The Bird Collector

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Moving to a place out in the woods where nobody can bother you is the best thing that could have ever happened to Dana. Dana is a woman in her early thirties, with dark circles and round glasses. Her hair was wavy and had been dyed to black but she was a natural brunette. She had just gotten through her divorce with her ex-husband, Louis, and wanted to be as far away from him as possible. They were high school sweethearts, each other's first love, so it hurt.

The candle was clean linen scented, and she thought about her first day at her new home. It was more chaotic than she needed it to be.

The morning she arrived at the cabin it was chilly, being the autumn season in Maine. Dana had found this old log cabin a few towns over from where she lived with her ex-husband. The property also had a wooden shed behind the cabin, perhaps it was used as a workshop of some sorts. The grass was overgrown, and the stairs up to the front door of the cabin creaked and wobbled a little under her feet.

So it was a bit run down, who cares?

Dana needed to keep her mind busy with anything other than her failed marriage. Dana did not come alone though to the cabin. While walking up the stairs carrying her last bag to the house her cat, Frankie, runs between her feet, almost making her trip up the stairs.

“Frankie! Really?” She yelled at the cat.

Frankie is a large Maine Coon cat, and he was at least 4 years old. Dana and Louis had gotten him together but Dana refused to let Louis keep him after the divorce. Frankie got up the stairs and looked back at Dana, confused as to why she had yelled at him. Shaking her head, Dana walks up the rest of the stairs and brings the last box of her belongings into her new home. Twisting her body to crack her back a few times, Dana grabs her cell phone from the back pocket of her jeans, and decides to order takeout.

The pizza delivery man showed up about an hour later after Dana made the call, and knocked on the front door. Dana sets down her science fiction book she was reading on the stand next to the recliner she was sitting on and heads towards the door. Frankie hops down from the couch that is across from where Dana was sitting and tags behind her closely.

Dana opens the door and the man greets her with her pizza. The man is very old, Dana is surprised he even is driving. His hair is all white, and he is wearing circle glasses. Dana opens her wallet, grabs a $20, and they make the exchange.

“Thank yo-” A scream interrupts Dana’s gratitude as the delivery man starts shaking his leg frantically.

Dana looks at the man bewildered, as she looks at his leg, seeing her cat attached to it. Frankie’s teeth are sunk right into his ankle and is holding on to him for his dear life.

“Frankie! What are you doing?! Get off of him!”

Dana practically throws the pizza box onto the floor and tries to get hold of Frankie. There are shrieks from everyone, Dana, the delivery man screaming in pain, and Frankie, shrieking like he is fighting for the last scrap of food in his bowl. Dana finally gets a hold of Frankie and yanks him off of the poor man’s ankle.

Blood was trailing down the man’s ankle from the clear puncture wounds Frankie’s fangs had caused. Dana apologizes to the man profusely, and gives him a $50 tip because he was not going to report her cat from attacking him. (even if he was, she would have still given him the money).

“It happens ma’am, I am quite shaken about it though. One of the worst encounters I have had with a customer's pet.” The man commented.

“I really am so sorry, he is usually a gentle giant, and has never hurt anything in his life. He usually hides from his own shadow.”

“You just moved here right? Maybe he is being territorial since it's a new home and all.” The old man suggested, shrugging his shoulders.

“Perhaps you are right, but that is no excuse for him to go wild, like he is a bobcat or something.”

Frankie is being held tight in Dana’s arms, his eyes wide and glaring at the delivery man. He notices and starts to inch away from the door.

“Well…I really should get going.” He says with a hand behind his head.

“That would probably be for the best, I really am so sorry about him.”

The delivery man just nods at her with a grin and walks back to his car and drives off.

And that was her first day at her new home.

Dana looked out the window the candle was sitting in and searched if she could see Frankie out there. She only met eyes with a crow that was in a tree near her window.

