Seraphine Neharika's home

Sera entered her small house after a long day at work. She had missed most of the school day because of the job she did, cleaning the various rooms in the animal hospital. She did enjoy the job. She was also entrusted with the care..everyday feeding of the patients and walking the dogs that were being boarded. She loved taking care of all the animals that were there, although she did none of the medical care, as that was the job of the vet and the vet's assistant.

Sera didn't mind that she couldn't afford to dorm at the school. She never much liked the idea of cramming herself in a dorm with god knows how many other people.

Her only pet was a Sun Conure named Indian Summer. She called the bird Summer. Birds were one of the cheapest pets to have, which was why she had her. Summer didn't even have a cage. She spent her days perched on an old coat rack with food bowls and handmade toys attached to it. She got free vet care for the bird as the boss knew her situation and she really liked Sera. It may have been more that her boss pitied her but she chose to believe it was because she liked her.

Sera sat in one of her two living room chairs, as she did not own a couch. Both chairs were mismatched and looked horrible together. Summer stretched her wings, soaring over to Sera's shoulder. Perching delicately on Sera, she began whistling, and talking. Hello how was your day? the bird spoke. What's for dinner? Sera laughed and scratched the bird's head. "You should still have some food in your bowl, Summer," she said. Summer nuzzled closer to Sera and closed her eyes as Sera fell asleep.

Seraphine woke up on the couch and quickly dressed for class. Dumping food in her bird's bowl, she didn't eat anything herself before grabbing her bag and leaving the house at a run, letting the door slam behind her.

Seraphine walked through her door, sighing. How had her day gone so downhill? She had expected the news she'd gotten, but expecting it hadn't made it any easier. She looked in the direction of Summer. The realization hit her like a punch in the stomach. Facts were, that Summer would now be expected to outlive her. At 5 years old, Summer was a very healthy, young conure. She would have to find a trustworthy person to whom she could entrust her pet. She had to be sure Summer would be well cared for after she was gone.


Sera sat down in her favorite worn chair and sighed. Summer was on the floor, lifting one leg then the other awkwardly as she did the familiar bird waddle over to her, her colorful green, gold and orange body moving from side to side, the long tail feathers moving in a circle, as Summer's head comically was the only part of the bird's body not actually in motion.

Sera smiled despite herself. Summer always made her feel better about any situation that she ended up in. But this one...no one could make her feel better about dying, including her pet. She leaned down to the floor extending one slender arm for Summer to climb onto. Summer put one foot on her hand and used her beak to pull herself up. She climbed Sera's arm, one foot in front of the other until she reached Sera's shoulder. The bird leaned into Sera's hair and nibbled her cheek, her thick rubbery tongue dotting the skin as Summer closed her eyes making little bird noises in her throat.

Scratching summer's head sera said, "You're happy to see me, Summer?" She smiled and said, "I needed to come home and see you...I just got bad news today sweetie. I am dying from a tumor and no one knows how long I have. I might not graduate." she said, the tears forming again. "So what's the point of trying to continue in school? All my hard work...for nothing. I won't have a life like I could have had." She sighed, falling silent.

Seraphine rested her tired body on her couch..She couldn't move as well now as she used to and it showed. At her last appointment they had discovered her tumor was growing faster than it had been expected, and she had already lost the use of her arms. she couldn't do anything, but the boy she had met those months ago had been coming every day to help her with everyday tasks like eating, doing her homework and even helping her with her baths. She was still very self conscious about it but it couldn't be helped.

She sighed and looked at her parrot, sitting dejectedly in her cage. She didn't understand that Seraphine could no longer to the very small task of lifting the cage lock to let her out. It was Kevin that did that now, as well as feeding Summer and changing her cage. The bird was very fond of him, and Seraphine could see the difference in him when he was alone with her. She wished he would let down his guard in public and be the sweet guy she knew he was.

She had homework to do and she had so many other things she wanted to do..losing the use of her arms had hit her hard and she was always conscious of everything she could no longer do..brushing her hair, getting a drink of water, even picking up something from the floor was beyond her. she hated the helpless feeling. if she could have she would have punched the couch.

she thought of getting up, but what was the point? anything she could have done requierd the use of her arms and she didnt want the helpless and useless feeling associated with something she couldnt do. about 10 minutes later she heard a knock at the door, and since she could no longer open the door she simply called out "come in"

Kevin slowly pushed open the door. The called out greeting had been full of pain and had sounded tired. he entered the room and smiled at the girl on the couch. he spoke in a voice he was growing more used to,,more gentle and caring than he'd ever spoken to anyone before. "How are you feeling?" he walked to Summer's cage and unlocked the door. The bird squawked and using her beak and claws climbed around to the outside of her cage and climbed to the top.he quickly filled the food bowls and went to sit by Sera. He slid her papers over to himself.

"Do you feel like going over this right now or do you want to do something else?" he reached over her and picked up the brush from the cushion beside her and gently started brushing her tangled soft brown hair. He brushed slowly wanting to make her feel better. He couldn't imagine how she felt but he promised himself she wouldn't go through this alone. He could see through her tough attitude. she needed someone to help her..be there for her. He looked around the room and noted things that needed cleaned or picked up and when he'd finished with her hair he stood and picked up stray bird toys and vacuumed the feathers littering the house. He continued straightening up her small home and when he'd finally finished putting it back in order, he went and sat beside the girl on the couch

Sera gave him a sad, shy smile. "Thank you for all the help you've given me Kevin..it's hard to not be able to do things for myself anymore..such simple things.." She looked up at him and sniffed, tears threatening to form.

"The doctors are trying to figure out if there is some way I might be able to use some sort of mechanical thing to regain some of the use of my arms..which would would be such a blessing for me." she looked at her bird, using his beak to crack a large brown nut held tightly in his taloned foot.

Sera leaned back against the back of the couch, happy at least to not be alone, to have somebody that knew what it was like to feel alone, even if his loneliness was imagined. she rested her head on his shoulder..."we should probably get to that homework now.."

Kevin pulled her books closer to him,and angled them so she could read through the first assignment. leaning forward, his short black hair swung into his eyes, at just the right angle to poke. "ouch!" he said, slapping one hand across his eye that had been poked, rubbing. he watched sera concentrating hard on her work, wondering curiously why she was still wanting to continue school. well now that all her studying would be of virtually no use because of her...disablility..

He really actually admired her spirit. and her willingness to fight through a life threatening problem, to continue with her studies, when he knew many people would roll over and just wait to die. This amazing girl was fighting. fighting to live, to do something with what time she had left. He himself would have said screw studying. would have given up.

Kevin blinked in shock realizing what he was doing. When did Sera become so important to him? He shook his head...was it possible he loved her? no way. no way he could love this girl! they would have so little time! But despite that knowledge, he let his arm slide around her giving her a comforting squeeze all the same.