Pat was restless and so was I. When Ticha left, she did the dishes and left me on my own for hours. She hid in her room coming out only to use the bathroom. I was going stir crazy being cooped up the entire time. The long hours without any interaction was driving me nuts.

I banged on the metal food bowl to get Pat's attention but nothing happened.

I squawked, whistled and trilled but it had no effect on her.

When I couldn't take it any longer, I screamed.

"Fire!"

The bedroom door opened. Pat ran to the living room panicked. The sight of her was enough to make me whistle but I didn't. She had on a thin sleeveless shirt, very short shorts that showed off flawless legs and she was barefoot. I never really paid attention to feet when I was human. At least not in a sexy kind of way. But Pat's were long, the toes pink on the tips and the nails were short and clean.

"Where?" She stopped a few feet away from me to look around but saw no sign of smoke.

"Finally," I took my eyes away from her feet.

"Why, you?" Her fist was up in the air.

"Don't do that."

"Don't do what?"

"Say things like that. It's dangerous."

"I'm lonely."

"What?"

"I've been making a raucous in here but you're ignoring me."

"I'm busy."

"With what?"

"The script. Duh."

"Well, I'm exhausted."

"With what? You're not doing anything."

"Exactly. It's tiring being in a cage all day."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Let me out?" I batted my eyes to charm my way into getting what I want.

"Nah uh. There's no way in hell."

"Come on," I was about to say her name but she got mad the last time I did that.

"Pat," I still did it.

"You said you weren't going to hurt me. This," I tap my claws on the perch, "is a way of killing me. My muscles will atrophy, my feathers will fall off. I will poop. Lots and lots of poop."

Her eyes grew wide clearly horrified with that part.

"How can I be sure you're not going to hurt me?"

"I should ask you the same thing."

"I told Tan I'm not going to hurt you."

"Telling someone something and actually doing it are two different things."

"I'm afraid."

"Of what?"

"That if I let you loose you'll...,"

"I will what?"

"I don't know. Fly away?"

"I will not fly away. I'm not stupid."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Tan lets me out all the time."

"But you're in my house not his."

"It doesn't matter. I just want to walk around and do my steps."

"Your what?"

Did I see a hint of a grin?

"My steps. Humans do it too.You should know that."

"Do you have to make like ten thousand steps or something?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Nothing," The grin never left her face.

I knew what she meant. Tan was always telling me how we have to walk so he can meet his goal of hitting ten thousand steps. It was tiring but not for me. I was on his shoulder the whole time so I didn't have to do any work. People would stop and turn when they see us. It wasn't everyday when you see a grown man walking with a beautiful parrot.

"I don't want to do it," Pat said with a firm tone.

"Why not?"

"I don't trust you."

"You think I trust you?"

The shock in her eyes was instant.

"Are you always this snarky?"

"Only when necessary. Now," I reeled the conversation back to our original topic. If I wanted Pat to agree to what I wanted, I should tone down the snark and turn up the charm.

"Please? Let me out for a bit?" I cooed.

"Hmmm...I don't know," She folded her arms across her chest.

"Ten minutes?"

If I had to bargain for the short amount of freedom, I would.

"Nope."

Damn.

This girl, this beautiful creature with the youthful face and eyes that held both warmth and mischief, would be the literal death of me.

In a final act of desperation, I summoned all my parrot strength and let out a high wailing cry. It echoed all over the room causing Pat to cover her ears with both hands. I rarely pull a tantrum. If this was the way to let Pat do what I want then so be it.

"Okay, fine." She yelled.

I stopped screaming.

"Don't bite me, okay?" She took careful steps towards the cage. Pat stretched one hand and my small heart was beating fast with anticipation. But just when her fingers were close enough to lift the latch, she would look at me and then retreat. She did that multiple times that I was close to abandoning the idea and accepting my fate that I would be in this cage the whole time I was with her.

"Come on. You got this," I coaxed with the sweetest tone I could muster.

"Why is this so hard?"

You tell me.

I didn't say that out loud. Pat was doing concrete steps to face her fear. I just wanted ten minutes of freedom.

She took deep breaths and then in a courageous attempt to grant a bird her wish, she walked towards the cage again, flicked the latch and then stepped back as fast as she can.

I kicked the thin metal bar and jumped out of the cage.

It felt so good to not be confined and to be able to stretch my legs.

Pat stood frozen in the middle of the room. I didn't want to startle her so I took slow steps to let her know that I wasn't the scary creature she imagined me to be. I noticed her shoulders slowly moving downwards the tension easing out of her body.

This is good. Baby steps but very good.

I was about to jump to the couch when the doorbell rang. It startled the hell out of me that I flew towards where Pat was standing. She ducked to avoid my wings and I lost control. I collided with the wall and bonked my head against it.

The room went dark afterwards.