Akpan woke up, panting and drenched in sweat. His hands were stretched out.

“Help me,” he whispered but, no one answered. “Has humanity become so bad?” His stomach was growling with pain and hunger. He cried out once more but people hurried past him like a vermin.

There wasn’t hope at the location he was so he crawled his way to bay and college street. Bay and college had traffic which meant help was certain.

Akpan got to the intersection at Bay and College and paused. People sneered at him. Others spat on him. So this is what it means to be at the bottom, he thought.

Life must have been so hard for people who like him, now have to beg to feed and live. He kept crawling until he couldn’t again. His eyelids were shutting just as he felt help was about to come. He saw someone or something coming his way. Was it a man? Woman? Child? Alien? Who was it? What was it?

He stretched out his hands to hold whatever was in front of him but his body failed him as he felt weak and lost consciousness as soon as the warmth descended upon him.

*******

Okokomaiko had always known she was different.

She always felt differently about her environment and the world. The sky is vast and the ability to fly at a high altitude never ceased to amaze her. She felt different from the rest of her clan because while the others flew in formation, she lingered to observe humans as she always found them fascinating.

Humans fascinated Okokomaiko. They call themselves superior yet they act lowly. They walk the earth like tomorrow will never come. They also look down on their fellow brothers and sisters to serve their interest.

Okokomaiko found humans to be interesting to the point that everyday, she sits and observes their interaction on top the roof of the TTC station at college street. On this fateful day however, she saw a man that looked tattered. He was hungry, homeless and sad. It was obvious life had dealt with him.

Okokomaiko looked again and realized that she had seen the man before. She could tell he was hungry. She knew because she used to be an angry bird because of hunger.

She had to do something but what could she do? She attacked humans to divert them towards the poor man so they could help but the response was counterproductive. People seemed to avoid the man as she diverted them towards him.

Eventually, she changed her approach and grabbed some food. As soon as she approached the man, he collapsed…