Image: https://pixabay.com/en/users/Myriams-Fotos-1627417/

I’ve been cooped up in this egg for as long as I can remember.

You any idea how uncomfortable it is with your legs up behind your head, my feet aren’t exactly soft and luxurious, and several times a day I’d find them digging into my head which is soft and extremely cute if I say so myself. On top of that my beak is getting bigger and there’s just nowhere to put it, like its stuck on the front of my face in a space where movement is very limited.

But I’m about to break free, I got so fed up I’ve been banging on the shell this past week, and at last, it’s given way.

Its bright out isn’t it. I wasn’t ready for that. I mean there was the hint of light through the shell but nothing as blinding as this.

My eyes are not adjusting as quickly as I’d hoped.

On top of that, I’m feeling very hungry, and I hope there’s at least some sort of smorgasbord after all this effort.

I often heard my parents talking, their excitement is obvious, after all, I’m their first. They will be proud of me I know they will.

I’m about to push my head out. Won’t they be surprised when they see me?

I intend to be as adorable as I can, win them over, have them gushing over me and have them spoil me like no one’s business.

I’m looking out and oh my goodness, but there’s this huge ugly thing staring down at me.

My mother?

Let me crawl back into the egg, save me, this is a hideous sight.

She looks at me and curls a sound that is immediately comforting. She nudges my small beak with her gigantic one, and I feel her shoving something into my mouth.

Its soft, it’s mushy, it’s disgusting.

Ugh!!!

She shoves it deep into my mouth, and I gag, is this to be my life from now on?

Suddenly there’s a huge shadow over the nest, she coos loudly and I see a huge flapping of wings, feet land beside me that simply terrify me and I hear my mother announce my father has arrived.

He is equally as ugly as my mother, and it suddenly dawns on me that I too will grow up to look like them.

My prospects are fading as I now struggle to free myself of the egg shell that has been my home. Outside the air is cold, the food disgusting and I now realize I am going to grow into a bird I don’t want to be.

My mum reassures me that every new chick has felt the same. Confronted with your future and coming to terms with it is never easy.

I’m to stay in the nest and feed from my mother’s mouth, from my father’s I have reservations as I never know where his mouth has been.

But hunger soon gets the better of me, and I’m finding my mouth open every time they return and regurgitate into my mouth. I decided it’s best not to question what it once might have been for when you are hungry you’ll eat anything that is given to you.

Life in the nest isn’t too bad. My wings are growing, my sense of bravery at flying from the nest is rising.

Mum says the day is coming where I’ll have to leave the nest, and I look forward to it but not in the way it arrives.

I’m looking over the edge thinking it’s a long way down when suddenly I am propelled into the air. Mum is shouting, “Spread your wing, spread your wings” as I plummet towards the ground. I spread them, close my eyes and feel myself take control of my fall. A few flaps and I’m airborne, and my life as an eagle begins.

Written for: https://thehauntedwordsmith.wordpress.com/2018/08/10/worth-a-thousand-words-25/