Hey guys! So this was my first ever fanfic that I posted, and after going on and writing my other stories, and getting stronger in my writing abilities, I decided to come back to my first stories, and do a few edits. I noticed some grammer flaws and such that were really bugging me, and I saw some lack of detail that needed to be fixed. So that's what I'm doing now. The story line is still the same, but there may be a few new scenes, added detail and such that I think you'll like. So anyway, enjoy!
Remember Rio
Chapter 1
Should I?
The usual morning samba was going on outside my little hollow, as I sat down for breakfast. All of the larger, brighter, birds were dancing and singing in midflight. This happened every morning, but this was the week of Carnival, and everyone was extra excited. Decorations were put up, sequins adorned every piece of human clothing, and the whole city buzzed with life.
I was just finishing up my breakfast of my usual ripe papaya when my friends burst through my door in a flurry of rainbow colored feathers. "Sonora! Sonora! Friday is Carnival! Aren't you excited?" They chirped after landing and catching their breath.
"What do you think?" I said masking every ounce of my excitement, and not turning around.
"Aw come on! Luís isn't here, and you don't have to worry about him at all. There are lots of nice guys out there! Just this morning I saw Fernando, and he asked me if I wanted to go to Carnival with him! I was ecstatic!" Patrice explained. Patty was a bright blue flycatcher, with black markings by her eyes making it look like she wore a mask. Her tail feathers were long, thin, and black and ended in a circle of iridescent blue.
"Oh Patty! How wonderful!" I replied. I was happy for her, as always, but I wish they'd just leave me alone about finding a guy. I liked standing on my own two claws. As I was thinking, I rung out the other half of the papaya to fill up three fern cups with the juice.
"And he's such a strong flyer too! What a lovely couple you'll make!" Josephine put in. She was a pretty scarlet macaw, who always wore a thin gold band around her leg. Josie said that humans gave it to her to make sure she was always ok.
"You should have seen him in the morning light, my dear Josie. Sunlight gleaming off his iridescent green feathers, usual twinkle in his eye… He was breathtaking!" She ruffles her blue feathers for dramatic effect. I hand them each a cup of juice and settle in a chair to listen to the Rio Gossip Gazette.
"Sounds lovely, but not all are like Fernando. Some try to kill you." I reminded them. Two years ago for Carnival, I had met what I thought to be a brilliant, strong, handsome, Spotted Owl named Luís. He had spoiled me with fancy food, shiny baubles, and loads of attention. I thought there couldn't be a better bird for me in the entire world.
The night of Carnival he came to pick me up and acted really funny. Telling me strange things like, "Take a last look around," and "Hope you don't miss this place." It was really weird so I had told him I was going to stay home. He didn't like that at all, and forced me out the door of my hollow. I kicked him in the shin and took off flying.
At this he had gotten furious. Just for the record, he was four times my size. I'm only a five inch tall yellow canary, with frail feathers, and a short wingspan; I'm rather fast in flight, but not faster than an owl. I tried to get away from Luís but he caught me, right after telling me that he was a smugglers bird and that if I didn't go with him I would be dead meat. I can't compare with a falcon when it comes to talons, but I always keep my claws sharp. I slashed the owl across the face, blinding his right eye.
My last chance to escape was to try and dive; so I folded my wings against my small body, and dropped like a rock. Luís followed and snatched me, cutting his long, deadly talons across my back in two parallel lines, and once across my throat. He had then left me for dead in rainforest.
Luckily Rafael, his friends, and my mother found me and were able to save me. If only just barely. Over the past two years feathers had tried their best to grow back over them, but they weren't sleek feathers. They were short, stubby, and kind of prickly, but they were yellow and they didn't show skin anymore.
"Like Patty said; Luís is gone." Josie interrupted my terrifying memories. "No one's seen him since that night. Not all males are like that! And I'm not letting you miss out on Carnival again." The macaw informed me, ruffling her own scarlet feathers. "You love it too much."
"At least go to Carnival with us. Pleeeeeaaaaaaaase!" Patty begged with her big brown eyes, and her wings clasped in front of her pleadingly.
"I have to go into town today to get some things." I said and stood. "I'll think about it and get back to you tomorrow." They smiled widely and shared a look.
