His whole life he was stared at and made fun of. Most people saw him as disgusting. Some even pitied him but not one did they try to comfort him. They were too scared to. He was a freak of nature. They didn't know if he could spread the disease. They didn't even know what caused it.
He wasn't allowed to touch anyone. He wasn't allowed to live in the village. He was forced to live on the beach. He was only allowed in the village on certain days. If there was a festival in the village he had to wear a special suit. He wasn't allowed in most places. He couldn't even find a good paying job. He had one job but it was to clean the beach every two weeks. It didn't earn him good money.
He was never happy. He had no friends and no one to trust. The Judge at first seemed like his friend until he marked him as one thing… Contamination.
Red woke up to the sun shining through his window. He could finally go into the village and buy food. He was about to run out.
He got up and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked the same as always; his feathers all melted together and his beak bleeding a black liquid. He looked down at his hands and the eyes opened. Yes, he had an eye on each hand. Morning Red. "Morning C. Ready to go to the village?" No. "Well we have to I need some supplies."
Red walked down his stairs and out his front door. It was such a beautiful day. It is a good day to check his squirrel traps. Maybe he caught a few squirrels that he can skin in his freezer for later. He looked over and his eyes widened. A hatchling was standing on one of the traps. If the trap triggers the kid will die.
Red ran as fast as he could to the trap. He grabbed the kid's arm and pulled him away before it snapped shut. "Kid you could of gotten hurt! What were you thinking?" The kid just stared at him. Red raised an eyebrow. "Kid?"
Before he could do anything kid ran off screaming bloody murder. Red froze. "Oh no. No. No. No." He is going to tell the Judge. We have to stop him. Red raced like a jet hoping he could stop the kid before he got to the Judge. He had to. He just had to. He stopped in the middle of the village, near the courtroom, and looked around for that kid. When we find him, can we kill him? No! I'm already in enough trouble as it is. Red finally spotted the kid… running into the courtroom.
Red sighed and began walking to the courtroom. What are you thinking? We can just escape. And they will come and take me from my home. There is no point. Fine. Red walked into court with his heart in his throat. The Judge looked down at Red disgusted. "You touched a kid for no reason."
"No your honor! He was standing on one of my traps. He could've died." Red pleaded.
Judge Peckinpah frowned. "It would've been better than ending up like you. You doomed a kid to exile."
"But no one knows if I'm contagious. That kid could live a happy life. You don't know. I don't even know."
"We can't take any chances. Mr. Red, there seems to be a recurring issue here… contamination." Judge Peckinpah points a finger at Red. "This is the second time you have touched someone."
"That other kid was drowning. I couldn't let him drown!" Maybe we should have. What?! It did get us into this mess. Shut up C.
"I'm giving you the biggest punishment allowed by the law… Mutant Management."
Flock our life. Red walked out of court pretty annoyed. Mutant Management? Really? How can this get any worse. If there are others in the class. Great. More birds staring.
Red followed the Judge's directions to the class and found him outside an egg-like house. A sign stood in front. It was some weird dummy with a sign saying 'Don't be yourself. Be normal.' Be normal?! Oh we will show them normal. Red ripped the dummy off its stick and started beating the mess out of it. When he was done he put it back on its perch. He picked up the sign, now saying 'be yourself.', and put it back on the dummy. He smiled and walked inside.
Red walked past some really creepy statues. He found a framed certificate and read it out loud, "Normal Mutant what?"
"Hi there you must be Red!"
Red turned around to face a white bird smiling weirdly. "Hi."
"Hi, I'm Matilda." She reached out to touch him but he quickly moved away. "Oh. Um, this way Red." She led him into a room with three other birds.
Red waved shyly and sat down on his pillow. Matilda sat down too. "This is Red. Red why don't you tell them your story?"
Red sighed. "Um… well, I saw this kid standing on one of my squirrel traps-"
"Why would you trap squirrels?" The yellow bird asked.
"In case I don't have enough money to buy food."
"You eat squirrels?" The round black bird asked shocked.
"Yes, but only if I can't buy other things. Anyway, I saw the kid on one of my traps and I pulled him away from it. He ran off and I chased him all the way into the courtroom. And I was punished for touching him."
"Why can't you touch anyone?" Matilda asked.
