One day, she took him home to protect him from the weather when it got bad. Every night, she talked to him about her day and always said "If you only knew what I was saying and talk back to me". One night as Scarlet slept, she saw Gideon flying over her in circles. He sang for the first time. The stars got brighter and Scarlet saw herself lift up. She was floating in the air on top of her bed. Sparkely lights began to float around her whole body. They tickled her and got brighter. It was so bright that all she saw was white and her eyes began to hurt a little. She closed her eyes shut and when she opened them, they were both flying next to each other. Scarlet looked at herself on the mirror next to her bed and saw she turned into a bird. She dropped like a rock because she had put her wings on her face. Scarlet looked at herself with her eyes wide open and her wings stretched out at the same time. She had very bright blue feathers on her back and teal feathers on her chest. The tip of her wings and tail were a light silver.
Gideon landed next to her and said "Its okay, I made your wish come true."
"What? Oh my god, Gideon, you talk! what do you mean? I'm just dreaming." said Scarlet and she ran around the bed looking for a way to get out.
"this isn't a dream Scarlet. You're a bird now, just like you asked," responded Gideon.
Scarlet looked back at him and said "but all I wanted was to hear you talk."
"And now you will Scarlet"
"how can this happen?" She asked as she walk closer to him.
"I sang in your sleep, you have to be calm and very quiet for the magic of the song to work. That's why people feel so relaxed and happy when they hear us sing, but they don't turn to birds because, one, there awake, and two, we don't want them as birds."
"I don't know what to say Gideon, what about my family? they will miss me, and my friends?"
"you have me Scarlet, I'm your best friend!"
Scarlet looked down and said "I guess I can give it a try."
"listen, If you want to go back you just have to eat those berries," Gideon said as he pointed at a few raspberries growing on a bush right outside the window. Once he said that Scarlet spread her wings and said " well, what are we waiting for?"
"wwwhhhaattt?" Gideon squealed out while he jump back a step. "I mean lets start flying." replied Scarlet.
Scarlet started to flap her wings quickly, but couldn't fly. Gideon walked next to her and said "you have to jump high and the first flap has to be strong because that's your take off, then after that you can take it slow. Like so," and he began to show her. He jumped and flapped so hard the first time it made Scarlet blink a few times because of the wind.
After a few practice take offs Scarlet finally learned to fly smoothly. Then as they flew past the puddles of water Scarlet stared at her reflection and still couldn't believe she was a bird. The air felt so good between her feathers. She was happy and scared. What was going to happened after she asked herself. They flew to the campus where he showed her the places he always visited. Every morning he took her out to show her a new place. They flew over mountains and large bodies of water. Her favorite part was going up as high as the clouds. It was a different world with new adventures to explore. When she was in the clouds there was no noise for minutes. But if you tried really hard, you could hear other birds in clouds flying very far from them. It was colder up there and so Scarlet flew down. She wanted to see how it felt to dive down and so she did. She dove like a bullet, the earth got closer and closer. Then sswwwoooosshhh, she opened her wings and they pulled her back up just a little. Her wings acted like a parachute and landed slowly on a tree. Her heart was beating really hard. Gideon caught up and said "be careful! you could get hurt." Scarlet was still excited from the dive that she ignored him and took off again.
One day Scarlet saw the rest of the birds singing and flying around in such a fancy way. She dove in and began to fly in all different directions. Scarlet was having so much fun that when She looked back, Gideon was not there anymore. She looked for him from tree to tree and branch to branch. The rest of the birds called to play, but Scarlet kept looking. Finally in a low dark corner she saw Gideon laying down. Her heart felt like it dropped as she rushed to see what was wrong. She landed and quickly placed her wings over him.
"Are you okay?" She ask as she tried to catch her breath.
"why yes, why wouldn't I be?" he answered as he jumped out from her wings.
"I just thought that maybe you have gotten injured or something. You're just here all by yourself."
"I'm sorry, did I interrupt your fun?"
Scarlet tilted her head as she responded, "I thought you were right there along side with me."
"I wasn't, I went the other way and when I looked back, you had already flown toward them."
"I'm sorry, I thought that it would have been fun to see what they were up to."
"fun for who?"
Scarlet looked down and turned around. Then right before she took off Gideon jumped in front of her.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't prepared to see you around other birds. I was so used to us. lets, lets go do something that will cheer you up. Come on I know just the thing, You'll see."