If Frankie was territorial, she thought leaving him outside to mark his territory would help him feel more comfortable in their new home. Dana sighs, and looks around her new bedroom. Some of the previous owner’s belongings were still in her room. It was only paintings of birds, or photos of birds and their body parts.

“Must have been a bird lover,” Dana thought. She would take them down another day, right now she was exhausted and just needed to pass out on her bed. Dana got into bed and under the covers and fell asleep quickly.

Dana’s slumber was short though as she was woken up by what seemed to be meowing from outside. Dana instantly started to worry, as the meows sounded like Frankie was in distress.

“I shouldn’t have kept him outside, he has always been an indoor cat.”

Dana hurries out of bed and puts on her hoodie that has a moose on the front of it. Her room is on the second floor of the cabin, so she paces herself a bit more while going down the stairs to the front door.

Dana opens the door and realizes how stupid she is trying to look for Frankie in the middle of the night. She has no flashlight and she does not know the area well enough to go off wandering around. Luckily for her, and scaring the crap out of her, Frankie rubs his head against her leg and walks inside.

“Sorry buddy, I shouldn’t have kept you out there.” She brings a hand down to pet Frankie’s head and notices he has something in his mouth. Dana freezes and sees that he has caught a bird.

“Frankie don’t bring that inside!” Dana grabs the bird out from Frankie’s mouth and goes onto the front porch.

“Alright little birdie, you can be free now,” Dana says to the bird. She opens her hand only to realize there is a little bit of blood and the bird is not moving. Frankie had killed the bird. Dana felt ashamed that she did not notice it sooner.

Dana searched for any box to put the poor bird in so she could bury it later in the day, since it was too late and dark out. Dana ends up going to a closet in one of the guest rooms, and finds a shoe box to put the deceased bird into. She gently lays the bird into the box and keeps it by the front door. Frankie is close behind Dana when she does so, and he sits right next to the box staring at it.

“Come on, Frankie. You already killed the little guy, come upstairs with me.” Dana persisted. Frankie did not move an inch from his spot, his ears did not even twitch when Dana spoke to him. He just sat as still as a statue. Dana walks over to Frankie and picks him up, his legs instantly start to fling around. Frankie put up a fight the whole time while Dana carried him up to her room to have him sleep up there with her.

The next morning Dana woke up, she found it difficult to breathe. There was a weight on her chest and she said,

“Get off me Frankie,” she says as she lifts him up and tosses him to the other side of the bed. Frankie meows in response and hops off the bed and leaves the room.

Dana starts to look around in her room to see what else the previous owner had left after his passing. The previous owner had passed away in the house. Dana looks under her bed and finds a photo album, it has a bird pattern on its cover.

Dana looks through the album and the first couple of pages are of him and a woman, perhaps his wife. Under one of the photos it says Claude and Sarah.

“So his name is Claude,” Dana stated to herself. As Dana goes through the album more, all the pictures are of birds. The more she looks through all of the bird photos they tend to get less lifelike, and not in a normal setting.

“That's a bit unsettling,'' Dana thought. Dana decides that was enough searching into Claude’s life, and she goes downstairs. Dana sees the box that she put the bird in last night and is ready to go and bury it. Dana picks up the box and peeks inside and frowns. She takes it outside and sets the box down beside her car as she looks in the trunk. Dana had her garden tools still in her car, so she finds her shovel and looks for a proper burial site.

A meow is heard from behind her and Frankie trots up to her. Dana stops and looks at Frankie.

“How did you get out?” Dana questioned. Dana looks back to the front door and sees it open.

“I swear I closed that shut.” Dana furrowed her eyebrows and started to walk again.

After 10 minutes or so, Dana had chosen a spot to bury the bird. She dug a hole about 4 feet down, and put the box in there and covered the hole back up. Dana found some purple wildflower near the burial spot and laid the flowers on top of it and headed back towards the house to clean it up some more.

Night came quickly, the cool, autumn, breeze flowing through the windows Dana had cracked open to get rid of the stuffiness. It's around 10:30, and Dana starts to nod off while reading her novel in bed. She hadn’t seen Frankie since this morning. She forgot that he went out with her when she buried the bird and became worried for him.

