Realization

But the skinny guy wasn't done. And the words he spoke next were never to fade from the memory of the enchanted bird.

- I need some help. Please stop for a moment to save me.

He knew what any fair-hearted person should do when hearing such pleas. But the nightingale decided to silence the voice of his conscience and went away, leaving him alone on the tree. And so, for a second time, he abandoned him to his poor fate.

The days went by, leaving the nightingale in a state of total desolation.

To keep his dignity and... his perfect life, he rejected the hand of a being, a being who asked for his friendship. He was only beginning to glimpse the value of what is outside his narrow vision, and he finally understood countless things. Essential things.

"He wanted me to stay, that's all. And at that moment he used all the strength he had to hold me back, supported by the hope that I would look at him as he always wanted to be looked at, me more than anyone else, since I was the most beautiful, and in contradiction able to understand him, with tenderness, the same tenderness I believe he always possessed in himself, in his heart, and with which he had to look at the world. And now, no matter what happens or what he was, he was already excused. But for me whose beauty was acclaimed by all, what was hidden there was uglier than all the skinny people in the world.

I see," he thought again. "The real ugly was not the black bird in fact."

And as the sun's rays lit up the nightingale's weeping face, which for the first time knew tears, his heart finally found its serenity.

- Where are you going? asked his friends, seeing him open his wings wide.

- I am going to join my friend. Answered the beautiful nightingale.

- Well, we are here now, so you don't have to go anywhere.

But he laughed and shook his head.

- Not you, my buddies. The other. He clarified by looking at them with quietude and knowing that the latter understood immediately of whom their friend spoke.

- Ah I see! This little black anorexic eh!? It seems that you like him. But if you go and join this so-called friend, you won't be one of us anymore, and don't ever come back to see us. You see, we are bathed in beauty, so our club will never welcome birds of his kind. And I doubt he even has one. Beings like him are made to be relegated to a dark and lonely corner, I would never tarnish my reputation in the eyes of others by accepting him. This is our condition. So you have a choice. It's all of us or it's him. All of us with your light life or him.

He turned to his friends who, he understood, only wanted to protect him.

- I love you, that I will never deny. And I think that you already know it. But I beg you, you should also understand what you already realized, that I love him too.

And he flew away... leaving behind everything that made his life. Now he understood.

But when he arrived to find the little nest of his new friend, he saw only a ransacked house, blood stained the floor. His little feathers were torn out and scattered in the chaos.

The heart beating wildly, the nightingale looked for him everywhere, in this unbelievable devastation, he did not stop looking, and found him, stuck under a huge tree trunk.

- What have I done...?

The nightingale felt so much pain at the sight of this small fragile being damaged, that he felt his heart emptied of all feeling.

- I don't know this strange evil...what to do...

But his heart refused this grief, as immense as it was. His house was devastated, but if he was not dead, then that meant there was still hope. The nightingale stood up and tried with all his might to push the huge tree trunk away.

- My friend, I'm sorry for abandoning you like I did, I will make it up to you, I promise. Then we'll live those wonderful moments that you wanted so much. So please, I beg you! Be still alive .

But the fight had only just begun. For the enemies were hiding in the shadows, waiting for the arrival of the enchanting nightingale, which they thought unlikely. But the thin bird was mistaken, he had come. Then two large birds of prey with plumage even blacker than that of their victim, and shining in the darkness, emerged from their hiding place and charged, claws out, at their precious target. They were a pair of monsters who attacked the weakest to dominate, torture and exploit them. But the nightingale while dodging the attack of his adversaries, wondered by what means his friend, so weak perhaps, but so brave had been able to be at this point governed. Slipping between the ruins to try to stun the greedy enemies, he wondered if he would be able to get him and his skinny wounded man out of this dangerous situation.

But it was said to be the day of mistakes, because besides being a sincere friend, he also had some.

- We're coming, hold on!

His friends, whom he had thought incapable of taking the step of acceptance, came together to their rescue. They took care of the two big birds of prey by holding them back with force and throwing the big trunk that had crushed the bird to which their beautiful nightingale was so attached. The two raptors crashed to the ground and disappeared under dead leaves. A magnificent symbol of defeat.

- Thank you guys, you are real friends! The nightingale exclaimed, moved, surrounding them with his radiant wings.

- And how! If you really cared that much about this little chick, we just had to get used to it. If he's your friend, then he's ours too. And then you are desperately naive and beautiful, but above all fair, that's why we are so attached to you, and why we thought it was our duty to protect you. Always.

- You are great, friends! The nightingale repeated, smiling with all his heart.

And he returned to the side of his dear friend in agony, a moment delighted, but when the nightingale noticed the state in which the latter was, he thought he would collapse with pain. His body was covered with wounds, blood was spurting from where the feathers had been savagely plucked.