Hello.
My name is Bubbles. And this is my family.
I wasn't born into this family, but by god I will die in it, and I will die with them by my side. One may look at me, at us, and wonder. Wonder, "What species of bird has no limbs?" But they would be wrong to ask that. That isn't US. We weren't always just cute little balls of feathers.
We were birds once. And this is my story, OUR story, of how we lost that title.
Way back when we had limbs, none of us knew each other. We were far apart, scattered onto distant parts of Rovio Island.
But one day, About 8 summers ago; a strange machine appeared on the open green near my nest. After a few minutes, a human, a tall, thin Australian man in his late fifties, stepped out of it. He went around and opened up its back, and took out a box. This was getting stranger and stranger. He looked up, and around, until his eyes rested on my nest. I could feel his cold stare, no matter how dark his sunglasses were. My parents, and my sister, who had only hatched 3 days before, were there. But then, the man put something on the ground. It was CANDY! MY FAVORITE FOOD! I flew down, ready to snatch it and fly back up. But unfortunately, even the sweetest of birds can't have what they want without a price. The man lunged at me, and threw me violently into the back of his Machine.
Suddenly, I heard a loud "BANG!" and I saw my whole nest, with my family in it, fall 257 feet to the ground. I gasped, and then cried, for a very long time. The machine drove away, and I never saw my home again.
I had no idea where we were going, and what would happen there. I was scared. REALLY scared. I felt alone. But I soon realized after a brief silence, that there were many others. During the ride, I had a conversation with the bird in the box to my left. He had a deep voice, and he was very large. I couldn't see his face in the dark, but I felt his fear leaking out, as hard as I knew he was trying to cover it up.
When we got to our unknown destination, we were unpacked and had our beaks taped shut. We were brought into a dark room with only a single light, and a metal table underneath it. It smelt like rotten flesh and blood. We were transferred to cages, except for one. He was a Red bird, Larger than me, smaller than the other red bird, who I saw in a cage at the end of the row. The same man who had caught me, was digging around in a drawer, and pulled out... A BUTCHER'S KNIFE! We all screamed simultaneously, we screamed a sickly muffled scream, as the man walked over to the table, Raised his knife, and... I looked away, as Red bird was trying to scream, but was mute. I finally looked back. What I saw was the most horrifying thing I've ever seen. Red bird was lying there, in a Bloody mess, with his limbs missing. And I realized that this is what would happen to all of us. This was our unfortunate and horrific end. I was so scared, my heart was beating so fast, I couldn't think, or breathe. I found myself held to the table with a little strap. As the man stood over me, with the knife held high over his head, my Heartbeat got faster, and my pupils dilated, and my sweat increased, and… and… I could not even get close to describing the pain I felt next. My eyes were drying up, my tear supply running out. Each hit, more painful than the last. My vision became blurry, and then, I blacked out from pain. I thought I had died. But sadly, I was still in for a bad future.
When I was conscious again, we were in our cages. But we weren't in the Room anymore. We were out on the street, in a little shop. I then came to the sad realization. We were being sold for money. I felt hopeless, and depressed, and worried. It was the most disgusting thing I had ever thought of. I felt worthless. But then, a boy came up; he looked like he was in his mid-teens. He looked at us, and I could see the fear, he knew we needed a home, a good home. So he bought all of us, and he never found out what happened to us. Not for a very, very long time.