The breeze barely touched the tips of Denzel’s wings, but he knew well before that that the time had come. There was something particularly stale about the air that day; it was lacking the freshness of uranium that Denzel had gotten so used to.

The pink human was there, as always. They rarely bothered to interact with Denzel, and only stood at a certain distance with their hand not too far away from that little device everyone feared. The little thing that could fry your brain within a mere second and put an end to everything.

Denzel had gotten along quite well with the pink human for the bigger part of his stay. He did not know whether they were a woman or a man, nor if they had any personal preferences for food. He knew from the human’s particular scent that they ate the same meals every day, and that the portions were of the same size every time. Nothing ever changed, not even the amount of protein or magnesium they consumed. He had noticed that about other humans as well, even though nobody ever brought up this subject. He himself knew it was best to stay focused and not get involved too much in human affairs.

Yet there was something that distracted him every now and then. It was a completely useless piece of information; it was just a simple signal his mind kept getting stuck on, but not so much as to not keep him from sleeping at night. Yet he couldn’t help himself but notice it again.

Denzel put down the piece of paper in front of him, and turned towards the pink human. He picked up the smell of increasing adrenaline with his antennae the moment his body turned.

“Peppermint?” he asked politely, trying to ignore the way the pink human was resting their fingers around that fatal belt they wore all the time.

“Yes,” the pink human replied without taking their eyes off of Denzel. He nodded and turned back to the paper in front of him.

That was when he felt the air. The quick, stale breeze that would change his life forever.

Along with the stale air came his superior with another box he clumsily dropped next to Denzel’s desk. Denzel tried to not get annoyed, but there was only so much he could conceal about his emotions.

“Sorry about that,” his superior mumbled and opened the box.” These are the last ones, I promise.”

“For today?” Denzel asked.

“For today, of course.”

His superior took out a used cloth and wiped the large drops of sweat from his forehead. He was always in a hurry, always trying to bring one piece of garbage to Denzel after the other.

“Tell me, what colour is the sky today?” his superior asked casually, almost leaning on Denzel’s chair.

Denzel looked out of the window in front of him for a few seconds, pretending to take an interest in the view. The only thing that he found mildly amusing were the dirty spots in one corner of the glass. Denzel would occasionally stare at them and try to identify figures, but he would always see one of the shapes as the pink human yelling at someone. Of course, it was only the shape of the pink human’s head; Denzel didn’t take any interest in their body and had, to be honest, never even noticed it. The pink human had been there since the very beginning, yet Denzel could never remember what their body looked like. This sudden realization almost made Denzel feel this was a personal failing of his.

“It’s grey,” he replied.

“Grey…alright,” his superior nodded, folded the dirty cloth a few times and exited the room.

Denzel felt his stomach turn as the pink human’s nostrils expanded the moment his superior left. He hated many things about humans, but this was the worst part.

The pink human laughed. Those were a few painful minutes for Denzel to endure, but he knew very well he could never say anything. The human’s fingers were always one spontaneous giggle away from frying him.

“The sky has been blue all week,” the pink human finally spoke, as if they felt their presence wasn’t ironic enough.

“I know,” Denzel replied.” It’s best if they never find out.”

The pink human giggled again, but this time Denzel was prepared for it.

“That’s why you and I are such good friends,” the little human added.

Denzel leaned back in his chair. He had never experience humans to be so chatty, especially the pink one. Denzel had never given their relationship any thought, but noted that he had never been attacked or killed. Was that the hallmark of friendship?

He stretched the corners of his lower jaw to imitate a smile. How amusing this world had turned out to be.