"Alright. We'll see you bright and early then." With another flurry of feathers my friends were gone and I was alone again. I looked around at my hollow. There was a shiny piece of glass that I used as a mirror, my nest of course, and a couple of little chairs, and such I made out of stuff I found around the jungle and in Rio.
I rummaged through the sticks and grass I had used to build my nest until I found a seashell. It was a small clamshell, speckled on the top, but when turned over it was opalescent. Colors danced across the pearly surface as the sunlight hit it. My mother had given this to me on my sixteenth birthday. She had always wanted me to find a special someone like she had. After Luís, I felt like I had let her down.
Of course my parents had told me that they were just happy that I was alive, but they were like Patty and Josie. They wanted me to get back out there, and I was terrified. "Maybe they're right," I mumble, "Maybe Carnival is a good time to start over." I walk over to my mirror and smooth my sunshine yellow feathers so that it doesn't look like I just woke up. I smile and watch as my meadow green eyes sparkle, just a little. Around my eyes the feathers are a lighter yellow, because of this my eyes really tend to pop.
"I wonder if Rafael is home." I ask my reflection. "He can help me figure this out." I smile at the thought of seeing my friend again. I flit through my door, and close it tightly. Then the music hits me, and turns my wings into dancers, making me fly in elaborate patterns, dancing through the air. A few boys see me and whistle as I fly by, making me blush and wave to them. I don't dance for them though, I dance for the samba. Samba music makes my heart come alive and take over all of my being; I vaguely remember dancing like this with someone once.
I come to a large tree with a bird-made platform in the fork of two branches. "Rafael! Rafael its Sonora!" I call clinging to a vine near the ground.
"Sonora! My little friend! How are you?" A bright orange, red, and yellow beak peeks over the edge of the nest and a huge, black toucan settles in front of me. He wraps me in a hug and I settle on the ground.
"I'm fine. Feeling more and more excited for Carnival every second. I did receive a visit from Patrice and Josephine this morning…" I gave him a wry smile, "You didn't have anything to do with that did you?"
"Me?" He gasps, letting his deep voice crack. "I would never!"
"Uh-huh." I rolled my eyes and giggled. "Anyway, they got me thinking that I will go back to Carnival this year. I just feel…" I began to pace, my mind swirling with thoughts.
"Scared, excited, and confused?" Rafael suggests with a shrug.
"Exactly!" I snap my feathers and turn back to the huge toucan. "I know nobody's seen Luís since that night," I ruffle my feathers feeling a slight chill, "but I have the strangest feeling that he's still around somewhere."
"I haven't heard anything, and you know me, hubbub is my reason for living." We burst out laughing. Rafael is the gossip bird if there ever was one. Any piece of trough-the-grape-vine news out there, anywhere, he knew about it.
"I know you would tell me if something was up." I hugged him. "Thanks for letting me talk. You're the only one I can talk to who really understands." I hug him again and rise off the ground. "How is Eva?" I ask.
"Why don't you come see." I quickly get out of his way as he flaps his enormous wings and spirals up to his nest. I perch on the edge and look across the nest to see Eva fluffed to about twice her size over a nest of, what I understand to be, three eggs.
"Why Sonora! It's so good to see you out of your nest. How have you been?" She exclaims and wraps her wings around me as I hop over to her..
"I've been fine; debating whether or not to go to Carnival this year." I tell her.
"Of course you have to go! You're young and fresh. You'll have to beat the boys off with a stick." The soon-to-be mother comforts me with a wink. I stretch to show my scars. She tisks her tongue, "I'm sure you've heard this a million times, but nobody's seen that devil owl. It's like he fell off the face of the earth."
"Wouldn't that be a blessing?" I groan sending up a prayer that it's true.
"I'll tell you what; if that owl comes around again I will personally turn him into nesting material." Eva wrapped a wing around me and I smiled.
"You guys are amazing. Thank you for everything." I grin at them and walk back over to the edge of their platform nest. "I guess I'm off to town."
"Anytime you need us, we'll be there!" Rafael called. I stop and wave to show them that I had heard. Then I dove into a loop, and spun around in midflight performing a body roll. Flying was my freedom from everything that bothered me; my past, my nerves, my worries in general.
Wind rushing over my feathers, I started dancing again. I dove down and up and around performing a spiral. It used to be my signature move, until… I shivered and focused on the wind in my face, and smiled wide. I closed my eyes and feel the Rio sun warm my small, yellow body. I didn't have a care in the world right then and there.