They flew to the zoo and went from cage to cage. Scarlet was so excited because she has never gotten so close to other animals and past the visiting bars. As they kept flying around the zoo, people began to notice them. The zoo keepers began to talk to each other through their walkie talkies about the two birds. They were impressed with the beauty of Scarlet, her feathers were so shiny and colorful. Gideon and Scarlet were making their last visit to the flamingo habitat and landed on the visiting bars. There was a small boy not too far from them. He waved at Scarlet and said "hello birdy." She hopped over closer and sang for him. The boy jump and giggled. He tugged on his mother to show her his new friend. He then pulled out an animal cracker to try and feed it to Scarlet. As she stared at the little boy, she was caught by surprise with a net. Gideon flew up right away making the zoo keeper missed him. Scarlet started to cry for help. The little boy started to cry and ran toward the zoo keeper. At the same time Gideon flew back to peck at the guy while the child pulled the net from the mans hands. In the middle of the struggle Scarlet broke free and flew away with Gideon. She looked back at the child and wanted to yell thank you. The words didn't come out but the little boy understood what she meant to say. As they flew away to safety the mother was apologizing to the zoo keeper.
They had reached home safely. Gideon began to apologize quickly
"I am so so so sooo sorry. I just thought it was going to be fun and we wouldn't be bothered and.."
"Don't bother apologizing. It was the best adventure of my life and the scariest moment too."
"you're not upset?"
"no, but I wouldn't do it again"
"are you sure you're okay?"
"yes, thank you, I had fun today"
A few days later they flew back to her old home. They flew around the house and over to her old room. Scarlett's mother was sitting in her bed looking at pictures and crying. Scarlett had a sudden urge to console her and flew straight toward her. She was stopped by the window which was closed. Her mother turned around and noticed the bird. She opened the window and said, "poor little bird, are you okay," While she lifted her up. Gideon flew away to give them time alone. He flew past the living room and right by the kitchen window where he noticed a slice of pie. He smelled it and it smelled delicious. He looked around to see who else was around, but then noticed a basket of raspberries. It must be a raspberry pie then he thought. He flew out again and back to Scarlett's room. While the mother was caressing Scarlet, he over heard her say, "you are so lucky to be a bird, your parents expect you to leave the nest as soon as you begin to fly. My daughter just disappeared. I never saw it coming." Gideon noticed the sadness in Scarlett's eyes as her own mother placed her back outside. They took off and she still had a tear in her eye. He then said "you know, your mom makes the best cherry pies." Scarlet looked at him as he dove back down to the house and then followed him. They both landed on the kitchen window and walked in front of the pie. He nudged her, "go on, take some, I'll keep watch. do it for good old times." She took a bite and savored it. she thought hmmmm raspberry pie, her favorite each summer. "Wait, raspberry pie?" She said out loud as she looked back at Gideon.
"I know how much you miss her and after getting really close in loosing you I don't know how I could live on like that. This is for the best okay."
"But what about me? why didn't you ask me how I felt about it?"
"I knew you would have a hard time making a decision"
"and so you took it from me?"
"lets not see it that way, at the end of this night you will only remember us a dream."
"what do you mean?"
"It means that everything that happened never happened because the spell was reversed."
"so will I see you again?"
"I'm sorry, I cannot stay with you anymore."
"that's not fair."
"I will still sing for you, just look deep into your heart?"
Scarlet started to cry, "It's not fair, It's not fair. you are being cruel."
"what I didn't tell you is that I to go when the spell goes, its an energy trade of nature. My life for your life back as a human."
"That's even worse! Why did you do it?"
"Because I love you,"
"I love you too bird brain! but why did you do it."
"I would have rather died a hundred times before, just to keep you alive and happy, than risk your life and your freedom. But I will still live with in your heart, You will always hear my song every day you wake. Someday, when you are ready to leave your human world we will be reunited"
He placed his wings over her and stayed there for a few minutes, then they waited together while the night came. Scarlet promised not to fall asleep, but was so tired from crying her eyes out. Her eyes got really heavy and gave up. When she woke up the next day, as promised, there was a song for her. From that moment on it was as she never left, not one of her classes missed; or rainy day. She woke up every morning with the same song which lifted her spirit up. One night she wished upon a falling star and said "Give me a sign that you were real once." The next day as she woke, right by her pillow was a single feather and an animal cracker. She lifted them both and held them close to her heart as she thought "even the smallest animals have the largest hearts."
Many years past and Scarlet grew old. She fell in love with another man she met shortly after college, Louis, and married him. Years later she had two beautiful children, a girl named Hope and a boy, Anthony. Every morning though, she still heard that beautiful song which kept her memory of Gideon alive.
She had gotten very old and as she rested in bed, her time came to leave her body and give up her life in her human body. The doctor walked over to Hope and Anthony; Louis was already gone. He had died in battle serving his country as a soldier. "Your mother has passed away, Did you want to say your goodbyes?" The two of them walked into the room with their heads down. Once they were by her bed they heard two birds singing. They remembered the story of "The Morning Song," their mother always use to tell them at night and looked at each other. Then they knew, Her life as a human was over, but her life as a bird continued along with Gideon. Hope and Anthony waved at the birds with smiles on their faces because they knew it was their mother Scarlett and Gideon. The birds greeted them with song and flew away into the trees to live as birds together.
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