"The journey to the South"

I see a light, it's bright… too bright. I'm trying to pull this shell off me, I don't really know why, but I hear sounds that just want me to come out… I take all my strength and kick the white shell suppressing me from the light… -Crack, I hear. It's a whole new world out here, I see a great creature before me… I sense something familiar about her, for some reason she's feeding me with love and treating me with care, she must like my colorful tail. 

I spend hours all day sleeping, and I dream about this thing called wind. I felt it on my beak and rushing through my skin, the great creature from before it's my mom, she takes care of me, until my wings can learn to fly. I'm supposed to grow over the next few days or so… Like mom tells me, we have to travel to a warm place and meet other ones like me, so we can live together. My mom searches for food while I enjoy and wonder about the world before me. I have an astounding view, I see big mountains and tall trees, but I don't see anyone like me. Maybe they are all at that place my mom told me about… Far from here there is a warm place where all the family reunites, she says. 

    Mom says it's time for me to learn how to fly. I'm kind of scared but excited to finally leave the nest, although it's comfy here, mom says we have to go and we can’t go until I learn how to fly. So mom takes me to the tallest branch and tells me to jump off, the ground seems harsh but I know mom wants me to learn so I do as she says, close my eyes, open my wings and jump. 

It's just like my dream... winds rushing through my skin and my wings opened widely and they found the balance between the ground and air. It's a whole new experience for me. I rushed to the top to meet my mom. She congratulates me and we fly together. She teaches me a few things and we spend the whole day flying. We played and saw all kinds of new things together. I feel that this day was the best one since my birth. 

 The next day we prepare to leave, after lunch we’ll be ready to take the southern path and get to the Caribbean. Mom says that after the mountains it's an easy path. I'm excited to meet new people like me, my mom feels a little more relaxed while we fly. We fly over trees and forests, we spent a few days flying, apparently the Caribbean is far from here… Mom names and tells me things along the way, we play games and at nights we cuddle together in trees to avoid the cold and keep warm. 

We flew through a lake where mom and I saw a herd of deers. She told me how deers jump and run fast. Mom will always tell me things, I said to myself. Then suddenly the deers start to jump and run far into the forest… My mom tells me to keep flying, I feel a breeze of cold rushing to my wings, my mom tries to cover me from the cold…the cold breeze becomes a harsh wind, the cold feels strict and demanding, the wind pushing us down. We start to flap our wings rapidly and mom braces me, the next thing I see is a white fog covering our sight, the cold is now impaling us through the air, another strong wind comes upon us and breaks us apart, my vision is blurry, I hear a ringing in my ear... I don't feel mom holding me anymore… I start to widget my wings and fly in circles trying to find her, all I see is pure, harsh, white snow on the ground… the trees move according to the winds and I feel lost. I keep flying... trying to overcome the storm but it's greater than me… I fall as if my wings were taken away from me, cold snow surrounds me and black pitch is my next view. 

I wake up from my nightmare to realize it happened, I feel the ground like I never felt it before, my wings hurt and my feet... I can’t feel… I look around me to find my mom, but instead I’m left with a void inside, she’s out of my sight, I feel like my whole world is just turning apart... I'm trying to go back to sleep, hopefully this would all pass... 

Hours pass and I'm still on the ground, defeated and alone, I cuddled myself and cried to myself… I slept for some time and dreamt of the south -Mom always said that the south is the place where everything gets better, where family reunites.... Family reunites... An idea came to my head. I pulled all the strength I had left and stood up, I jumped high and took flight... I close my eyes and remember my mother’s words; everything would get better in the south, just go through the mountains and it's an easy path from there... 

I see the mountain's shade, it will take a lot of strength to get past them, I look up and I spread my wings, let mom's voice guide me through the air and climbing every step... Once again my wings found the balance. Not all was lost. I can still get to the south... After the mountains it's an easy path to the south.

After some days, and many kilometers of flying, and taking quick stops for resting I began hearing noises, just like mom said... I was close. I keep flying and I finally saw the groups of different birds just singing through the skies, sharing news and reuniting with friends and family... just like mom said. I landed in a sweet spot beside the lake to drink water. People come to greet me at our new house for a few months, this place will keep us warm and the cold will never get through us. We have overcome our challenges and we flew high to get here, I feel good and rested. My journey feels complete, I did what mom wanted me to do… 

From that day on, I lived my life knowing there’ll be downs, sadness and fear but also knowing that at the end of every dark tunnel there will always be a bright light ahead, having problems is just a part of life. My first journey to the south I would never forget, and that will be a story I'll always tell. 

thank you for reading, this is my first time writing a short story :) I'm sorry about the grammatical errors :'(