"They think I will spread my disease."
"You have a disease?" the yellow bird asked interested.
"I don't think I have a disease."
"Okay that is enough for now. Red, thank you." Matilda smiled. "Your turn Chuck."
Chuck, the yellow bird smiled, "Well, I'm here because of my weird ability to run super fast. I can run faster than time."
He is weird. "He is not!" Red whispered to his hands.
"Did you say something Red?" Matilda asked a little annoyed.
"No."
"Um Red… are your hands blinking?" Chuck asked staring at him with wide eyes. "Are they eyes?"
"Oh! Yes they are. C uses them to see." Red laughs at his own joke.
"Who is C?" Matilda asked a tiny bit worried.
"I don't know for sure. I just know he uses the eyes on my hands to see and I can hear him in my mind." Red sighed. "You think I'm crazy don't you?"
"You have a voice that can see through your hands? That is awesome!" Chuck said excited.
"Okay, that is enough Chuck. Bomb would you like to tell us your story?" Matilda smiled.
Bomb, the black bird, grinned. "Well sometimes when I get stressed or surprised I explode."
Red raised an eyebrow "Explode how?"
Bomb laughs. "I actually explode. I blew up a few houses so they put me in this class."
Chuck's tail wiggled in excitement. "That sounds so cool!"
I bet it wasn't cool for the owners of those houses. Red bust out laughing. Everyone turned to look at him shocked by this sudden outburst. Red's laughter quieted when he noticed them staring. "Um… C told me a joke."
"Really? Tell it to us." Chuck said slyly.
Red told them the joke and everyone, except the big red bird, laughed. Red never heard other birds laughing before unless you count C and himself. I like them. They are funny. I like them too. They aren't being mean to me. I hope they stay for awhile. Me too.
When the laughter subsided Matilda told them they were going to do some Yoga. Red looked around at all of the other birds. Each were doing a different pose. Even the big red bird, was doing a strange pose. Red didn't know anything about Yoga and Matilda noticed.
Matilda came over and pointed to the big red bird. "Look Red it's easy. See even Terrence can do it! Let me show you." She reached down to grab his leg and pull it up but Red quickly backed away.
"I don't really like being touched." He whispered.
Matilda nodded. "It's okay. Take your time."
Red watched her leave and tried to breathe. Calm down. It is okay. You are fine now. Red sighed. He couldn't risk being touched. The Judge would ban him for sure if he found out but… aren't they mutants too? Would it really be a problem if he touched them? I wouldn't risk it.
Chuck saw the whole episode with Matilda. He could tell Red didn't feel comfortable about being touched. He wanted to know why. He walked over to Red and smiled. "Hey Red. Hey C. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I just need a break."
"Do you want to go outside and get some fresh air?"
Red smiled. "Yeah. I do."
They walked out onto Matilda's back porch. Red walked over and leaned on the rail. Chuck walked over and stood beside him. "How are you feeling now." Chuck asked looking up at the sky.
Red smiled. "Better. I just didn't want her touching me in case…" He trailed off sadly.
"In case you got in trouble again?"
"Yeah."
"Red, if you don't mind me asking, were you born like this?" Chuck gestured to the melted feathers and the black liquid bleeding from his beak.
Red sighed. "Well, let me start with my egg. They found my egg on the beach. They said it was a weird color. They thought they found a new species. When I hatched I was just a normal hatchling. Until three years later. On my third birthday I started melting and my hands felt like they were splitting open. It hurt for days until I heard a voice in my head. A scared voice. At the time I was scared too. Not only did I change shape I heard a new voice. An then it got weirder. Eyes opened on my hands.
"The voice was so happy to see someone. He thought he was in a void. It took us awhile to figure out what happened to us. We were a whole body. We had to learn how to share it. It wasn't easy but we did it. We ended up getting to know each other. We told each other everything but the voice didn't know his name. One day we heard a nurse call us 'contamination'. He really liked it so it became his name. It was too long so I decided to just call him C."
Chuck nodded. "Man… You and C been through a lot huh?"
"Yeah."
"Did those nurses… experiment on you?"
Red paused. "Yes."
AN: If you haven't figured it out by now-
Italic = Red's thoughts
Bold Italic = C's thoughts/voice