don’t think birds like me. Or rats, for that matter.”
“Chloe likes everyone, I’ve never met anyone that she doesn’t like.” He stepped closer still.
“You sure?”
“Positive. Scratch her on her head, she loves it.”
“Okay.” I reached out and Chloe didn’t flinch. This was a good start and it filled me with enough confidence to lay a fingertip on her head. Her head felt soft and her little feathers immediately ruffled.
“She’s so cute.” I smiled, but it was short-lived, because that’s when it happened. Again!
CHAPTER 13
“Get her away! Get her away, get her . . . Aaaahhh!” I wailed, and stumbled about the room as Chloe flew at me, her wings flapping in my face frantically with a sound that was almost deafening.
“I’m so sorry!” Noah said, chasing me and the bird around the room. He kept trying to grab Chloe, but she was relentless. She kept coming for me, over and over again. I ran around the kitchen, waving my arms in the air, trying to fight off this gray, feathered devil. But the kitchen was small, and with me and Chloe and Noah all running around in circles, the crash was fairly inevitable. I ran into the fridge, hit it with a bang, it rocked back and forth once, twice, and then the door popped open and stuff just fell out. Cascaded onto the floor, a cacophony of clinks and pops and bangs, and then a shatter followed by the whoosh of liquid. But this distraction gave Noah a chance to finally grab Chloe. He held onto her tightly, and looked at me, out of breath.
“I’m so sorry. She’s never done that before.”
“Told you animals hated me!”
“I’ll put her back in her cage.” Noah left the room and I gave a sigh of relief. I took a step, only to hear a squelching sound and feel the most disgusting sensation I’d ever experienced. I looked down at my foot. A macerated pickle lay squished on the floor beneath it. Mashed into the tiles, mashed through my toes. I cringed at the feel of it and shook my foot. Green-pickle mash flew off and hit the cupboard. I looked around the floor and took in the carnage. Red jam smeared and splattered across the floor, like it had been murdered, pickles, pickle juice and glass shards everywhere. Black olives and more glass and bright pink slices of ham drowning under the brown olive brine. My stomach lurched at the sight.
“Oh,” I heard Noah say, and I looked up at him and grimaced.
“Oops. Sorry,” I said.
“It’s okay. I made you touch her.”
We both looked down at the mess together, and I’m sure he was thinking exactly what I was. I took another step.
“Stop! There’s glass. You don’t have shoes on.”
I looked down at my toe, it was a mere centimeter away from a bright shard glinting off the overhead lights, pointing straight up, waiting for the soft, fleshy cushion of a toe to come down on it.
“I think I’m kind of stuck.” I shrugged apologetically.
“Lean forward,” Noah said, stretching his arms out.
“Lean?” I looked at his outstretched hands. “What are you going to do?”
“Lift you onto the counter, if that’s alright?”
“Uh . . .” I looked from his hands, to the counter and back again. “I don’t think you’ll be able to do that.”
“Trust me,” he said, and for some strange reason . . . I did, even though only moments ago I’d thought he might potentially be a serial killer! I leaned and he slipped his hands underneath my arms and gripped me. “Now jump.”
“Jump?”
“Just a little.” He smiled at me and this, coupled with the sensation of his hands under my arms, made me feel strange and floaty. Like, if I did jump, it would be much higher than expected. That I might jump straight up to the roof, or even higher. I looked him in the eye briefly, just a flash of that vibrant blue. It was almost too bright to look at directly and I quickly tilted my head down.
“Okay, I’ll jump,” I whispered. I bent my knees a little and jumped, and as I did, I felt myself being lifted into the air, as if on a trampoline. My feet and body flew up, and then a small, swinging sensation as he pulled me through the air effortlessly, as if I weighed nothing and gravity didn’t exist. I think I heard myself giggle, I’m not sure. And then, touchdown. My bum came into contact with the counter