Eating Crow

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I rolled over in my bed.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I groaned and threw my pillow over my head.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

“Dammit,” I muttered, slamming my pillow back onto the mattress.

I looked over at Lizzie. Of course, being the deep sleeper that she was, she hadn’t so much as stirred at the incessant tapping on our bedroom window. I reached over and shook her shoulder.

“Lizzie,” I whispered. She moaned but did not move. “Lizzie, wake up. Don’t you hear that?”

She moaned again and buried her face deeper into her pillow.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

“There, that!” I exclaimed. “You had to have heard it.”

“Hmm…you go…check it…” she murmured before turning her head to face the other way.

“Dammit,” I said. “Fine. But if I’m taken by a serial killer, it’ll be your fault.”

The only acknowledgement I got were her soft snores.

Muttering to myself, I slid out of bed and grabbed the handgun that I kept under the mattress for times like this. I didn’t cock it just yet, worried that I might shoot Lizzie in my uneasiness if I did anything too soon, but I readied myself in case I had to shoot it at some prowler outside of our window.

Slowly, I approached our window as the tapping continued.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

My heart beat in sync with the tapping, hard enough that I thought it might bruise my ribs.

“Calm down,” I murmured to myself, cursing my cowardliness. “It’s probably nothing.”

I cautiously reached for the curtains, then slowly, carefully, I drew them back to unveil a black bird with shining black eyes sitting on the windowsill, hitting its beak against the glass.

I cussed.

“Stupid crow,” I said, lowering my handgun. “I’m glad that Joe and I knocked your nest down this morning.”

I shook my head and released the curtain, walking away from the window.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

“Shut up!” I shouted back at the crow.

“You shut up,” Lizzie groaned from bed. Of course, she heard that.

“Tell this stupid crow—”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I walked back to the window and pulled back the curtain to find that a second crow had joined the first.

“Of course. Now we’re going to have two menaces keeping me up all night.”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I glared at the crows as they continued to peck at my window, as though they were trying to break their way into my house. I laughed at the idea.

“Good luck,” I said. “You’ll never—”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

This tapping had not come from the birds in front of me. Instead, this sound seemed to have come from the side of the house, as though something were hitting the wall, not the window.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The tapping continued, now from everywhere around me. My heart beat quickly, and I placed my hand upon it to try and calm it down. I looked out the window, but I could only see the two crows in front of me.

Tap.Tap.Tap.

The tapping was coming faster now.

Tap.Tap.Tap.

Tap.Tap.Tap.

Tap.Tap.Tap.

My heart raced to match the tapping’s rhythm. It hurt to even breathe. I backed away from the window, but I could not escape the sound of the tapping.

Tap.Tap.Tap.

Tap.Tap.Tap.

Tap.Tap.Tap.

Suddenly, I realized that the tapping was now coming from inside the walls.

Tap.Tap.Tap.

Crack!

My head snapped over to the closet. I could hear something fluttering inside. Common sense told me not to go near it, but my curiosity overcame me. Step by step, I approached the closet. I slowly put my hand on the doorknob, twisted it, and pulled it open—

A murder of crows flew out at me. They swirled all around me, suffocating me before I could even let out a scream. Soon, all I could see was blackness.

* * *

I woke up tied to a makeshift cross in the middle of an abandoned field. I tried to open my mouth to scream, to call anyone for help, but I could not. Someone—something—had sewn my mouth shut and tied two twigs to it an “X” shape. Still, I forced out all the sound that I could, only for it to be met by a chorus of crows’ caws and a fellow muffled scream.

I turned my head toward the scream and saw, to my horror, Joe tied to a cross similar to mine. His mouth had also been sewn shut. A crow stood on each of his shoulders, their beaks sparkling crimson. Black holes remained where Joe’s eyes should have been.

My head lurched back as two crows hovered in front of me, inspecting me with cocking heads. I tried to plead my case with muffled words and pleading eyes, but it was no use. They dove at my head and clawed and pecked at my eyes.

Then all the world was darkness and blood.