As Delilah shuffled through the bushes, the summer air dry and filled with the smell of strange plants. There was a waft of garbage as well, her nose snorting through the environment as she passed the rusted gate into the sump area.

The bird was sitting on a old, discarded toilet bowl that was cast down into the sump, which basically was a huge drainage system.

The sump smelled like Roger's armpit. It wasn't so bad if one could stand upwind. Delilah wrinkled her nose, but it was never more than four inches away from the trash and muck. On an ordinary day, in her ordinary body, she would have stepped gingerly around the puddles. Now she splashed through on her way to the bird-child.

"Wait! Wait! I'm over here! Don't go!"

"Tweeeet! Tweeet! Tweet!" The bird chirped, a clear signal to the animal side of Delilah's brain that it acknowledged her presence and had been expecting her.

Delilah squealed and trotted around the old toilet. Her trotters scrambled and slid against the porcelain. It would be difficult to climb beside Bird. She was still breathing fast. The animal catcher could be coming. Or something worse. Beady, piggy eyes looked up to the bird full of fear and questions.

"Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!" Delilah could see her own reflection in the dirty toilet bowl as she got close and the bird was tweeting away.

Gone was the familiar face of a young girl. Instead, there was a snout which stuck out from her round face. A pack of bunched-up, strong muscles capable of contorting and maneuvering.  It looked more like an ugly fist with whiskers than a nose.

"Awww..." The bird said. "I know how you feel. It's the first day really. So it's a lot to take in." It sympathized, clearly letting the words fall softly as it climbed to the height of the bowl, looking down at Delilah's face only a few inches above her now.

The sight of her reflection stopped her breath. It came back in fits and starts, hitching and hiccupping. Her pig feet scrapped at the smooth porcelain. Not to climb, but to scratch away the face that couldn't be hers. She blinked away tears and the sick feeling rising in the back of her throat.

"Why'd this happen? Why won't it all go away?"

The bird moved its head in a rapid series of small jerks.

"You did something wrong that probably got Mr. Cherrywink's attention. That's the name of the big Clown. Or maybe you did something wrong that got one of his companion's attention."

"Whatever you did, you did it over and over again. Not just once. Tweet!"

"There's an evil Circus coming, and it's attracted to bad kids, or kids that do bad things. Things like lying or being mean and greedy. Or eve thinking your better than everyone. Or maybe doing stuff parents tell you not to do. Tweet!"

Delilah took her heated glare off her own hideous reflection to glower at the bird. This lesson would not go down easily.

"I ain't greedy. And I don't tell lies. And when I say I'm better'n somebody? It's the truth. I am better, 'cuz I work harder. I don't give up."

She was too angry to say anything else for a moment. Her jaws and strange teeth worked at chewing something that wasn't there. She stalked around the toilet, but the view was the same no matter how she turned. Wanting to win all the time... needing to be the best... that couldn't be greedy, could it? No! A competitive edge was a good thing!

"I saw somebody who was all friends with a clown, so my friend has'ta die? And I get turned to a pig? It's not fair!"

"Tweet! Tweet!" The bird shouted. "Tweet! Tweet!"

"You've got to find a way back. The Pig-man probably owns you. That's why your a pig. The Clown owns a pet shop, so all of his kids turn into birds or some other kind of creature like me. If you get out like me, then you stay....tweet!"

"I'm not going back. Because....tweet!" the bird moved its head to the side. "I don't remember why."

"But I know that if you don't go back.....then you don't go back." It finished, rather lamely, voice high-pitched, tone confused.

Delilah lowered her head and snuffled at the ground.

"Yeah, the PigMan." She no longer sounded as angry. Just tired and small and sad.

"I'm gonna go back. I can't be like...this," she snorted. Her snout wiggled and she scraped at it with one foreleg. "You said I just haveta go to sleep, right? And I go back there? To how I was?"

"Yes." The bird confirmed, though it didn't seem happy about it. "But..." it started, looking down at Delilah. "What about me?"

"You could stay here with me. We could forget everything and just be animals forever. We'd never knew what happened and who we were. We'd forget all of those terrible things forever." It offered.

"What? No. No! I can't just stay here an' forget! I gotta get back to normal and find my mom. And my sister." She snorted and stomped around in a little circle. "I don't wanna stay just 'cause you gave up! 'Sides it's not like pigs and birds and things can be real life friends. This isn't Charlotte's Web."

The bird fluffed its feathers. "But, if you stay, it won't matter anyway." It reasoned. The plumage on its chest puffed out, resembling something like a sigh. "Because you'll forget. And then, who knows, maybe we can be friends, since animals seem to get along good."


"But if you go back, you'll have to face......it."

IT

Delilah stopped pacing when she heard that. It scared her, but she couldn't admit to that now.

"Oh yeah! Well--!" She flopped to the ground and nuzzled her nose between her forelegs. She wiggled to get comfy in the cold and damp and hoped that Bird wouldn't notice how shaky she sounded.

The bird was looking at her--down it's short beak. It looked like it might pass judgement on her. But then, it cocked it's head to one side.

"Tweet!"

"Listen!" It cried. Birds were chirping in the distance.

"That's for me! Their calling for me. If I go, I'll have a family. I'll say goodbye to everything I knew: my parents, my friends and my hope of becoming real again. Honestly...it just...it hurts too much to go back to where I was before it got me. There's too much I'd have to figure out. Too much I'd have to build again. I'd...I'd rather just go..."

"Just go and start something new. I won't even remember I made this decision anyway. Once I make it, I'll be gone in a few days or weeks maybe. I'll just be a bird. Just a simple bird with no pain and no worries." The bird said, slowly convincing himself that being a bird was better than being a boy, or going back to confront what was terrifying in his real life. A life that had been torn to bits by the Circus and the malevolent Clown that had made its way into Delilah's house and her life.

"Whatever. I'm tryin' to sleep. So beat it, Birdbrain." Delilah sniffled and rolled onto her side, away from the bird and his noisy flock. Maybe then he wouldn't notice her wet eyes.

Bird gave up. And giving up was for suckers. Bird was going to fly away with its new family. Delilah had to find her own family and she couldn't do that as a piglet. Going back meant facing the PigMan. She remembered how the PigMan struck one of the other kids in the sweatshop. And there were things far worse than him. She shuddered.

The bird flew away from the bowl, taking off and gliding towards the sounds, confirming that it had indeed, given up.

Delilah tossed and turned, tried to get comfortable....

OOC: Delilah joins thread

Delilah: You've Been Bad...