The Phobos Archives

Ornitophobia

It took all my excitement to open the folder again. I sat on the bed and began to read the second page."File No.28: Ornithophobia," it said on top. There was a long paragraph below it, probably a story, which made no sense. Why would a theses be composed of stories?

I flipped and skimmed the pages. All of them were the same. Some titles and some stories. How can they being nausea or be so confidential? This looks kinda like out my interest but I wanted to read it. My curiosity got ahead of me and before I knew it, my creative mind already set itself a new world straight from the page.

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"File No.28: Ornithophobia"

I don't have a grudge against birds, but I hate them, particularly crows. I like looking at birds like the fancy colors of the birds of paradise or the elegance of macaus but never the crows. In particular, crows are very clever and smart birds, and I speak from experience. My family owns a hundred-acre farm. In our town, farming is common as there is a wide range of soil fields. The nutrients in the soil is also abundant. They say that during the Civil War, the town was burned to ashes as it was the center of the battlefield - laid with lifeless corpses. Quite a good bedtime story for your kid until it becomes retaliating for them when they get older. Imagine eating your corn chowder made from corpse nutrients.

Dad always said that this farm was our father's heirloom. I mean, it would be. This farm has been a great source of income and the reason why Dad and his brothers finished college. This farm also sustained my college life back in the city during classes. During summers, I stay in the farm, away from the bustling city and the breathless days in college. The place was melancholic and relaxing at the same time. The air was fresh, the hills are literally standing in front of your eyes and most of all, the mesmerizing green cornfields. What more could you ask? It would've been better without those crows. Even with the perfectly-made scarecrows, the black pests were too smart to be scared and kept on ravaging the fields. I patrolled regularly with Paws, my golden retriever, and had my slingshot to scare, not hurt as possible, the birds away. Paws does a good job in scaring them away with his loud barks but still, they kept coming. Luckily, my girlfriend arrived on time.

No, my girlfriend didn't bring any pesticide for the crows. I said that because she was the one that was the solution for my loneliness (my family was in the city along with Dad and Mom). Ericka was in one of my classes and we both had a knack on the same thing: science. Almost like a nerd, I invited her on a botsnical garden on our first date and I admit, she turned me on some more when she identified those plants that I didn't know. With my parents gone on their vacation, it was only me and Ericka, and Paws, too.

Everything was working out fine. Ericka was so fascinated by the ecosystem in the farm (its her first time in the countryside) that we spent a whole day outside admiring various plants and fauna - including the crows - except that there were none. I wasn't the first to notice it. Johnson, the guy from the carrot and beetroot farm a few blocks from ours suddenly came as Ericka was fancying with a thistle flower.

"Hey, Joe. No crows here too?" he asked while removing his farmer's cap.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I looked on the cornfields. True to his word, there was no squawk not a chirp. It made the cornfield awfully silent. Even the swallows were nowhere to be seen.

"That's weird, isn't it," Ericka said, Paws on her heels wagging his tail.

Johnson looked at the cornfield. "It is, young lady. The crows always disturbed my beetroots more than the rabbits do. It's too..." He paused, his face clearly telling us he was finding the right word of description.

"Peculiar?" I guessed.

The aged man nodded. "Yes, that's what I was thinking. I got a call from Dan, the apple farmer a kilometer from here, this morning. He's also surprised to see no crow on his farm."

I looked at the cornfields and felt something tug behind my head.

"At least it's not all the birds," Ericka said. "I saw some sparrows and fledglings on the backyard a moment ago."

"Yeah, but still, something's off. That many crows wouldn't disappear that suddenly in a single day," I said, my eyes still in the cornfield.

"Well, I think it's a good thing, young lad. Quite fortunate to make my carrots grow some more," Johnson said before bidding goodbye to irrigate his crops.

It was after dinner that night that we found an explanation with the sudden disappearance. I was on the couch scratching Paws, a can of soda in my ither hand, and was watching football game while Ericka was washing the dishes. The Kickers were in their way to score a goal when the news report suddenly flashed.

"Just in, multiple flocks of crows were seen on the Willingham River today in Gultown, Texas. The reason for the ordeal seems to be unusual as various amounts of fish corpses are seen floating in the river and are being eaten by the birds, specifically crows. According to the authorities, the possible cause of the fishes' death are from radiation poisoning as a few of them have been found with multiple eyes and fins, concluding to mutation. The XENOS Corporations still have not released a statement about this, except that the police investigation on the nuclear power plant revealed no plausible evidence of being the perpetrator of the said incident. This is Danie Chapman, TV7, bringing news to you, wherever you are"

I put my soda in the table. The news flashed the whole scene of the crows eating the dead birds. It was disgusting for me to see. The river was unusually blue-green and everywhere, crows perched and ate. There were too many of them that the authorities were indistinguishable from the birds' black feathers if not for their white PPE's.

"I'll be damned," Ericka exclaimed as she wiped her hands with her apron.

"I sure do hope not, babe." I pulled her into a hug. She looked at me and made a face.

"That was an expression, you jerk. Besides..." She looked intently on the TV screen. "That looks familiar. Oh, that is definitely wrong. Look!" She said and pointed.

