He stared at the sky. It was all he could see, from here. All he had seen for so long. He wasn't lonely, he wasn't a prisoner, because he couldn't remember anything but the cage. The cage and the sky.
Then, one day, the bird came. He liked the bird. It would sing to him, and fly around his head and play. It flew away, and he waited for it to come back. It always came back, even at the last.
He hadn't known it was there. He'd been waiting for it to fly in and land next to him, but it didn't. And it didn't. And he looked up and saw it, lying there on its side.
And the moment he realized that he was alone, and a captive, that moment came when he couldn't even reach out to touch it, one last time.
A paper fan hit the back of his head, hard.
"Keep up, stupid monkey."
He ran to catch up with the other three. "Oi! Hey, Sanzo, can we stop to eat yet? Please?"
He was free, and never alone again.
Author's note: People like me! Please review and help keep up that delusion!
