The Parakeet
He heard his door slowly screech open. He pried his eyes away from the rain splashing outside his window expecting Kairi to come in to nag him some more, but, to his surprise, it was his best friend who entered.
"Hey," Riku said casually.
"Hey," Sora mumbled, acknowledging his presence only to turn back to the window. He knew that he had been sitting here for at least an hour, just watching, but to look away from the downpour was harder than forcing his eyes open during a dream.
He let Riku stand in the middle of his room awkwardly like a wet noodle. Riku, sighing, hesitated before sitting down on the bed. He resolved to watch Sora until he could think of a good way to start a conversation.
Something about seeing Sora like this, so…inert made him shudder. He was not the Sora he knew, but a broken replica who suffered from catatonia. Where was that cheesy grin that he always used to make when people said his name? Where was the spontaneous, outgoing boy he once was jealous of? Where was the boy whom he made fun of for having a crush on Kairi? Who was this stranger staring out the window into a world that only he himself could see and understand? He wondered what Sora saw.
Sora used to be his best friend—the one person he could come to with his problems, the one person he loved like a brother. He closed his hands into fists on his lap, clenching his teeth, hoping Sora would just jump out of the closet and shout, "Here I am!" like he used to do when they were little. He had to say something.
"Sora, do you remember what happened to my parakeet?" Riku asked. Sora turned at the unusual question. His eyes, once glazed over from staring for so long, lit up. There's the Sora I know, Riku thought.
"No. Why?" he asked, eyebrows arching.
"Well, you know I had that bird forever. He was a good bird. He was the only pet my dad ever allowed. I fed him. I pet him. I taught him songs, and he would copy me. He would sing songs to me whenever I was down. It was…nice to have a friend," Riku said.
"I never knew you liked him so much," Sora said, now facing his friend entirely, the rain a distant memory.
"Yes," Riku continued, "He was a good bird. A beautiful bird with colorful feathers. The most colorful bird in the world…
"Anyway, one day after I got home from playing outside, I saw my parakeet was gone from his cage. I looked everywhere for him, but he was nowhere to be seen. I thought he had flown away."
"I thought he did fly away. At least that's what you told me," Sora said now leaning curiously forward.
"Well, that's not really what happened," Riku sighed. "When I asked my dad about my parakeet, he was furious. He said I couldn't take care of my pets, and I was ashamed for the longest time because I believed him. I believed that my parakeet flew away because I didn't take care of him."
Sora looked at him with those sad eyes as if a puppy had wandered into the room and died. Riku silently cursed himself for making the light drain from Sora's eyes.
"But I found years later that it was not my fault," Riku continued. "I was at the market when I saw a sailor dropping off a fresh load of crabs to the seafood shop. The sailor wore a leather hat with colorful feathers sewn on the rim. Only my parakeet had had such colorful feathers. I asked the man where he got the hat with the feathers. He said he bought it off a man for three pieces of copper. Apparently, the man who sold the hat to him said that the feathers came from one of the rarest birds in the world. He had gotten it for a bargain. At that point I knew… My father had killed my parakeet, wrung his neck and plucked out his feathers to sell the feathers to a man for three pieces of copper. And because of that, my parakeet sang no more."
There was a pregnant silence.
"He was a good bird," Riku repeated nostalgically, wiping his nose with his sleeve.
Sora stood up from his window seat and sat with his friend on the bed.
Cautiously, Sora asked, "Why are you telling me this now? If it bothered you so much, why not talk to me or Kairi about it." Sora smiled his goofy grin. "We're here for you, remember?"
"I guess it didn't seem to matter until now," he said distantly.
Sora sat confused for a moment, but shrugged it off. Punching Riku in the arm, he said, "I promise, if I ever see any parakeets around…" They both laughed, knowing that there could only be one parakeet. It wasn't possible, yet they laughed. It was good to finally laugh.
Riku shook his head and smiled. He wasn't surprised that Sora didn't catch on, but he hoped that someday he would. After all, this parakeet just kept on singing.