It looked like some sort of bird. It was very thin and mostly black. To Will it reminded him of a crow, except it had a thick strip of glowing purple lined by neon pink across shoulders. The color continued across the trim of its wings and down its slightly elongated tail. It’s chest was midnight black and from the back of its head sprung a few bright pink and purple feathers, kinda like they were out of place or something. It softly glowed in the darkening evening as if it were some sort of distant relative of a firefly. It’s eyes matched the black of its body, but somehow it didn’t seem the slightest bit threatening.

Will stared at it and didn’t move.

It tested the glass with two quick taps of its beak, and then began to push its head against the window, kinda like a cat might do if it wanted to be pet.

Was this thing actually trying to get inside? Will’s first instinct was to call out to his parents, but his mom and dad had been acting so weird lately he decided to just wait it out. He breathed in deep through his nose and leaned forward. He summoned his courage and slowly extended his hand to touch the glass.Immediately, the bird flew back a few feet and dragged a vivid blur of purple through the air. Then, within seconds it was back and perched against the windowsill. It tilted it’s head curiously, then again began to rub against the glass.

“What are you?” Will whispered.

The bird gave him a quick look.

“And what do you want?” He looked across his dresser drawers. The bird was pushing toward the blue hat. Will lifted the hat away and placed it on his head. The bird fluttered with excitement as it saw the purple bottle with the lid removed. It was after the pills. Will quickly replaced the lid and received a long frozen glare from the bird.

“You want these?” Will said. “Look here, what about this,” he pulled the remaining ball from his pocket and held it toward the window. Again the bird became excited, and moved to follow wherever Will lifted the orb.

He started to feel guilty. The bird obviously wanted this little thing, whatever it was. Why? Would it eat it? The curiosity began to gnaw away at him. He wanted to see what the bird would do. He’d like to open the window but there wasn’t any sort of latch. Will thought for a moment. It wasn’t dark yet. The sun was setting, but he still had a few minutes. If he could just slip outside for a second, just to see what the bird would do, how it would react if he let it have one of these things, then he’d come back inside. Maybe then the bird would come back. He didn’t want it to leave for good. It was like nothing he’d ever seen.

Without another thought, he slipped on his shoes and socks and covered himself in a light brown jacket. He tucked his blue baseball cap low over his dark hair and leaned out the door to check for his parents. They had both gone back to their room for the night.

Good. He’d have time. Just a few seconds to go outside, let the bird have what it wanted and then get back to his room to see if it would stay. Before he left he doubled back to his dresser, grabbed the purple bottle and and put it in his jacket pocket. Then he dashed from his room, quietly opened the front door and let it close softly but tightly behind him.

Will was finally outside.