When I Heard the Bird Cry

I touch the cool October breeze as I stand at the edge of my driveway waiting for the bus. My long strawberry blonde hair dances to the wind's song. I gaze upon the falling leaves. The ruby red, the pumpkin orange, the mustard yellow, and mud brown leaves decorate the canvas. One lands on my backpack. Oh, how serene and beautiful it is today. The calm before the storm. I let a sorrowful sigh loose. I long for the day when the citizens of Charltonsville don't have to run away in fear. When we don't have to worry about loved ones being lost or where to go to escape the creature. It's be tormenting the citizens of my town for a hundred years. Butterflies flutter in my stomach every year on leaving day. My dad claims we'll be fine, especially in our hiding place. I beg to differ. 

Rroom! Rroom! The bus comes to a halt at my house and I get on. 

I get off the golden bar colored bus and say goodbye to the best bus driver ever, Mr. Simonsen. It's mandatory for parents to pick up their children on this day. I approach the concrete colored school and its obsidian black doors. This could be my last day walking through these doors. I think to myself. I give my head a swift shake. I can't think like this. I speed walk through the crowd of students and late coming teachers. The teachers rush to get to their classrooms while the students hang around with their friends in the hallway. I spot Jack Johns, Collin Terry, and the other jocks throwing around a football trying to impress the prettiest girl in the school, Hazel Madden. I see the second graders playing duck duck goose with the kindergartners. Finally, I find my cousin, Molly, and my best friend, Bryan. I rush up to them relieved to see them. As I get closer I notice that Molly has tears bursting out of her beautiful ocean blue eyes. Her curly French roast brown hair sticks to her rosy cheeks. 

"Molly! What's wrong?" I exclaim.

She gently shakes her head. "I found out my parents and I are moving. I'm a kinda thrilled since we're moving to Hawaii so we can just forget abut this stupid creature and town, and to escape the depressing winters, but I don't wanna leave you. You are my only cousin. And I don't wanna leave Bryan or my boyfriend. It's just I'm not ready to make new friends. My social anxiety won't let me! It was you that helped me talk to Greg and become friends with Bryan. I can't do this!" A small sob escapes her. 

I feel like I fell out of a tree. The wind knocked out of me. The walls move, enclosing me in a vacuum with decreasing oxygen. I pant like a dog for a second. When Bryan puts his large, soft, tan hand on me, I nearly have a heart attack. 

"You good Marina?" He asks sympathetically. 

"Yeah," I faintly reply. 

I don't know what to do though. The only cousin I have is moving. I embrace Molly in a tight bear hug. Then the bell gives an ear piercing ring and we trudge off to class.

Math class. The worst class ever invented. Who can possibly understand these numbers and symbols? I'm completely lost. Today might be my last day on Earth and I'm stuck doing orders of operations with fractions, negatives, variables, and mixed numbers in them. All I hear coming out of Mrs. Fiskett's mouth is a bunch of blah, blah, blah. Then I hear it. My head jumps a mile high and my heart drops to the center of the Earth. My ears strain to try and hear the sound again. Hopefully I'm going insane. 

Hiss! Hiss! 

No, no. Not now! We're not ready! The speakers crackle and Principal Booker comes on.

ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS AND STAFF. AN EMERGENCY EVACUATION IS IN SESSION. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. 

My classmates all go ballistic. A few kids fly out the window but luckily we are on the first floor. Molly's face is as white as a ghost and her hands are having violent spasms. Bryan has a bubble of tears coating his eyes. I push desks and chairs out of the way as I hustle over to the door with them. We dash out into the hallway and we are greeted by the shrieks of kids. Kindergardens bawl their eyes out calling for their parents or grandparents. Bubbles of gooey, slime green snot are splattered all over their faces. The three of us stand in a triangle unsure of what to do. Molly's breathing becomes as rapid as hurricane winds and her knees buckle under her. I catch her and let her use my body as a support beam. 

Hiss Hiss! Hisss! 

ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS AND STAFF. THE CREATURE HAS GOTTEN INTO THE SCHOOL. I REPEAT, THE CREA-

And Principal Booker gets cut off. Fear sweeps me off my feet. I let Molly crash to the floor. The screams of kids and teachers become muffled. Did I put on headphones? My hands go to my ears to take them off but nothing is there. Water drizzles down my cheeks and my body heaves as I sob. I've gone deaf. I will never be able to hear my dad's, or Molly's, or Bryan's wonderful voices. Then sound comes whooshing back into my ears. 

"Marina! We need to hide!" Bryan exclaims. I notice the panic in his usually tranquil voice. 

I whip my head around looking for a good hiding spot. "The janitors' closet!" I call out. 

Bryan and I help Molly up and we quickly but quietly tiptoe into the closet. I lock the door and go snuggle next to Molly. I stroke her fluffy, cotton candy pink sweater. I hear her sing to herself. Five seconds later, everything goes still. Time frozen in its place. The school is deathly silent. I grip Molly's arm harder. I tilt my head to the right just as the creature shatters the window. 

I duck behind a cart of disinfecting spray. Molly lets loose an ear splitting shriek as she leaps behind the cart with me. Then I see the creature. I've seen it before when it took the lives of my mom and twin sister Brooke. It's a smokey gray floating mist. Its stringy, black hair flows like a river. The creature's skin is wrinkly with deep crevices and has lengthy tiger-like claws. It shows its knife-like fangs stained with blood. It has glowing blood-red eyes with no pupil or sclera. Its pinkish-reddish snake tongue slithers out of its thin, wide mouth and finds Bryan's tan belly button. At cheetah speed it dives into Bryan's insides. He starts wailing with panic flooding his eyes. 

"N-no! I don't want to die!" He howls.

The creature digs deeper into his insides and then pulls out his intestines, liver, heart, and stomach and slurps the the organs like they were spaghetti. Thick dark red blood flies everywhere like birds. I watch in horror as the life drains out of Bryan. His golden brown eyes roll into the back of his head. He becomes sickly pale and blue stains his lips. I want to hold him and comfort him. I want to run my hands through his soft short mud brown hair. 

WHAM! 

The creature charges into the cart and I'm tackled by disinfecting spray. Molly's head slams into the floor and she goes unconscious. Hisss! The creature lunges for me and at the last second I dodge it. I leap to the window and jump out. I hope that idiotic thing doesn't follow me. 

My legs are on fire. I've been running for an hour I'm guessing. I trample through the deep thicket. My black and green hoodie is coated with thornes and tears. The silky white shirt I have underneath has been ripped off on the right side. My already tattered jeans are starting to fall off and my checkered Vans and socks are drenched from water and sweat. Blisters form on the heels of my feet and the pain is excruciating. Fortunately, I know where I am. I break through the thicket and come to a stop. I take in a deep breathe. I look up and I spot the cabin. Our hiding place. I smell the safe smell of mildew, death, and mouse poop. I trudge up to the rotting wooden steps that lead to the porch. 

"Just how we left it last year," I mutter

Creaakk! The sound echoes through the forest as I step on the first step. I hate this place. The grass is an unusual bright green, the trees are rotting and can never hold leaves, and moonlight can never shine through at night. Also, a thick, creepy fog always engulfs the place at night. I continue up the steps. I grab the rusty metal doorknob and turn it. The door doesn't budge. 

"Damn it!" 

I ram my shoulder until I think it's bruised and finally, the door whips open. I cautiously walk in. I run to check the lamps and none of them work. I go to one of the broken bottom cabinets and grab flashlights and candles. I decide it's safer to use the flashlights and not the candles. Wouldn't like to burn alive. I turn some flashlights on and they illuminate the entire first floor which isn't huge. Our top cabinets are still broken so the counter tops are cluttered with junk. The gray table with scratches peeking out and dents making it look like there are bowls customized into the table is still there. The white chairs' cushions have been ripped apart by the family of brown mice that we share the cabin with. Honsetly, they're not very good house guests. I take a glance out the window. They're the only good things in this house. My favorite is the one in my dad's bedroom. It's a rectangle with iron bars that form rhombuses. I go over to the windows and pull the tattered, pastel purple curtains. I noticed that night has come so I go to bed. 

