When She Walked With Crows

The Girl at the Window

CHAPTER FOUR — The Girl at the Window

Silas reached the bottom step when something shifted behind the window.

A curtain twitched. A shadow moved. And then she appeared.

A girl — small, maybe a head shorter than him — with hair that caught the light in a way he’d never seen before. Starlight hair — dark, but threaded with a faint shimmer, like the sun had left tiny sparks tangled in it.

Her eyes were brown. Not plain brown. Warm brown. The kind of brown that made Silas think of earth after rain, of old wood, of something steady and gentle.

She didn’t open the door. She didn’t speak. She didn’t even move away.

She just watched him — quiet, cautious, but not afraid. There was a softness to her expression, a kind of kindness that didn’t make sense on someone who looked so young and so alone.

Silas swallowed. “Uh… hi.”

The girl blinked once, slow.

The crow cawed, as if announcing him like some kind of dramatic herald.

Silas shot the bird a look. “Really?”

The girl’s lips twitched — not a full smile, but something close. A tiny spark of amusement, gentle and fleeting.

Silas felt heat rise to his face.

“I didn’t mean to— I mean, I wasn’t trying to—” He gestured vaguely at the house, at the forest, at everything. “I just got lost. Again.”

She tilted her head slightly, her starlight hair shifting with the movement. It made her look even smaller, even softer — like a breeze could move her, but nothing could break her.

Silas took a tiny step back. “I should go.”

She didn’t stop him. She didn’t call out. She didn’t open the door.

But as he turned to leave, he heard it — the softest sound, barely more than a breath.

“Wait.”

Silas froze.

He turned slowly.

Her brown eyes were different now — less guarded, more open, more… something. Something warm. Something that made his chest tighten.

She lifted one hand — small, delicate — and pointed toward the forest behind him.

Silas frowned. “What? Back there?”

She nodded once.

The crow cawed sharply, wings flaring.

Silas looked between them — the crow, the girl, the woods.

And for the first time since moving here, he didn’t feel angry. He didn’t feel lost. He didn’t feel alone.

He felt… pulled.

Like the forest wasn’t done with him yet. Like she wasn’t done with him yet.