Although, it was doubtless that the eagle was the most beautiful thing Axel had ever seen, if there was one word to describe her, it would be fragile. She looked like she could break at any moment.
She was deathly pale and thin as a pin, but not in a good way. She had dark circles under her eyes and her face was tear-stained as if she cried a lot. Her eyes were wide with fear and worry.
"Well first off, why are you here in my attic?" Axel asked.
"Your attic?" the eagle repeated.
"Yes! My dad owns this building so it's practically my attic."
Axel could be very territorial sometimes, but being tough to this eagle felt mean.
"It's kind of a long story," the eagle said.
Axel sat himself down next to her on the carpet. "I'm listening."
So the eagle started her story.
"Once upon a time, there lived a man eagle called Sam and a woman eagle called Pearl-"
"You don't mean Sam the Legal Eagle, do you?" Axel interrupted.
The eagle nodded and continued.
"Pearl and Sam were married and very happy together. And one day the discovered that Pearl was going to have a baby. She was a little girl with blue feathers like her father, but like her mother, she had hair as gold as the sun and eyes as blue as the sky. They named her Sapphire, as she was their little gem.
"Life was pretty much perfect for Sapphire, as she grew up she discovered she had the most caring and wonderful parents any child could wish for. She hoped that her happiness could last forever.
"But unfortunately, it couldn't. One day, when Sapphire was fifteen, the family were driving somewhere. And Sapphire kept pestering her mother, who was driving. She insisted that she was hungry, she needed the toilet, she was thirsty, she was bored. Pearl got so agitated that she turned around to snap at her daughter, and…the car crashed into a white van that was in front."
The poor eagle's eyes filled with tears.
"The three of them were sent into hospital immediately. Sapphire was fine, just a few cuts and gashes from the broken glass. Sam had broken a wing, but he pulled through. However, Pearl wasn't so lucky. She had been trapped by a piece of debris and had many injuries and internal bleeding. Eventually, she died a few days after the terrible accident."
"That's awful," Axel said.
The eagle carried on.
"Sapphire was distraught but Sam was more, angry. Angry at Sapphire. He yelled at her that it was her fault for plaguing her mother and that Sapphire ought to be locked up for causing the death of her own mother. Sapphire cried because she thought it was true ad she felt so guilty. She said that she wanted to be locked up.
"And locked up she was. Sam took Sapphire to the theatre where he worked, the Muppet Theatre, and he locked her in the attic. 'That'll teach you a lesson!' he cried and left her there all alone.
"Sam was supposed to come back every day to feed Sapphire, but he often forgot. She would go without food for days on end, undergoing torture almost as unbearable as the thought that haunted her every night. She had killed her mother. It was her fault. It was her fault that her father was depressed and took it out on everyone around her. It was her fault that she was locked in an attic like Anne Frank, half starved and scared to death. But most of all, it was her fault that her mother wasn't here any longer. She had left too soon and Sapphire needed her more than ever before. But she was gone, and it was all Sapphire's fault."
Axel put his arms around the eagle. "Let me guess," he murmured. "Sapphire must be you."
The eagle nodded. "One night, I couldn't take it any more. I was lonely, hungry and desperate. So I called out. That was when I met you. I've been up here for months, and I don't think I can take it much more without a friend."
Axel considered this. He knew the best thing for him to do was to tell an adult. This was serious business.
"Well, I think I'd better tell my dad," he said.
"No!" Sapphire cried "You can't tell anyone!"
"But…don't you think it's for the best?" Axel said.
"You can't. Promise me you won't tell a soul.
"Why not?"
"Because Dad will find out. He'll get so mad, he'd kill me if he knew you were here, imagine how angry he'd be if you got a grown-up involved."
Axel remembered from Sapphire's story, that her dad was Sam the Eagle. The annoying grump who wasn't satisfied by anything or anyone. If he was the one who put Sapphire in the attic, then surely she'd be terrified. She was right. He couldn't tell anyone, he could manage this, I mean, how hard can it be?
"Alright, I'll keep it a secret," Axel promised.
So if you guessed that the new plot would be based around the boring guy who stayed in his bedroom all day studying for his exams, then congratulations! You guessed it right!