~Earlier that morning~
Liz hummed along to the stereo as she brushed out her tangled hair, she had just woken up after a restless night of sleep, and was procrastinating unpacking. She had just moved into her new apartment the day before, and had only gotten her bed, a couple kitchen appliances, and her bathroom things sorted out, before falling into bed late at night, still dusty and grubby from hauling boxes all day.
Liz's hair was quite the bird's nest upon waking, even though her hair was mostly straight with only a touch of a wave to it, it tangled into unravelable knots at the drop of a hat. When she was a little girl, her mother was always having to pull little twigs and leaves out of her unruly mane, Liz was quite the tomboy, always racing around the wooded area behind the family's home, they lived out in the sticks so she was free to roam around as she pleased. The woods were the perfect stage for her daring quests, sword fights, slaying dragons, and rescuing of princesses. She would always make her little sister be the princess, because "That's the boring part!".
Two songs later into her playlist she had straightened her hair out. Liz stood up from her bed and looked around the bare room.
"I have a busy day ahead of me" she thought looking at the boxes piled against the wall, the dusty floors, and overall gloomy room.
Liz walked over to the one window in the room, a big bay window with dark curtains that had been pulled shut. She tugged the curtains to either side, letting in the bright morning sunshine, and yanked the stubborn window open.
"Much better!" she said happily to herself, as she poked her head out the window, looking downwards. Liz's apartment was on the second floor, the apartment complex had two big buildings facing each other with the apartments evenly spaced out, and she noticed that the apartment across the way also had their window open. Little pots of what looked like herbs dotted the window sill, soaking up the morning sun. "Looks like someone's fond of gardening" she thought before turning away, grabbing her bag of soaps and shower things, and heading towards the shower to wash away yesterday's grime. After taking a quick shower, and getting dressed, she grabbed her toothbrush and started brushing her teeth while wandering down the hallway into the kitchen. Liz popped two slices of bread into the toaster, somehow that was the only appliance that got set up yesterday, nothing useful like the coffee maker, or microwave? Her little sister had hung around a bit to help her set up on her first day, and had helped lug boxes up the flight of stairs, but not much else.
*ding*! The now toasted bread popped up, and she plucked them out and set them on a plate. Liz still had the toothbrush hanging out of her mouth as she reached into a box to find a butter knife, and it bopped against her chin as she bent down. "Wow, I think I need coffee now" she grumbled as she re-adjusted the toothbrush in her mouth. Liz walked back into the hallway to put it back in the bathroom, walked back to finish making her toast, and as she rounded the corner into the kitchen she gave a little yelp, because there was something moving and alive on top of her toast!
"Holy cr- wait it's a bird?" she started and then stopped very confused. There was a bright yellow bird happily pecking it's way through her breakfast.
"How in the world did you get in here?" she asked as she circled the bird, walking in front of it to get a good look.
"Tweet?" It cocked it's head up at her, looking up when she spoke, but then quickly went back to eating.
It was a fluffy yellow bird, about the size of canary, but Liz wasn't quite sure exactly what kind it was. She held a finger down in front of it's feet, and it obediently stepped onto her finger, letting her lift it up to eye level.
"Well you're tame, you must be somebody's pet" she thought out loud. "Poor thing, you must of been scared all alone out there." She petted it's head with a finger, and it chirped in response. All of a sudden it flew from her finger to the top of her head.
"What are you doing?" she exclaimed, a bit startled at the sudden shift of position. But the bird seemed quite happy up there, and made itself cosy in her hair.
"And I just washed my hair too" she complained. "Your owner must carry you around like this a lot, huh?"
"Tweet, Tweet!" chirped the bird happily. Liz carefully walked into the bedroom, careful not jostle the bird.
"Aaaah, I forgot, the window" she realized as she remembered opening it earlier. She stopped worried a minute, thinking that the bird might try to fly out and get even more lost, but it seemed quite content in it's little "nest". Liz looked out the window trying to get an idea of where the bird could've come from. The curtains of the window across the way were now slightly pulled to the side, so Liz could see into the adjacent apartment. And there was a bird cage inside!
"Aha!" she exclaimed, "So that's where you came from!" Liz carefully closed the window and gently extracted the bird from her hair, "Tweet?" the bird looked a little sad to be robbed of it's perch.
"I'm going over there to see if your owner is home, I'll be right back!" said Liz, slipping some sandals on and gently setting the bird on her bed. "Stay right there!"
Liz hurried out the room, and pulled the door shut behind her. The minute she closed the door, the bird fluttered to the windowsill, waiting to see what would happen in the room across the way.