The Boy and The Friendly Crow

Chapter 4 (Brumal)

After three days the bodies were found by the Sheriff Big John. That night felt colder than most winters because the discovery that Big John was going to find would leave him in shock for the rest of his life. The phone rang in the police station. Sheriff Big John got a phone call from the school about a missing boy after two days and no notice. He knew exactly who it was, and thought maybe the father forgot since he is always drinking. The huge winter storm had just passed and the cleaning of the streets was still underway. A lot of roads were still blocked and unless one had a snowplow there was no way to get to the outskirts of the town, that is where the boy lived. This was the worst storm the town had seen since The Great Appalachian Storm in 1950. Big John remembers a lot of people suffering then but a small miracle occurred on that day too, in the midst of the storm a baby was born, that baby was now a young boy, so Big John was going to do everything in his power to make sure he was fine. His father was not only a drunk but also a beater.

Suddenly while he was lost in thought he overheard an old couple talking in his station, it was the oldest couple of the town, Mary and John,

“Mary this is the worst storm since the one in 1950, I remember we lost Hope and never saw her again, I sure miss that bird but you told me things will be alright and we waited a few years and got a new bird, but dang it, Mary we just lost Spirit, I feel devastated”, said John, Mary looked at John and said

“Oh I am sorry I do not know what happen, I was securing the chicken coop before the storm and I got startled by a passing car that ran fast by the street and the next thing I knew the cage was gone and so was my Spirit”, as she said this, Mary began to cry, John wrap his arm around her and said

“There there, things will be alright, we might have lost Hope and Spirit but we have Faith, that old hound can find anything, am sure we will find the corpse and give her a proper burial”.

John suddenly felt a huge pain in his chest, like something was wrong and someone was in peril. He started asking around if he could borrow a plow truck. After a long search, he borrowed one but it took all day and night, and it was already very dark to drive to the end of town. It was very windy and the wind was howling, it made him more uneasy, sending chills down his spine.

Finally, after a long-dreaded drive, he arrived at the boy's house and noticed the front door was open. There was so much snow he could not see the stairs of the porch plus the snow was inside, the foyer was covered in snow too. The snow was covering half the front door, and then he noticed the car was still parked on the side of the house, which means they did not leave in a hurry and forgot to close the door, which was his first thought. He got out of the plow truck and the snow was up to his knees already, he started making his way to the front door, slowly but the snow piles were high, as he went up the stairs he felt something beneath his boots and almost fell. Once he was at the door the snow was at his waist, and then saw inside the house. It looked like a tornado had passed inside it, all the light were on in the back and he could hear the TV was on and there were empty beer bottles all over the house, he saw what seem a twisted birdcage bent and broken in the middle of the hall that connected to the kitchen, he walk more inside the house and once he reached the birdcage he notice there were some black feathers between the wires, whatever was in there forced its way out. He walked to the kitchen and suddenly stepped on broken glass, he reached for his gun and slowly drew it out.

“Hello, is everyone alright?”, said Big John with a raspy voice. For the first time in a long time, Big John was afraid, the big man who had fought in the war and was given a medal of honor was afraid. He reached the kitchen and what he saw was out of a horror movie. There were more black feathers all over the kitchen, blood splats on the floor and walls, broken beer bottles all over the floor, the table had been knocked over, and the father of the boy was on the floor in a pool of his own blood, with a broken beer bottle on his throat, there was blood also on the kitchen counter.

“If the bottle to the neck did not kill him, the fall did”, said Big John. He looked around but did not see the boy anywhere. He felt some relief and took a deep breath. Maybe the boy was scared and hiding somewhere he thought, so he went upstairs looking for him, but found nothing. He remembered there was a cellar which they used to take shelter every time there was a storm. The main entrance was burning in snow, and he was not going to be able to dig up by himself, but there was another entry in this old house under the stairs, it must have been sealed by the previous owners. He grabbed a hammer he saw in the living room and started smashing the wall under the stairs, and there it was, the other entrance to the cellar. He made the hole bigger and made his way down. He had a small flashlight that barely worked but it was enough for him to see down the stairs. There was a stench so bad coming from the bottom of the cellar, it almost made him throw up. He looked around and saw a few boxes of untouched wine, some old clothing bags, and a pile of used rags. He could not tell where the stench was coming from, he was looking around and then noticed the pile of rugs that were covering something small. He moved the rags with his flashlight and saw they were covered in blood, his eyes open wide and thought the worse. He then noticed it was a pile of small dead birds under the rags. His heart was beating fast, where could the boy be if he was not here.

“Maybe he ran somewhere after he saw his father dead”, said Big John, he went back upstairs and was leaving when he noticed more black feathers coming from where he had stepped on when he passed the stairs of the porch. He dug up a little and saw a blackbird under the snow, the wings looked broken. He dug some more and saw a red scarf under the snow, his heart raced, and felt a huge weight in his heart. He dug faster and saw what he feared most, it was the boy. His body was stiff, he was still wearing his school uniform. He pulled him out of the snow and saw that he was smiling.

“No one can hurt you now”, said Big John

“Oh God am so sorry, why, why”, he said as he began to cry. This was going to be one of the coldest winters the town had seen in a very long time.