I have seen many things in my many travels. I have seen the giant octopus, the view from the peak of Mount Everest, and even saw a cave full of bats that looks like it came from a cartoon. What I saw was a freak of nature though, just incredible. I’m sorry, where are my manners. I am Dylan Maxwells, explorer of strange and exotic places. I am a biologist by profession, or at least I want to be. I use the money my parents business brings in to travel around the world to find something strange enough that I can get into the top biologist research lab in the world, Maxwells-Brown Research Facilities. Now, I know my parents own half the company, but we all agreed that I should not get any special treatment and I need to prove to my parents and the Browns that I deserve to be hired as a researcher. My parents said I should start at the bottom of the company and work my way up, but I wanted to travel, so they give me the bare minimum for travel, lodging, and food. Now, back to the topic at hand. I was traveling through the Amazon Rainforest, going deeper than anyone else dared to ever. I had my knives and guns to protect me from the giant spiders and hungry wild cats and set up camp. I had collected plant and fungus samples as I hiked earlier that day and was considering turning around and going home. I woke up and packed all of my stuff up and armed myself against attack. As I turned north there was a loud rustling in the bushes. I immediately pulled myself into a defensive position, but instead of a hungry cat or huge spider there was a bird. Now, you think a bird? What’s so special about a bird? and I’ll tell you, that bird was the biggest bird I have ever seen. It’s body was the size of an ostrich but the shape of a hawk and it’s wingspan was bigger than an andean condor it’s color was black with bright blue speckles, It was beautiful. It looked at my with anger and pain, I was afraid that it was going to attack me, but instead it passed out. I noticed blood had died the bird’s feathers a dark red on it’s shoulder. I knew first aid as well as animal anatomy and was confident that I would be able to help. I quickly cleaned and bandaged the wound I set my camp up again, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to carry a bird that heavy through the Amazon and I couldn’t just leave him. As I was making roasted rabbits for dinner the bird woke up. At first he was confused and scared, but I quickly calmed him down and looked into his eye’s for the first time. They were strikingly blue and looked intelligent. He seemed to know that he would hurt himself more by moving too much and so he stayed by me. The two of us became fast friends and so when he healed I was happy and sad at the same time, I knew he would leave me at any time. After a week of being fully recovered though, he didn’t leave. He helped me hunt and kept me company. I knew I had to go home soon so I packed up. Our parting was sad I cried and I could see the sadness in my friend’s eyes too. In the time we had been together I had come to understand him, so I knew his emotions and his actions. He guarded me until we were at the edge of his territory, before I left he gave me a feather from his breast as a memento and I gave him my favorite necklace. When I was home my parents gave me a warm welcome and I showed them the plants and fungi I collected from around the world and I got my dream job, and I would have been excited, but I could not get my friend out of my head. My parents confronted me about it, but I couldn’t tell anyone about the new bird species I discovered, that would put my friend in danger. I did my work properly, but every time I saw a bird I would think of him. One day, on my day off I went to the park and sat to draw in my notebook when someone sat next to me. We sat in silence for a while then he looked and complimented my drawing. “What a lovely bird.” I looked up to smile at the man who complimented the picture of my friend from the Amazon and was surprised. His hair was a messy black with blue highlights and his eyes reminded me of my friend so much that I started to cry. He was shocked, but wasn’t offended. “Don’t cry Dylan.” He said. My eyes widened, how did he know my name? Then I saw the glint of a necklace, my necklace. My mind was whirling, How did this man know my name and have the necklace I gave to a bird who lives deep in the Amazon? Then he spoke again. “I am a strange kind of bird that can choose one other form, I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to be until I met you. You helped me and when I didn’t hear anything about my kind I knew that it was because you kept me a secret. I wanted to thank you, so I chose to turn into a human.” I started to cry again, but this time he did panic, wondering if he did something wrong. I laughed and invited him to meet my parents, we walked hand in hand the whole way.