I Am A Bird.

• Kaitlyn Daniels, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2015

I want to be a bird. I’m envious yet mesmerised by them. They are so gracious as they soar through the sky, they are so gentle and they are so peaceful, they are free…
I want to know what it feels like to glide over cities, towns and forests. I want to hear the wind whistling in my ears. I want to see the world from a different perspective; a higher perspective.
When I envision myself flying above everyone else, watching the world come alive beneath me, hearing the hum of the cars and the people, the lights glowing, lighting up the city, it makes me feel free.
It is my dream – before I part with this world – to fly like a bird. Up there in the sky, there’s no sadness, there’s no fear, there’s no solitude. And solitude can be relentless, it can be barbaric. But up there, all of that disappears.
At least that what I imagine.
It fascinates me; how birds fly. The anatomy of birds is so eccentric to me. The feathers on a bird have precise arrangement, their shape allowing them to modify air-currents. So, the air pressure pushing down on the wing is less than the air pushing up on the bottom of the wing. The difference in pressure provides the lift; then the bird takes off, and uses its robust breast muscles to thrust its wings. These thrusts allow air to propel the bird through the air.
It’s amazing, how they defy gravity with their vigorous muscles. It makes me jealous that God would give them such power as to defy gravity, but not us humans. I would do anything to be able to fly like a bird…
On the last night of my life, I heard it, I heard the hum of the cars and the people beneath me. I saw it too. I saw the bright lights illuminating the city. I stood on the edge of my world, looking down at everyone, no one seemed to notice me but I liked it that way. I was in peace, I was a recluse; the way I’d been my whole life. I lifted one foot and hovered it over the edge of the building, my heart was beating slow and steady. And for once, my mind was completely still. Standing on top of that building made all the voices in my head fall silent. For the first time in my life, I felt my mind was in a completely peaceful state.
When I stepped off that building, I spread my wings and let the wind carry me. The wind ignited something deep inside my very bones, my body burned and pulsated with a sensation that cannot be put into words. The air whistled deafeningly past my ears, it was the most beautiful sounds I had heard. I hit the pavement…
In the few fleeting moments before death, I knew. I knew I was finally a bird; I knew, I was finally free.