Once two birds lived in a small gold cage, with a beautiful view of the park just outside the window of their twentieth-floor apartment and across the street, where they could see the other birds flying freely and happily and singing their songs. One bird was red and the other was blue and they were the best of friends ever since their owners got the blue bird to keep the red one company.
The blue one loved to fly around whenever their owner, a pretty young woman, let them out of their cage. He would do loops and spins and twirls and loved to see the smile on her face as he performed his tricks. But more than that, he loved the way the red bird looked at him when he was flying. The blue bird decided he had never seen anything more beautiful than the red bird's expression. But the red bird never joined him.
"Come on! It's easy, just spread your wings and take the leap!" He would say but the red bird would just shake his head, ruffle his feathers and settle back down on the perch.
"I'm not feeling up for it, too tired," was always the red bird's reply. And the blue bird would drop it because the last thing he wanted to do was upset his best friend in the whole world, so he just continued to fly around and entertain his owner and the red bird.
Once one bird lived in a small gold cage, with a simple view of simple room with only a sofa and television and a few knick knacks and decorations scattered about the room. And then his owner returned with a small blue bird to keep the thin red one company. He was much more energetic than the red bird and liked to fly around and show off his beautiful sky-colored wings. The red bird was always content with just watching him.
The blue bird had eventually noticed something weird with the red bird's wings, how it seemed like he was missing some larger feathers near where the wings connected to his body. When he had asked about it, the red bird mentioned something about their owner's cat and getting the feathers clipped but he was so vague that the blue bird promptly forgot about it until that one day.
"Hey Keith?" the blue bird had asked one night, wondering if the red bird was maybe sleeping. The slight ruffle of the crimson red feathers showed him that he was listening, so the blue bird continued. "If I leave one day… would you go with me?"
There was silence. Then "Why do you want to leave?"
"I just want to be able to fly in the sky. I always see the other birds outside the window flying freely and singing happily and I wish I could do that too. So would you go with me?"
"...We'll always be together as long as we live," the red bird said simple and that seemed to be enough for the blue bird and he settled down to go to sleep, ignorant to the sad expression on the red bird's face.
Once two birds lived in a small gold cage, with a bittersweet view of a bright blue sky that was alive with the freedom one of them desired so. And his desire came true one day when their owner had opened the cage door to let them fly around. The window had also been opened to let in the cool autumn breeze and the two birds would never fly away in front of their owner, for they liked her far too much. But there was a phone call and she quickly left the room, momentarily forgetting about her birds as she said something about a job and an interview.
"Now's our chance!" The blue bird cried, flying over to the red bird. "Come with me!"
The red bird frowned slightly but leapt down from their perch and hopped over to the edge of the cage and onto the windowsill. He looked out and up at the blue sky, alive with the songs of carefree birds twirling around in the sky.
"How perfect for you," the red bird murmured, imagining how well the blue bird would fit among them.
"For you too," the blue bird replied after a moment. "Remember? We'll always be together as long as we live." The red bird looked at him before nodding briefly.
And then the blue bird leaped into the sky.
He seemed to fall for a few seconds before his sky-colored wings spread and caught the shining sunlight, which seemed to make them glow. The red bird watched as he soared into the blue abyss above them, admiring the way he did the same tricks he always did, but with a wide smile on his face that the red bird had never seen before.
"He suits the sky more than I," the red bird murmured, leaning over the edge of the windowsill as he ruffled his feathers and briefly noticed the familiar feeling of emptiness near the base of his wings. He was still for a few seconds before taking a small step off the ledge. "We'll always be together until…"
Once two birds lived in a small gold cage, their world small and gray in comparison to the outside world that seemed so far away. One bird flew to freedom and the other…