After coming across a weird-looking egg and eating it, the main protagonist, boy Jerome was walking around with his long-time friend Tyler who was trying to get him to go talk to a girl he liked (Lana), until, suddenly, Jerome began hearing animal voices... again. It freaked him out, to say the least.

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“See, I don’t even care anymore if she says yes or no!” said Jerome as the two boys were walking towards Lana’s. “You managed to make Lana being my girlfriend less important for me.”

“Yes, you do. And the word you’re looking for is ‘trivialize,’” Tyler dropped patronizingly.

“Don’t give me that Simple English Wikipedia crap,” said a disgruntled Jerome.

“Hey, easy! Don’t tread on me!” a weaker voice was heard coming from the ground.

“Why are you talking like this?” asked Jerome.

“Talking like what?” responded a confused Tyler.

“Talking like… a cat,” Jerome answered.

“I didn’t say anything, J.”

“Not funny.”

Jerome then looked back and, indeed, saw a cat on the ground looking at him. He was grasped by a sudden fear in his stomach.

“Let me ask you something,” prefaced a disoriented Jerome. “Have you ever dreamt of animals speaking? Like birds.”

“Umm… No,” responded Tyler. “I dreamt of my teddy bear talking to me when I was 7 or 8.”

“Not the same,” Jerome dismissively said

“Not the same as what?”

At that moment, a bird passed by them. Jerome froze, then screamed, “No!” while making abrupt movements with his hands and body. “Ahh!” he screamed again.

“What the hell are you doing? Stop!” exclaimed Tyler, shocked and embarrassed at the same time.

Jerome let out another cry, then turned around and ran back home without uttering a word.

Tyler just stood there in silence for a few seconds, watching Jerome run away, confounded. Then yelled, “Oh, good one! Very funny, J.! Pretending to be nuts to back out of talking to Lana! Very original!” Tyler then clapped sarcastically, “Bravo! Bravo!”

Jerome’s long-time friend reacted this way because he knew the 12-year-old boy had always had these kinds of behavioral quirks and sneaky attitudes. He didn’t like them, but it was just something he put on the ‘Cons’ column when it came to his friendship with Jerome.

Meanwhile, Jerome ran all the way to his room, threw himself on the bed, on his stomach, put a pillow over his head, and just laid there panting and thinking of what he kept hearing. First, it was a couple of birds having a conversation about flying, which he thought was a dream. Then, it was a cat warning him not to stumble on it. Then, another bird flying by and saying, “LOL.” Yes, a flying bird said “el-oh-el” to Jerome. Or so the boy heard.

Jerome stayed under his pillow for two minutes without moving. Just thinking of what had happened, and questioning his sanity. “Am I losing it?” he kept thinking to himself.

Until his mom came in.

“Jerome! Are you okay? What’s going on?” asked a worried Mom.

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You can get the book here.