  He tried to run, but the bird extended his sharp claws and dove at the boy.  As the claws came close to the boy's face, he tried to run, but the bird kept diving and drove the boy back to the cave.  Giving up, the boy slowly climbed in and the bird landed on his head.  The boy sat there with the parrot, looking out the hole, watching the trees sway in the wind and dark clouds that had gathered in the sky.  Thunder began in the distance and grew louder and louder.  The cave was shaking with the sound, and his head began to throb, pounding in time to the thunder.  The boy closed his eyes to shut out the flashing lights that burned into his very soul.  Sick to his stomach, he dropped his head and wished the storm would pass.  It seemed as if the cave was rolling, like waves on the sand.  He kept his eyes closed and waited until the world stopped moving.

"Get out!", the blue parrot said.  The boy looked up and crept out of the small cave.  The bird took up his perch on the boy's shoulder and they continued their journey.  A large mountain was in front of them and the boy slowly and painfully put one foot in front of the other, trying to reach the top.  Perhaps he would find what he was looking for on the other side.  It felt like hours passed, but he finally got to the end of the path.  He entered a dark forest with tall, thin black trees surrounding him.  The path in front of him was long and he felt he may never come out the other side.  He shook his head and sat down on a rock, wanting to cry.  How could he escape the blue parrot that kept driving him forward, against his will?  He put his hands down and felt a wetness.  Looking at them, he shuddered, his fingertips covered in black, oozing mud.  Frantically, he tried to wipe them off on his shirt, but the mud clung to his skin. 

"Get up!", the blue parrot said.  Miserably, the boy got up and they walked further into the woods.  Suddenly the blue parrot flew into a bush and the boy pushed through the brambles, compelled to follow.  The parrot was nowhere in sight and the boy sat down on a flat long rock as the bushes closed behind him.  Shuddering, he looked around, feeling the trees and bushes closing in on him.  He knew he could not go forward and could not go back the way he came.  He could hear the sounds of the forest, animals moaning in the trees, lost and trapped as he was.  He closed his eyes to try to sleep, but felt danger surrounding him.  He opened his eyes to see six long black snakes, lined up side by side, slowly slithering down the face of a rock.  He leapt up and screamed, knowing they were there for him.  He ran to the dark brambles and tried to push through them, but they wouldn't budge. He moved left and right, forward and backward, trying to escape, but there was none to be found.  "Snakes!! Snakes!!" he screamed, "Blue parrot, help me!!"

"Quiet!", the blue parrot said.  The boy looked for the snakes, and saw they had returned up the rock and were laying still.  Perhaps if he were very quiet, like the blue parrot said, they would stay asleep and not come down to bite him.  How could he get out of this place?  When would he go home?  The boy sat down and silently cried, wanting release, but knowing he was trapped there.  The world grew silent around him and he closed his eyes, lay down and slept.

"Wake up!", the blue parrot said.  The morning sun reaching out a ray and penetrated the small clearing that was the boy's prison.  He felt the warmth on his face and opened his eyes.  Looking toward the dark bushes, he saw the blue parrot with a fish clutched in his claw.  The bird dropped the fish and the boy gratefully and hungrily ate it, bones and all.  He looked around and saw a large tulip sticking out of the bush, filled with water from yesterday's rain.  Thirstily, he drank the water and looked up to see if the snakes were still there.  They were.  Nothing had changed through the night.  He was still in a clearing, with a flat rock and black snakes, but at least they had not come down.  He wished the blue parrot would come back and get him out, but the day dragged on as he sat alone on the rock.  He contemplated his journey, wondering why he had chosen the path that led him here.  He had so many dreams for his life and none of them had included the horrible bird.  He paced in the clearing, wearing a circle in the grass.  If he could only figure out how to get out of this place, if he could follow the path back towards home, he knew he would block the entrance to here forever so that he would never stumble back here again. 

"Come", the blue parrot said.  The boy turned and saw an opening in the bushes and eagerly pushed through.  Was he finally free?  The blue parrot flew in front of him and he followed the bird down a side path into a meadow filled with blackbirds, strutting around until they found a place to rest.  They watched him with their beady eyes and quietly squawked back and forth, as if they were commenting of his entrance.  The blue parrot landed on a fallen log next to the largest blackbird and the boy sat next to them, wondering what was to come.  A vulture screamed overhead and all eyes turned up to see it flying in circles over the land.  It slowly came down to land on a dead tree and turned it's black eyes on the boy.  The small blackbirds became silent and listened as the large blackbird and the vulture squawked back and forth.  It seemed to the boy that they were fighting over him and wondered who would win.  Every so often, they would turn their eyes on him and try to look into his soul. 

back to Contest #5