“Pretty bird.”
 

I was greeted with silence.

“Pretty bird,” I called out again, this time a little louder.
 

Silence. My heart skipped a beat.

That’s weird, they always answer.
 

I threw my white backpack on the floor, coiled my dark black hair into a tight bun,and rushed over to the bird cage that was sitting near the cream leather couch. My two, green and blue parakeets, looked tired and fluffed up as I kneeled down and opened the cage door to let them out. My parakeets looked at me blankly without even blinking. 
 

I expeditiously walked over to the mahogany dining table, opened my laptop, and sat down.
 

I inhaled in sharply. My eyes widened, and I couldn’t think straight. It just couldn’t be. This can’t be happening. I pushed in my chair and stood up. My legs were unstable as the waves of the sea. Very slowly I walked over to their cage.

They were going to die. They were going to die. They were going to die.

These thoughts kept on swirling in my head, no matter how hard I tried to shove them out.

I reached my trembling hand into my parakeet's cage. I slowly lifted them up and out of the cage into my shaking hand. Their chests were heaving very slowly as I brought them closer to my lap. I gently stroked their soft feathers.

Tears threatened to trickle down my face, but I held them in.

I am not going to cry. I told myself sternly.

I talked to my parakeets. Talking in the hopes of keeping them alive even longer.

My parakeets that I had ever since I was eight.

My parakeets that listened to me when no one else would.
   

I saw the light slowly go out of Blue’s tiny black eyes. He gently landed on my lap with a soft thud.
   

“No,” I whimpered.
 

I watched as Green hobbled over Blue’s lifeless body and peck at it, knowing that he had died.
 

Green wouldn’t stay alive. I knew that. Moments later he landed on my lap dead.
 

I stared at them for a while thinking about what I would say to Mom and Dad.
Silent tears were escaping out of my dark brown eyes. More were trying to
wiggle out of them, but I wouldn’t allow them to fall.
They were gone. Gone!
 

I gently scooped up the lifeless birds into my cold hands and placed them into a shoebox. Then I stepped outside to bury them in my backyard.
  I took two steps when I walked back inside before I crumpled to the ground sobbing. Green and Blue's faces shimmering in the back of my eyes.