I swallowed, unable to comprehend what I should say to that. He was joking...right? Maybe he was a little...off?  But, as always, he stated these words with such unwavering confidence that I could not help but to want to believe him. Yet his face was stoic as usual; so much so until I honestly could not decide if I should believe him.

 “Did you like the present I left you?”

I was jolted by this unexpected turn in our conversation, “Present?  What present?”

I would have remembered someone like him giving me a present.

Avi reached up and flicked his blue hair, “Please don’t tell me you threw away that blue feather I left for you.”

My heart rate accelerated as I dropped my bag of chips onto the table. It’s a wonder they didn’t spill all over the place.

The blue feather?  From the bluebird with the amethyst eyes?  I couldn't process that!

“I see you aren’t freaking out on me...yet. That’s good. I don't like humans that freak out but then again I don’t like humans.”

Were we seriously having this conversation right now?  I couldn’t help but to drop my head into my hands. My eyes scanned my lunch but saw nothing. I was trying in vain to come up with a coherent thought.

I raised my head and looked at Avi who was calmly finishing the last of his salad.

“Your eyes aren’t purple….”

I know.  I know.  But that was the first coherent thought that I could formulate at that moment.

Without a word, Avi tapped the strange pendant that always hung around his neck. I leaned forward to get a better look at it.

“This keeps my true nature hidden from humans. It protects them from me and me from them. My true form would be a bit much for them to comprehend.”

“True form?” I echoed, “You’re a bluebird?”

“I’m a bird spirit.  So, yes, a blue bird is my main form. But I actually have another form.”

When he didn’t expound I didn’t push.

Instead I asked, “Why are you telling me all of this?”

Avi looked away. He didn’t answer for so long.  I thought he had no answer. But then he turned his gaze back at me, “Honestly…I came to find out if what I saw, what I experienced, was real.”

My eyebrows furrowed as he continued, “When I found myself on your bedroom floor with my wing broken, I thought that might be the end of me.  I never wanted to be at the mercy of a human but there I was. I could not transform nor could I fly.  Since humans are so unpredictable, I had no idea what one of them might do to me in such a weakened state.”

“There might have been some who might have brought you to a vet.” I said as I recalled how the bluebird... no, no...  I mean Avi, reacted to that idea.

“Would this have been before or after they saw I had purple eyes?  And even if he did take me, would this vet have been a person that would not be overly fascinated by me and want to keep me as a science experiment or as a pet?  And I assume this would have been before they discovered that I’m quite self-aware. Then what?"  

"But, you see, you put two and two together quite quickly. I know you were fascinated by me and a bit scared, but you treated me with a lot of respect and allowed me to keep my dignity.”

“I was stunned, to say the least, about the fact that you did not respond like a typical human. And then...there is this fact: you withstood my gaze. For the brief time I was there, you took care of me.  I read your aura; and it wasn’t as broken as most humans.  But, strangely, reading you was difficult. I can usually see the brokenness of a human soul quite quickly; but your soul is different.  I needed to know why. These few days in our Psych 101 class let me finally see. You are different.  Surely you realize this”

I had a hard time breaking his gaze at the moment. Thankfully, he blinked and looked away.  I was able to gather myself.  “I’m not sure…..” I finally drawled.

I truly did not know what else to say.

“You obviously see things differently.  You are able to go deep, beyond the surface of things when most humans are stuck there. That’s what’s so fascinating.”

His words made me look back at him. His eyes shined and I swore that I saw them flash to those familiar amethyst eyes. Before I could fall too deep into those eyes, he spoke again, “I’ve been told that there are humans that are worthy of us spirits' time; but I never believe that. This is my first time experiencing a worthy human.”

I dropped my head and saw my phone. With a gasp, I snatched it up and tapped it to see the time. “Shoot! I’m five minutes late.  Avi, I….”  I realized that was the last day of the week. I wouldn’t see him again until Tuesday. I wanted to continue our conversation instead of going to work study. In an uncharacteristic display of thought, I considered skipping it and making my apologies later.

I didn't need to bother with that because Avi shook his head, “There is an essay due next Tuesday, correct? I thought we could work on it together. I’ll be over there in a bit.”

I felt so relieved. I hurried to gather my trash but Avi waved me away, “I will clean up. Go on….”

I thanked him before rushing to gather myself and head back to the library for my work study.

Inside of 15 minutes, Avi joined me at my table. We were silent for a bit as he continually flipped his pen in his hand.  He was the one to break the silence by reading the question we had to answer for our essay, “If this was the last day of your life, would you keep the same plans for that day?”

He sat back, “A question to evaluate the use of your time and values?”

My head bobbed, “Seems like it.” I looked at him curiously, “Do you have any idea what you're going to write?”

He barely paused as he answered, “My answer is yes, I would keep the same plans.”

I giggled, “I think the essay has to be at least 500 words, Avi.  Probably best to expound.”

Avi turned his head to look at me.  He blinked then dropped his pen onto the table, “What will you write, then?”

I sat back in my seat and thought a bit before answering, “Life is too unpredictable to know what plans you would even have on that last day since you have no idea when your last day would be.

 So the only sensible thing to do is to keep on doing what is right and good like I do every day anyway; not killing or stealing…that kind of thing.  So there would be no need for me to change my plans just because it's the last day.”

After I was done with my short monologue, I looked back at Avi and saw that familiar little smirk of his, “I'm beginning to see why the spirits try to find humans like you, Nya.  Your kind are worth saving if for no other reason then that they allow themselves to be saved.”

My eyebrows furrowed. He was speaking in riddles again. I bobbed my head and he chuckled.

“You aren’t very fond of humans.” I said slowly.

“I said that I hate them.”

“Why?”

“Why not?  They're selfish, arrogant, self-centered, self-righteous...disrespectful...”

I kept nodding my head as he offered his list.  Then he asked, “Are you offended?  You are human, after all.”

I shook my head, “You're not wrong. Most humans are like that.  I can’t hate when you tell the truth especially since I’m not that particular about them myself.”

I gave a heave sigh, “Humans exhaust me about 99% of the time... with their collective stupidity. But then you see flashes of goodness in some of them and wonder why that can’t be their standard.  But no sooner than you see that little blip on the goodness radar, some bad apples come along and ruin the whole batch...again…”

“You are quite enlightened concerning this situation.” Avi replied having long since rested his chin on his hand to stare at me.  It was different and weird to have someone be so focused on what I had to say.

“Ahh, no, no no, no….….” I waved my hand, shook my head and felt a bit embarrassed by his words.

“Be that as it may, you should write down these thoughts of yours before you lose them.”

I nodded and took his suggestion as a way out of the conversation. I had only written a few lines when I realized that Avi was sitting back in his seat, not writing at all, “You aren’t going to write anything on the essay?”

Avi shook his head, “I won’t be here Tuesday.”

My eyes went wide...my eyebrows rose up. “Are you dropping the class?” I don’t know why I was so alarmed. Strangely, Avi had unexpectedly made Psych 101 more bearable.

Avi calmly looked at me for a long moment, “In a manner of speaking.  Write your essay, Nya. Don’t worry about it. I have a feeling we’ll see each other again.”

“That’s not….” I snapped my mouth shut and looked away.

I caught Avi's usual smirk from the corners of my eyes.

Later, I would tell him off for letting me waste time on an essay that the Professor would never see.

I could have saved that paper and that time. 

But I didn’t know that then.