A short story

The bird had white feathers and a red beak. She was tapping on the window and peaking inside. Maybe she was hungry…
…

The kid closed the book and sighed. She felt lonely, and somehow scared. But she didn’t dare to leave this room. At least this was her own room, and she knew every inch of it, even in the dark. Although she was never sure about under the bed, no matter how many times she checked it during the day. In the evenings, everything could be different. Specially now that nobody was home, except for her little brother, who was leaning on her and listening to the story she was reading to him, his cheeks still wet from his tears. She was the one who was supposed to take care of him. So despite all her fears, as soon as he started to cry, she tried not to think about her own fears, calmed him down, turned on a candle (Her parents told her it was dangerous to play with the match and the candle but what could she do? The power had gone off, and her brother was scared.) and offered to read him from the book that he liked the most, to distract him from the fact that he was hungry and he missed his parents…Now she was hungry too, and on top of them all, she was worried. What if they’ve had an accident? They used to be home usually by this hour. She looked at her brother. He was asleep still leaning on her, with a couple of tears on his cheeks…She thought to herself, “Maybe I’d better get back to the story, at least I won’t notice the dark that much.” Then, she heard a sound, the squeak of braking, and a car engine being turned off. She had a sigh of relief and awakened her brother: “Hey lazy, wake up, they are here!”…
…

The audio book stopped. “What went wrong?” The girl thought to herself, “I just changed the batteries this morning! Oh damn! I want to know what happens next. Now I have to wait until we arrive, which is still 3 hours away.” She saw the flight attendant approaching them with a smile. Her growling stomach confirmed “OK! About time!” Then she turned around to wake up her husband who was sitting beside her, “Now where is he?!” She turned back and checked the end of the plane. The washroom light was off. She looked at the front, no sign of anybody standing. “Where is he?!!” She thought half worried, half angry “I hope this is not just my hallucination and I won’t wake up to my miserable life before this.” It had happened so many times in the old days. She used to dream about a calm, happy, independent, efficient, adventurous life with whom she loved, and she used to wake up to a world of bad choices and terrible consequences. Now she had started to panic, scared to make the slightest move “I don’t want to wake up again.” But she looked more carefully, she could swear that the flight attendant, the pleasant smell of food, her motion sickness and hunger, and the CD player with the audio book in her hands were real.
“Hey, go back to your own seat, will you? I was having a bad headache and I went to get a cup of tea. Good thing the food is here too. What do you want this time? Oh boy! You look so pale, did you take your pill? Please tell me you don’t want to throw up on me, please, please!!!” She started to laugh as her husband fastened up his seatbelt while speaking. “Thank god it was not a dream.” She thought to herself. The flight attendant with the smile was now at their row, "Chicken or fish, ma'am?"...
…

The old lady looked at her watch and changed the channel. She could watch the encore of “Read and write stories” on Thursday again. On the other hand, the kids would be here any minute, and then she had to change the channel, no other choices! They were coming to watch the soccer match all together, with god knows how many of their friends. She took a look outside the window where her husband was running in the neighborhood, still in good shape even in his seventies. She waved at him, who waved back, made a silly face and passed their driveway. She smiled and closed the window; it was getting a little colder and windy. She checked the table “OK! Enough sunflower seeds, pop-corns, and chips and salsa.” Then she remembered “…and my dessert is in the fridge, I hope they like this new recipe.” She went to the kitchen, turned down the kettle which was happily whistling and boiling, and put a bunch of fresh mint leaves in a dozen glasses. “Healthier choices for our own friends, and whoever gets stomachache with all that junk food out there!” She giggled to herself. She went back to the living room and checked herself in the mirror, “Maybe some fresh lip-gloss”…and then, she heard a soft sound of tapping. She looked back at the window, there was a bird sitting outside.
The bird had white feathers and a red beak. She was tapping on the window and peaking inside. Maybe she was hungry…