I toss and turn and almost suffocate myself from the warm, white fleece blanket. 

As I drift off I see puffy light gray clouds. A chilly breeze is in the air. I have what looks like a noose around my neck. But instead of it hanging and with one rope attached to it, I'm on the ground and there are seven ropes attached to it in a circle. Then it tightens. My heart drops and my hands go to my throat in an attempt to free myself. My breathing rapidly decreases. I look around and see my loved ones pulling the ropes and glaring at me. My parents, Brooke, Bryan, Molly and I even see my chocolate lab, Hershey, and my Australian Shepheard, Spirit pulling the ropes too. They curse at me. They chuck mud and sticks at me. The noose gets tighter. My vision become blurry and my hearing muffled. Then my body falls back. 

I shoot up out of bed while sweat surges down my face. I can't catch my breathe. I still feel the rope around my neck. I hear the names my loved ones called me. I feel the bitter cold mud and the sharp sticks crashing into my skin. My scrapes and blisters hurt now. A beast of guilt claws inside me. It is my fault. I did nothing to save Bryan or to help Molly when she went unconscious. I'm so selfish. I heave my body forward and start wailing. I keep replaying Bryan's death over and over in my head. His pale skin and blue tainted lips. His soft and sweet golden brown eyes rolling into his head. The creature digging into his insides. The blood staining the walls. His cries for help. I start crying more. 

 The grandfather clock strikes midnight. Once I calm myself down I take a glance out the window. The fog is thicker than usual. It's almost black too. My throat feels scratchy and hoarse but probably because I was sobbing my eyes out. But it feels different. When I breathe in the air it's painful. It feels like I poured acid on my eyes. I open my bedroom to door to go get a glass of water when I'm greeted by a raging wall of flames. I slam the door and tumble to my bed. I'm trapped. I don't even know how this fire started. I didn't light any candles. Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! 

"Uhgg!" 

Panic floods through my body again. The creature found me. I have to get out. I search for something to break the window when I spot a hard cover book. I grab the book and with all my strength, ram it into the window. Without a second thought I jump. 

I crash onto the ground on my left arm. My breathe has disappeared. The pain is horrendous. Slowly I catch my breathe and jog away from the burning cabin. Hiss! Hiss! Tears surge out of my eyes. It's so difficult to breathe. My left arm is screaming. But I don't stop. I can't. I can't be caught by the creature. I sprint into the unknown ink black forest. Bracnhes claw at my bare skin. My toes have gone numb from the cold. My teeth chatter as I run. I come up into a clearing and collapse on the soft, squishy ground. I'm choking on my tears. I don't hear any hissing noises so I left myself relax a bit. 

Caw! Caw! Caw!

I whip my head up to a dead tree branch and see a raven perched on the branch. Its black obsidian silky feathers are beautiful. It has a silver beak and eyes as white as the moon. We have a staring contest. How odd? I didn't think ravens were nocturnal. Sudden;y, the raven cries a blood-curdling cry. I jump back a bit startled. SLAM! I'm tackled to the ground. My face stuck into the squishy ground. Hissss! Hiss! I attempt to shriek but nothing comes out. I thrash around when an invisible force throws me on my back. My oxygen flies away again. Then the creature hovers over me with its glowing red eyes and wrinkly skin. It licks its lips, proud to be slaughtering innocent people. Then I realize the raven is the creature's assistant. I feel blood ooze from my nose and I'm paralyzed with fear. Then its snake tongue dives into my belly button and plays with my guts like a cat does with a mouse. I feel the wet, sticky tongue caresse my organs. The tongue then coils itself around my stomach and yanks it into the hair along with my liver and intestines. Blood bursts onto my dying face. I should've ran. I should've ran when I heard the bird cry.