Its eyes were open, unseeing, but I held on to the hope that it was still alive. I gently touched its wing to try to move it out of the way (the SOM-CTC bridge is used quite a lot, especially by students running late). When it did not move, I carefully picked it up. Its head lolled to the side.
I knew then that I was cradling a dead bird in my hand.
For a few minutes, I just stood there. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t just leave the bird on the floor; some Management major might step on it with her pumps. I couldn’t keep holding on to the bird, because, well, it was dead. What would I do with a dead bird? Also, my hungry blockmates were waiting for me.
Fortunately, there was a potted plant nearby.
When I got back to my blockmates, I tried to explain why I picked the bird up. It’s just a bird, they argued. I could not make them understand. Even now, I find it difficult to put into words what I felt when I saw the bird on the floor.
And that’s when I realized how much I missed my girl blockmates, who, as MSE majors, had a different schedule from mine.
[Context: I have SA classes with my all-male block (ACS majors).]
I was hoping that there would be a girl at my org room, so that I could rant to her about the bird. Unfortunately for me, there was none.
Thankfully, all the physics sophomores have the same physics lab, so I got to rant to the girls in the other block about the bird.
I’m so emotional today. Perhaps it’s because it’s that time of the month again.