She begrudgingly gets out of bed and puts on her pink slippers. The stairs creak as she goes down them, and walks over to the front door. Her hand slid over the knob and opened it only to see darkness, which was expected.

“Frankie!” Dana called for him. Dana pursed her lips and made a mouse-like noise to get Frankie’s attention, if he was even close by. With no response from Frankie, Dana heads back inside to grab a flashlight. Closing the door behind her, Dana turns on the flashlight and begins her search for Frankie.

She calls out for him frequently around the property, and she begins to think of the worst outcomes. “Attacked? Stuck somewhere she can’t hear or find him?” Dana worried.

She brings her empty hand up to her head and starts to twirl a strand of hair. Checking one last area of the property, she finds purple wildflowers scattered across the grass. Dana continues onward and her foot gets caught on something, causing her to trip and fall. The flashlight is flung to the side and Dana lays flat on the ground.

Saying a few bad words, Dana gets up off the ground with a wince and takes a few steps to pick the flashlight back up.

“What the hell tripped me?” Oh no, it better not be Frankie,” Dana said with concern. She shines the flashlight behind her to see a hole in the ground. Dana’s eyes open with shock.

“Who dug up the grave?”

The box had been indented from where Dana had stepped on it when her foot got caught. Hoping the bird did not get crushed as well, Dana takes the box out from the hole and takes a peek inside. The box was empty. Dana drops the box and runs back to the house and locks the door. Dana did not know what to think.

"Was there someone watching her this morning bury the bird and decide to take it? What type of sicko would even do that?" Dana pondered.

Dana’s head is spiraling through all of the possibilities and jumps out of skin when she hears a meow behind her. She quickly turns around with her hands in a makeshift fighting stance to see Frankie sitting on the couch’s arm. Relieved it was only Frankie she said with short breaths,

“You were in the house the whole time? I thought I had left you outside accidentally and was worried sick! You could have showed your presence to me before I went out and almost got myself killed.” Frankie just stares at Dana and strides off upstairs without a care in the world.

Dana could not sleep that night, worried that someone was a bit too close to her home. Dana had taken only 2 days off before having to go back to work, so she was exhausted when she arrived at her workplace. She was a veterinary secretary, so she was able to see everyone’s pets and she made the appointments.

Honestly, Dana did not want to go back home, when there could be some lunatic stealing dead birds from their graves.

What could be considered lucky for some, her coworkers and boss noticed how tired she was and sent her home halfway through the workday. The drive home was dangerous, considering it was a 30 minute drive and Dana was almost falling asleep at the wheel.

Dana was nervous walking up to her house, afraid someone would pop up behind her and hurt her in any way. She scurries into the house and locks the door. She goes around the house locking up all the windows too, making sure nobody can get in from the outside. Lastly, Dana searches the rest of her unpacked luggage to find the Damascus knife she had gotten from her ex-husband, Louis, for her 28th birthday.

She would be carrying that with her when she was home, whether she was inside or outside. Double checking every lock around the house, Dana puts her knife on the nightstand besides her bed and finally gets some much needed rest.

Dana wakes up in a cold sweat. She had slept for a long time. Her slumber consisted of only nightmares about birds and someone breaking and entering her house. Dana glanced at her clock, it was 5:00AM.

“I really slept for that long? That is absolutely unbelievable,” Dana wondered. Her stomach growls, having not been given any nutrients for over 12 hours. Dana goes down to the kitchen to cook up some instant ramen. She made sure every light was on, not giving anything a chance to sneak up on her in the dark. Some may call her paranoid, which she very well could be, but she had to protect herself. No matter what.

After eating her ramen quickly, Dana decided to stay up and try to calm herself down. Dana kept telling herself that everything would be okay, that there was no boogeyman or any other thing out to get her. She started to sort things out around the house, mapping out every corner and turn the cabin had in store for her. Calming herself down, clearly was not going to happen in a day or two.

