Dream Of A Parrot Novels & Stories

He was feeling so high, he wanted to climb to the highest mountain to shout that he was going to be a father. He still couldn’t believe it! It truly felt too good to be true. But at this point, he was done trying to make sense of the mechanisms of fate. He was going to do his best to make sure that the cards he had been dealt with worked in his favor. He heard Reggie clear her throat shyly, the action snapping him out of his thoughts. “I-I didn’t know I was that hungry,” She declared with a blush, gesturing towards the now empty plate of biscuits and the equally empty box of juice.

He bent down to scoop me up into his arms and was ready to take me to the hospital when the parrot spoke again. "Get rid of the baby! Get rid of the baby!" I instinctively covered Gabriel's ears and looked at him through tears. "Please, don't listen to it." But I knew he heard it. And just like that, his expression shifted. He looked away from me and turned to stare at the parrot. The parrot's words echoed through the whole house, and it felt like they were etched into my mind. I grabbed Gabriel's face, forcing him to look at me. "Honey, don't believe it. It's nonsense. Please, don't listen to that bird."

*“Please... take me to the hospital... please... take me to hospital...” I froze. My blood turned to ice. It was a voice, but it was high-pitched and repetitive. That was Simba, my parrot. I’d had that bird for years, and he was a genius at mimicking whatever he heard. If he was saying that, it meant someone had been begging for their life somewhere in this house recently. I lunged for the door to the room where Simba was kept. I grabbed the handle and twisted it. The door was locked.

“You’re the most beautiful tiger I’ve ever seen. Your eyes look like stars in the night sky. These chicken drumsticks are my gift to you. I’ve got a mountain up north. Come with me, and you’ll be king there.” I laid it on thick—full-on flattery mode—but Thor the Tiger blinked, clearly confused. That was when it struck me that he, an animal, couldn’t understand human language. Luckily, Pedro the Parrot came to my rescue. It perched right on top of the tiger’s cage, wings puffed up as it typed rapidly into the group chat. Pedro the Parrot: [Thor the Tiger, she said you’re the most beautiful tiger she’s ever seen. Your eyes look like stars in the night sky.]

My dreams have become so sad, I don’t get so surprised when I see the wet patch on the bundle of clothes I call pillow, whenever I wake up. Like who wouldn’t cry at being thrown out of a large boat where she was earlier surrounded by people, loving and caring people. Left to float in loneliness and rejection. Yes, those were the kind of dreams I have nowadays. I keep my hands busy; plucking out weed that have grown around my flowers. Parasites that have grown around my babies. I am keeping busy to avoid being stuck in my thoughts or even to forget my dreams. Am I a parasite? Am I? Does remaining here and watching Jude and Theresa flaunt their new found love around the base, make me a parasit

The door cracks open, and there he is, standing in his tiny dinosaur pajamas, hair sticking up in all possible directions with one hand rubbing his sleepy eye. And in the other hand… Oh boy. “Sergio,” I whisper, trying not to smile. The parrot-shaped teddy bear dangles from his fingers. It’s colorful felt wings flopping sadly with each step he takes toward my bed. “Kian, sweetheart,” I say gently, “why are you up?” He climbs onto the mattress without answering until he’s finally under the blanket beside me. Only then does he say, in the smallest voice: “I had a bad dream.”

Nobody in my memory matched him at all. Then one night, after yet another late shift, I was scrolling through my phone like a zombie when a pop-up appeared out of nowhere. It had a cheap glittering border, the whole nine yards, a classic bottom-of-the-barrel web ad. It was for some app I had never heard of called Astra. I was about to close it when my finger froze in midair for three full seconds. The model on the landing page looked exactly like the man from my dreams. I could not bring myself to close it. Instead, I kept reading.