It was a sunny day, not a cloud in sight and all that jazz. Someone was playing piano inside the plantation, filling the large house with its sweet sound. A small girl played with blocks on her bedroom floor, humming along with the music. The smell of honeysuckle floated in through the open window.
While she was playing, the girl failed to notice the white birds on her powder blue wallpaper. The one closest to the window blinked its eyes, waking up from its sleep. It stretched its wings, stiff. It had never seen this room before; but, then again, waking up in an unusual place wasn't unknown to the paper bird. It had done it many times before.
“Marie!” the little girl's mother called from down below. Gathering herself off the wooden floor, Marie picked up her favorite doll off her bed and skipped out of the room. She slammed the door behind her, which caused a large boom! to reverberate off the walls, drowning out the sound of the piano.
At last, the bird thought, pealing itself off the wall. Chirping in delight, it swooped out the window, hoping not to get caught like the last time. The spring wind carried it higher and higher, the sun's beams heating its back. As the thin, white bird lost its balance and was pushed higher into the air, its wing caught on a tree branch, tearing it in half. The sad, limp body sank to the ground, lifeless.
Meanwhile, the small girl returned to her room, hoping to return to her toys. When the door creaked open, she jumped inside. Screaming, she whipped her hands around her head in protection as the identical birds fluttered around, fighting to get out the window. By the time her mother reached her room, all the paper monsters had flown the coup, meeting the same fate as their leader.
It all began when someone left the window open.
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