Two weeks had passed, and Dana tried to do what normal people do. They go to work, come home and do work around the house, then sleep. Dana had been doing mostly yard work, scoping out her property and where potential murderers could come in from easily.

Frankie had gotten the itch of going outside and that is where he always wanted to be at all times. Dana hesitated on letting him out, with how paranoid she has been ever since the night with the bird’s grave being dug up. If she did not let him out, he would yowl at the front door, begging to be let out. So, she keeps his food and water outside now for both of their convenience. Dana figured when he wanted to come in he would yowl like he did to want to go out.

Dana wanted to plant flowers or vegetables, but it was getting closer to winter; she decided to plant some that will come back in spring. She walked behind the cabin and saw the wooden shed that is on the property. Her heart sinks to see the door cracked open when she hasn’t gone in there in a while, maybe a week. Dana, of course, still has her knife on her and slowly walks towards the shed.

The shed is very run-down. The roof is dry and rotting away. Dana has seen the shed wobble when the wind blows. As she gets closer to the shed, a pungent, horrid, odor seeps through the crack of the door. Dana fights the urge to cover her nose with a hand, but she needs to have both hands ready for whatever is in the shed. She grabs the door slowly, counts to three, and whips the door open.

Dana let out the loudest cry to what she saw. In this little, crappy, shed, there are lifeless birds hung up on the ceiling with string. There are even some on the floor. Dana starts to gag in response to the horrific sight.

She runs out of the shed and slams the door shut and goes back to the house. Dana sprints to her room and locks the door behind her and paces back and forth through her room, her mind racing.

"Frankie has only killed one bird, there is no way that was doing all of this right?" She said to herself.

She looks at the painting on the wall, the bird painting. The previous owner was obsessed with birds until the day he died. It showed in the photo album.

“Maybe he is haunting this place and has a lot of negative energy? Come on, Dana, that is just stupid.”

Dana knew she had to leave soon. This place is not safe, it may be only birds that are being put through misery, but that could change very soon. Dana packs up what she can and heads out of the house quickly.

Dana puts her suitcase into the back of her car, and looks for her keys in her jeans pocket. Dana looks in the direction of the shed. She can’t just leave all those birds in there. She grabs a tote bag from her car and runs over to the shed. Dana take a deep breath before heading in and starts to put all of the poor birds in the bag.

“The bag may not be any better but I can’t let their deaths be glorified.”

After getting all the birds in the bag her hands smell absolutely awful, but at least they aren’t stuck in the shed. She ties the bag at the top and heads back to her car. Her car will have the smell too, but whoever did this is too close, and she would feel bad if she just threw the bag into the garbage. Putting the bag into the car she is about ready to leave this place for good.

A meow is heard a few feet behind her. Dana flinches. She would have left Frankie had he not made a noise. Dana starts to turn and says,

“Sorry Frankie I really-” Dana stops talking to see the old man who delivered her pizza. And he is holding Frankie by the scruff. Dana freezes in terror and holds onto the bag tighter.

“Hello, Dana,” he said with a creepy grin. Dana tries to shake off any showing of fear and responds,

“What are you doing here? Why are you hurting my cat?” He chuckles a bit and says,

“Oh please, cats are used to this when they were kittens.” He lifts Frankie up higher and grasps his neck harder. Frankie is trying to claw at him but the old man holds him far enough away from his body to not get hurt.

“The better question is where you are going with my pretty birds.”

“You clearly don't care for them if you kill them all and hang them up.”

“Oh but I do care very much for them. You saw it in the album, right? I took many, many, pictures of them, they are wonderful.” He said pridefully.

Dana looks at him surprised he knew she looked through the album. He had been in the house. Watching her. What was just as bad is what he said about the photos, and Dana makes the connection.

“Claude? I thought you had passed away and that's why your house went up for sale.”

