Title: Crow Horror
Fandom: Original
Author: Apache Firecat
Characters: OCs
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: In the South, there is a saying...
Word Count: 1,000
Written For: Fan FlashWorks 404: Screen and Fannish 50 #48
Warnings: Animal Abuse, Character Death
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.









"It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining. The birds were singing, and four crows were tap dancing on the old power line when they saw the lady of the house below them sit on a beautiful pie on the windowsill. The crust was a golden crisp, browned to perfection. They didn't know what kind of berries had been baked in the pie, but the four brothers knew one thing for a certain -- that pie was going to be delicious!

"The first crow turned to the second crow. 'Brother, I want me a piece of that pie!' he cawed decisively. The other birds agreed. They all wanted a slice of the pie, but how to go about getting it away from the woman who had clearly baked it for her family's Sunday dinner?

"'I'm just gonna go fly down there and get me a piece!' the youngest crow declared. He was the youngest of the four and still a bit headstrong. His brothers tried to warn him, cawing at them and flapping their black wings, but he wasn't hearing any of it. He was a jive, young thing, and he swept down to the pie. His flight was smooth, too, until he slammed right into the windowpane.

"It took him a little while, but he eventually made it back to his brothers on the old, wire line. He was shaking his head, still a bit dazed and confused and muttering to himself. 'We tried to tell you, Junior,' the oldest said. 'You can't get to the pie that way. You have to watch the way the woman works, find a way inside, like that there door she keeps stepping through.

"The crows watched the lady of the house for a while, as she stepped to and fro from her patio, before one of them decided he'd try again. She had come and gone through that door several times. They could often see her when she was inside from the window Junior had crashed into. When she wasn't to be seen in the window, she could be seen from the door, and whenever she couldn't be seen from either place, it took her a while before they would see her again -- in which time, the second crow thought, he could surely get to the pie and back out again.

"He waited until the opportunity was right. When the blonde lady could no longer be seen by the window or the door, he swept down, as smooth and agile as he would on a field mouse, he slammed into something hard and sharp. His poor beak plastered against the glass of the sliding door while the two older birds laughed at him, cawing up in what to you or me would sound rightfully like a riot.

"'I told you you needed glasses!' the oldest said. 'You didn't want to hear it!' He slapped a ebony, feathered wing against his knee, or at least what would pass for a knee had he been human, which was the exact protest his companion gave up.

"'Crows don't wear glasses!' he cawed.

"'Maybe you oughta!' The younger two were cawing so hard they had to hold their wings against their sides. The wire shook under their rolling weight. One of them stopped laughing and shot the side of his wing into his younger brother's stomach. Then he pointed down, indicating that they'd better stop laughing or they might fall off the shaking wire.

"The wind was picking up, though the day was still beautiful. There were big, fluffy, white clouds in the blue sky now. But the brothers remained fixated on that pie in the windowsill.

"'You just gotta watch,' the third crow said. 'Silly woman doesn't always shut the door behind her.'

"'Yeah, but she's never gone long enough otherwise.' argued the one who had just flown into the glass door.

"'Wanna bet? You just gotta know what you're doing, bro.' The third crow jumped up and down impatiently on the wire until the woman came back out and then, eventually, went back in, leaving the door open behind her. He swept down immediately, spanning out his black wings, but he, too, was met with defeat as his beak got tangled in the screen he hadn't noticed before. It was a thin material, and easy enough to break free from, but all three of his brothers were cawing righteously at him when he flew back to them in defeat.

"'Man, I want some of that pie!' he cried in lament. He shook his head, wings gently testing his beak. 'But I don't know how we're gonna get some!'

"'I do! Let me show you chicks how this is done!' The last crow drew his wings to his sides and stayed, ready to swoop down, as he watched the woman through the glass door, through the glass window, and then again through the glass door. When she at last came out again, he perched on the very edge of the wire, ready to take flight, and he did so just as she was going back into her home. He swept in right behind her, so close that his wing grazed her blouse.

"The woman turned and screamed. There was a loud noise, and a lot of pain. The brothers outside grabbed onto each other as they watched their fourth member, their leader, fall to the floor of the humans. He jerked several times, but did not raise again.

"There was a big, long, metal thing that raised up instead. They heard the woman's husband's voice for the first time. 'There you go, honey. There's your crow for your next pie.' The brothers squeezed each other, scared for their own lives, and watched as the husband and wife lifted their dead brother from their floor. They turned, still cawing at the top of their lungs in fright, and flew far, far away."

The book shut. "And that, sugars, is why we don't eat crow today."



The End