What we saw was clearly bothering. In our Biology class, there was a topic where we discussed several organizations in the government that dealt with health-related aspects of the society such as the WHO and the Nuclear and Radioactive Mitigation and Reduction Organization, which are the ones that should've been on the scene. However, the ones on the scene were not from the NRMRO.

"If I'm not mistaken, those are not from NaRMaRO," I said. "They're from CDC, right?"

She nodded. "Yes. The questions is why would the Center for Disease Control be on a scene without NaRMaRO?"

Her question made sense. Normally, CDC is called when a potential epidemic or an out-of-place tropical disease occurs within a certain area, and as what Ericka said earlier, they are in a scene where they should not be.

"You know what? Let's just watch some movie and chill, okay?" I said and tried to make her mind stray away from the news. "What about we pop some popcorns?"

"Corny pun, babe"

"You know that's still a pun, right?"

"You'll never beat me. You know why?" She stole a brief kiss from me and stood. "Because girls are always right."

As I looked at her go into the kitchen, I tried to make sense of the news, the scene, everything. Could it be possible that the authorities are covering the incident? I didn't know it was going to be critical for our surviv-

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KNOCK, KNOCK!!

"Carol, hon?"

My mind slipped from the trance I was in. I didn't even notice how long I was reading. The story...it felt so real, it almost creeped me out.

"Right here, Pops. Come in," I said and closed the book, folding the edge as a bookmark.

Pops came in, a smile on his face as he carried a tray of cookie and a glass of milk. He looked down on me as I removed my glasses.

"So, you were busy with something?" He said in a tone that looked he was assuring himself I was not doing something rude. "What's that? A book report?"

"Sort of," I said, which was half the truth - this looks more like an autopsy documentation than a research paper.

Pops kneeled and put the tray in the floor before sitting down. "And here I thought you were already sleeping. I called three times, you know"

I hugged him tight. "Sorry, Pops. I just got myself too engrossed with the file, I mean the book or whatsoever"

He struck an eyebrow up. "Okay...anyways, here's your usual midnight snack. The boys are out so you get some extra cookies."

"That's great," I said. I examined the in-tray. "Firm chocolate, kinda bitter but still overwhelmed by sweetness" I took a bite. "And along with the refreshing cold milk," I said and took a sip. "Yup, just the way I like it," I finished.

He smiled slyly. "Oh, that's sweet, baby. Don't worry, I'll be just downstairs with your Dad. We'll be watching the Drag Queen series recap. Just come downstairs if you want some more, okay?"

I nodded as a reply before he kissed me on the forehead and went back downstairs with his silver tray. I quickly got my phone and sent a message to Nine. He suddenly got the message, as if he was waiting for it the whole night (which was possible as he's gonna be the most boring man for me) and replied immediately that he was gonna come and see it in person.

Minutes later, there was a knock in my door. I opened it up to see a blushing Nine and Pops carrying another tray of delights.

Nine had his hands in his hair, like he was scratching it but forgot what he was doing, and was smiling awkwardly. "Hey, Carol. Got your message."

I had to do my best to hide my giggle. "Oh sure, you did."

"Now, you two try to do your best with your homeworks, okay?" Pops said with a smile and put the sweet tray in my study table. "And Nine, honey, tell me if you want something. Don't be shy, okay?"

Nine nodded awkwardly before Pops looked at me slyly. I mouthed a silent "What?" to him but all I got was shrug before he went downstairs again, ready to indulge a night of Drag Marathon with Dad.

"So, I guess this is a sleepover?" I asked.

He sat on the floor. "Yeah, I guess so. Except that girls mostly do it."

"Oh please, Nine. Stop whining like a little girl," I sighed. "Your red face shows it all."

"You didn't tell me Mr. Grey would be the one meeting me in the doorstep"

"He's always the one you'll meet in the patio, Nine. Like it or not. Besides, I have something amazing to show you," I said and showed him the file.

It took him a long minute to read and another minute to process what he read. He had the same thoughts as mine - about how would this be confidential, how the file looked worrying, how it was so creepy in many aspects. I tried to offer him my opinion and he voiced out his but we never got to a factual conclusion. Too many questions appeared and they were worrisome.

"You shouldn't find this in a library," he said as he ate a cookie. "Things like this tend to be stored in the city office archives of the city or just shredded like those agents' backgrounds in 007 movies."

"But the possibility of it being misplaced in the library is also high. Remember what Mr. Great told at the library? May 2, 1998 was a 'depressing day for the city'."

He wrinkled his brows. "Indeed..." He muttered as if he knew what happened on the exact date.

"You got to tell me," I told him.

"Tell you what?" He said with a surprised look in my face.

"You're making that dont-tell-her-or-she'll-beat-your-a*s-to-death face. Come on, seriously, tell me," I said matter-of-factly.

"Well, before I tell you, have you finished reading the first file?" He asked me.

I took a sip from the fresh cold milk. "Nope, Pops surprised me when he knocked on the door."

"You should finish it," he said in a conclusive tone.

I didn't bother to ask him what was in his head. The tone of his voice said it all. I opened the file once again and started from where I left behind.