“In simple terms, I faked my death.There was too much talking about my activities and I heard they were going to investigate. I couldn’t lose my collection of beautiful birds,” He glances towards the bag in Dana’s hand.

“I mean they are right to do so, you are a lunatic!” Dana yelled.

“Everyone does not appreciate birds the way I do. What they give people, the feeling of freedom and being able to go wherever they want to. It's something I have always wanted but never could truly reach. I take what they have and it makes me feel so exhilarated.”

Dana looks at him in disgust, what a dreadful man. There is no getting through his corrupted mind. Dana continues to question him.

“Did you plan the visit the first day I got here?

“I wanted to see who bought my house so quickly, and see how long I could keep my collection to myself. I felt like you could have understood me, so I had your little cat send you a gift from me.”

“Frankie didn’t kill that bird?

“Not at all. Then you put your gift away into the dirt and that made me very unhappy with you.”

“You are a sick man. I can’t believe you think what's in this bag is your prized collection.

“If you think that is my whole collection, you are sadly mistaken. Seems like you did not look fully into that shed." Dana’s stomach dropped with that comment. This man really is disgusting. Dana decides it's for the best to stop asking questions.

“Give me Frankie back.” Dana demanded.

“We can make a trade, I give you your cat, you give me the bag in your hand.” Claude bargained. Dana didn’t want to give him the birds, but for Frankie’s safety, and her own, she has to give him the bag.

“Fine. But you give me Frankie first.”

“Of course, he does matter to you a lot, just like how my birds matter to me.” Claude drops Frankie and he lands on his feet, thank God for cats being able to do so. Frankie runs over to Dana and she brings out her arm with the bag in hand.

“Here.” she says coldly.

“Thank you, Dana.” Claude says mischievously.

He reaches for the bag but he grabs Dana’s arm and pulls her down. Dana lets out a shriek as she stumbles and Claude gets behind her and she feels pressure around her neck. Dana reaches for her neck to feel a thin string pressed against her neck. Realizing what Claude is trying to do, Dana starts to flail and squirm.

“Keep still and let it happen, just like the little birds. You will fly with them very soon.” Dana starts to feel fuzzy from the lack of air and the amount of struggling she is doing. Suddenly, Claude screams and lets go, and Dana stumbles forward, coughing and trying to catch her breath. She looks back to see what was going on and Frankie is biting onto Claude’s arm.

Feeling the adrenaline, Dana takes her knife from her pocket and runs up to Claude and stabs him in the thigh. Claude shrieks and Frankie lets go of his arm. Claude collapses to the ground grabbing his chest and rolling around.

“Too much excitement for you, old man?” Dana says tauntingly. With his dying breaths he says,

"They will find you." Seconds later, Claude dies from sudden-cardiac arrest.

Dana pay no attention to his threat, looks over at Frankie and gives him a pat on the head.

“You knew he was bad from day one huh, buddy?” Frankie gives a little meow in response and rubs his head on her hand.

Dana had called the police, she wouldn't be charged with anything, since it was in self defense and he was trespassing on her property. She had also told them about the shed, and that there could be more of his gruesome killings in there.

Which was sadly the case.

There had been a secret trapdoor that led to an underground bunker Claude had for his collection. There were many more birds than what were on the main floor of the shed. He had been living in the bunker for years, hiding from society's judgement. They also told her that they found a body down there. It had been there for a long time, and based on the pelvis, they knew it was a female. Dana could make an educated guess on who it was.

Sarah. Claude's wife. Whether or not she had died to natural causes or not, they did not know.

Dana had moved as soon as she could. Her new home’s previous owner’s had decided to move down to Florida. So no deaths in her home this time. When she arrived at her new home, she felt somebody was watching her. Which wasn’t new, after Claude had watched her from who knows where at the old cabin.

She looked around and only saw Frankie tagging along with her. She gets to the front door and stops in place. Dana spots something by her feet, and it is a pile of black, bent feathers on her welcome mat.

Suddenly, hundreds of crows start cawing and all Dana can do is scream and is engulfed by darkness.