I still sat in my hollow, almost staring at Uriah.
Uriah put a wing around the back of his head and stroked his neck.
"Yeah… I know. But it's okay Blu. Listen, I'm sure that Felipe will send a search party to see if the macaws returned or if they sent someone to retrieve you. I'm sure of it! But if they don't come back (his tone of voice became deeper), you can stay here for as long as you like. Live here even!"
I lifted my head fully from my wings and looked at him.
"Easy for you to say, you're surrounded by your own kind! I have no one that looks like me, or I can call family." I said.
I sounded defensive, I will admit.
"True, true. But I never had a real family. Grandparents died of sickness. I only have friends, usually the ones that I met in a Children's Centre where there was a bunch of us and we were looked after and cared for. But you can't just sick in the darkness and cry. Your problems will only get worst. Trust me I've been there and I've done that, I've been there so many times I use to look up to the clouds and ask why I'm here. And I found out." Uriah told me.
I didn't say anything, there was nothing to say. I never met my parents.
"It was my birthday, I was turning two years old (5 in human years). Then the day I woke up there was nobody there. Just an empty hollow. No trace of where they went or why they went."
He finished speaking.
"I never met my parents, which might be a good thing because I was separated from them soon after I was born. But you knew them? It must have hurt to just know they left you?"
Uriah shrugged his shoulders.
"Just stay on the bright side of life! Okay?" he said before he took off to wherever.
I laid in my hollow thinking about what he said.
I didn't fall asleep that night, so I got to experience high tide. The water rose just a few feet away from my hollow. Just one strong gust of wind could send a wave into my hollow, dragging out to sea or drowning me.
I wasn't going to let either two things happen, so I left the hollow and went to find someplace else to stay.
Even in this densely populated village, the night felt so alone and scary. A mouse scurried along the same path I had taken and disappeared under a bush. I heard it scurry until the sound came to an abrupt halt.
Then came the sound of a struggle or fight, then the sound of a satisfied stomach. I began to fly and found a smaller hollow a little farther from the lake. This one was higher up in the tree. Perfect.
I managed to get some rest but the sun rose before I could even dream about sleeping.
The morning, I despised the sunlight but I moved closer to the entrance of the hollow. Really I crawled there and hung my head outside of it to look down below. People were beginning to wake up and they took to the air and streets.
I didn't stay in the village. I left back to my abandoned home, I flew over there and I was flying fast. The air was cool beneath my wings.
I went to my hollow to see If I could find my belongings and haul them back to my new home. But I found something else, something much more important.
Soon after I landed in my own village I heard a small sound. The noise caught me off guard and I jumped at it.
I looked at the direction the noise was coming from and in the bush was a small blue macaw. Only two years old (5 in human years) and she looked around scared.
I approached her, slowly, trying not to frighten her. She saw me and backed away.
"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." I said in the softest tone possible. She didn't back away now but she still stood there.
"W-who are you?" She asked, her voice wavering.
"I'm Blu. I'm part of your tribe. Don't worry." I could still feel the fear in her eyes. She wasn't going to move from that spot until she was sure I could be trusted.
That's when I got an idea.
"Too bad all the other macaws left!" I said standing up straight turning my back.
"Where did they go?" The girl asked.
"I heard they went on a beautiful vacation trip. They just forgot to bring us."
"Really?" The girl's voice was full of interest.
"Yeah, I would tell you where exactly they went but they didn't tell me they were even going."
She walked up to me.
"I'm sorry but I'm lost and, I'm looking for my mom and dad. Can you help me find them?" She asked looking up at me.
"I'm sorry kid, but everyone in the village left." The girl looked disheartened.
"Hey cheer up. I'm looking for my family too!" I said kneeling down to be at eye level with her.
"Oh. My name is Ohana, I just woke up a few days ago and my parents and everyone else was gone." She said looking around at the wilderness.
A few days ago? How come I haven't seen her until now?
"I'm sure they will come back, Ohana. Family rarely leave family behind you know."
She still had a depressed look on her face. I couldn't bear it.
"You know, you're not the only one whose mother is missing," I said to her.
"When I was just a few years younger than you are, I was born and I never saw my parents."
"Well, how come?" Ohana wanted me to go on with my life story.
"Well, some humans put me in a box and sent me somewhere else where I was taken care of," I told her.
I told two strangers my childhood that day. A record for me. The sun was begging to set down below the horizon.
"Don't you have a home to go to?" I asked Ohana.
She just shook her head.
"Well, you can't stay out here! It's going to be nighttime soon."
"Well… I went looking for my mom and dad, but when I got out of my home I got lost and couldn't find my way back."
This struck me as odd.
"What have you eaten then?" I asked as I looked at her. She just shook her head again.
Well, I could take her back to the red macaw village and until a search party comes back she can stay with me. I thought.
But this is a strange little girl. I don't know her. I can't take her with me. The other half of my brain argued, putting up a good point.
I couldn't leave some poor starving girl in the middle of the forest alone at night and expect her to remain alive in one piece.
That's how I ended up walking in the middle of the night down the Algonquin trail in the middle of the night, with a strange little girl on my back.