Dread formed in the pit of Sonny’s stomach when he heard the mechanical whoosh of the door to this room opening, or perhaps that feeling was just hunger.  He had lost track of how many days it had been since the last time he had eaten.  The last few times anything had been brought to him, it was always Cocoa Puffs.  Judging by the bowl sitting atop the tray that the scientist walked over, it appeared that this would be the case again today.

“Good morning, Sonny,” the scientist said, sitting the tray on the table beside his cot.  “I’ve brought you some breakfast.”

Before the scent that always left him light-headed could waft in his direction, Sonny turned his beak up and closed his eyes.  He didn’t care if he starved to death in here.  He refused to eat any more of that cereal.  It… did things to him.  Things that worried him.

With his eyes shut, he didn’t see the scientist’s painted lips curve into a frown.  He didn’t catch her jot something down on her clipboard before speaking up.

“Are you sure you don’t want them, Sonny?” she asked.  “They told me you haven’t eaten in days.”

Her voice dripped with sweetness as saccharine as the sugary slop in that bowl she had placed on the sterile table before him.

Sweet…  Oh, he could already taste that Hershey’s flavor coating his tongue.  Hear the delightful crunch of the puffed orbs replacing the growling of his empty stomach.  The fantasy alone made his mouth water and left his knees weak.  It sent a shiver up his spine and made the feathers of his tail flare.

Still, he swallowed, steeling himself.  Yes, it was good… Too good.  So good that it never failed to leave him feeling desperate.  There was never enough to satisfy him, never enough to quell the madness.  No, even the tiniest taste fed into it.  Cultivated it.  Strengthened its choke while weakening his grasp on the world around him.

“N-No thank you,” he insisted with a shake of his head and equally shaky voice.  He didn’t sound sure.  He wasn’t.  What if he was overreacting?  Being difficult?  After all, it was just cereal.  Human cereal.  Cereal being fed to him in a laboratory while humans in white took notes, but the same cereal that he had fond memories of.  Cereal that he had eaten out of the palms of children’s hands when he was just a chick.  Surely, it hadn’t always been this bad.

“No?”  She inched the tray closer with her free hand.  “Come on, Sonny.  They’re so munchy..."

That word rang in his ears, amplified by the deafening silence of the arid room.  Pupils dilated as his eyes shot open to lock onto the bowl before him.  Everything that surrounded him was lost to a swirling vortex of milky white and chocolatey brown.  His racing heart rapped against the cage of his chest.  His breathing hitched, then quickened, escaping his now-parted beak in labored puffs.

"…Crunchy..."

Feathered hands clutched his head, trying to keep any remaining rational thoughts from slipping out of his control.  Why?  Why was he fighting this again?  He knew there was a reason he had been so adamant, but it was lost to the gnawing appetite.  Fingers tightened to the point he was about to tear out fistfuls of orange plumage.  Oh, he shouldn’t.  He couldn’t.  The little voice that was squawking at him to resist was being stifled by her words echoing louder and louder as they bounced around the increasing vacancy of his mind.  He trembled; whether out of fear or something more sinister was anyone’s guess.

"... Chocolatey."

Something snapped in the cuckoo.  He lunged forward, snatching up the spoon to begin eagerly shoveling the cereal into his beak.  An explosion of pleasure and rich flavor erupted the moment the first spoonful hit his tastebuds.  The individual puffs were munchy and oh so crunchy, while the milk was sweet, creamy, and above all, chocolatey.  His arm was a blur as it rapidly traveled between his mouth and the bowl.  Yet no matter how fast it moved, it was not at all quick enough.  The spoon was soon discarded so the bowl could be lifted with both hands and dumped into his beak.  Within seconds, there were no more Cocoa Puffs to be consumed.

Sonny sunk to the floor, clutching the bowl to his chest.  His plumage was matted with sticky milk that he made no effort to preen.  His eyelids drooped, hardly able to stay open, while the corners of his beak were curled upwards in a goofy grin.  The apprehension and anxiety on his face had been replaced by this dreamy daze.  His head was completely empty as he was left drunk with bliss; dizzy from the pleasant buzz of his sugary high that he felt in every inch of his body.  All sense of the world around Sonny had been lost.  It had completely escaped him that he was not alone.  The scientist used this to her advantage, scribbling down extensive notes on the results of this experiment, glancing up only to check the monitor off to the side.

Subject’s resistance to mere presence of the stimuli has strengthened.  Activation phrase successfully triggers expected results in lowering subject’s resistance.  Stimuli is highly addictive, even following periods of abstinence.  Dopamine levels increased.

“Sonny?”  The scientist looked up from her clipboard, down at the dazed cuckoo bird to observe his reaction.  “Are you still hungry?  Would you like another bowl of Cocoa Puffs?”

The sound of his name did not register to him, but the mention of the cereal snapped him out of his stupor.  Lethargy was replaced by a burst of energy.  He quickly scrambled to his knees before her feet, nodding and knitting his fingers together to plead for more.  This too was jotted down.

Behavior indicates potential for escalating dependency.  Subject exhibits susceptibility to manipulation. Ready to proceed with next phase of experiment to confirm.