Sparrow

From Sparrow : I walk home from school, looking everywhere for a bird -- any kind -- but it's like they've all left town. I feel a kind of lonely that's entirely different from the eat-lunch-in-the-bathroom kind. It's worse. Somewhere inside is the knowledge that they're never coming back. That I traded them in for just the idea of talking. That they know that I will eventually betray them, and so they've forgotten me. I try not to listen to this knowledge... I curl into a ball on my bed. I can't bear to look out the window. I don't want to see the empty sky. Don't want to wait for them to come, knowing that they never will. I stay curled in a ball until the sun sets. I fall asleep, I guess, but fall isn't really the word. I plummet. In my dream, for a minute, things are perfect. My body goes light and my arms go out, my heart swoops up and soars down; it's like it always is... I stretch my wings... Excerpted from Sparrow by Sarah Moon All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.