Crows? Banshees? Both?

The word felt like a cold metal blade sliding down his spine, slick and fatal. A dark sense of dread clawed deeply at his stomach while he looked at the silky, black eyes that the crow had. 

Did that crow really just tell me that? 

Anthony was standing on the porch of his house, trying to enjoy the cold night with his avian friends and smoke a cigarette before retiring late like he always did.

"W-What did you just say?" The reply was automatic, not fully realizing that he was asking a bird to explain itself. There was, of course, no reply. They all just stared at him coldly, and Anthony couldn't help but shake the feeling that they all looked different. He felt like they were trying to tell him something with his eyes, all of them, staring right at him. It put him on edge.

He smoked his cigarette, thinking about what the crow just said and trying to not panic. "Hmm," He said to himself. "I wonder who taught you guys that word."

He knew he was missing something. Something that the crows felt was supposed to be obvious and clear to him. He knew he was being slow, but prayed that he would not have to pay dearly for it.

Suddenly the murder of crows erupted into a mess of caws and panicked flapping. Anthony flung back to the wall in surprise and watched as the usually well-mannered crows threw themselves into a mess of black feathers and began frantically flying away. As their caws became echoes and their black outlines became memories in the midnight sky, Anthony suddenly realized what he thought made their eyes look different than before, they were scared.

His heart began to race, all of this wasn't a coincidence, was it? Why would they tell him to hide? Why were they scared? Did they know any-- Click... That was his front door.

He lived alone.

There was no other house for more than a mile

Like a stone, his heart sank and his face went pale white, Anthony came to the horrible realization that the crow was indeed warning him and that something was indeed coming. He didn't know what to do, he was on his balcony and he was sure that his front door was just opened. Was there someone in his house?

Thud... Thud... Thud... My god, that's footsteps, it sounded like the bottom floor. Anthony quickly and quietly slid open the glass door and snuck into his house. The air felt like horrible steel and Anthony was positive that he wasn't imagining things.

He didn't have a gun or anything like that, so all he could do was heed the crow's advice and hide. But where? Thud... Thud... Thud... My god, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Was this person here for him? Quick, Anthony saw his bed and realized that he could surround himself with random boxes he had been keeping there and hide completely. There's no way this person would go digging around his stuff just to find him. Swiftly and quietly he dived under the bed and arranged it so that he was covered on almost all ends. The only opening was at the end of the bed opposite the door, looking directly out towards the balcony from where he has just come. Thud... Thud... Thud...

Anthony tried to control his breathing, don't panic. He slowly sighed and looked out into the darkness of his balcony, thinking deeply about what was happening. In the middle of his thoughts, he started to see something out on his balcony... Was he imagining things, what was that... My god, he was sure of it, on his balcony where he just was, he saw a man standing there, looking right at him. The man's face was shrouded by the darkness of night, and his shoulders were hunched beside him like some sort of tense mountain of flesh. He wasn't moving, he was just staring at Anthony.

It was horrible. Anthony felt like a caged animal.

How did he get out there? He thought, already panicking and hyperventilating. It was like a scene from a horror movie, and none of those ever ended well. At least for characters like Anthony.

The only way was from the very door he had just left from. Okay, Anthony thought, maybe if he charges in here I'll have time to flee from the door behind me. Yes.. yes that's it, I don't care how he got there, he sure won't have time to block my way out from the other door. This was it, whatever this man wanted didn't matter, Anthony would be able to escape and get away to tell the police.

It was then that Anthony came to a horrible realization. Anthony looked out of the glass doors at the large, dark figure staring at him, and realized that he wasn't looking at someone standing on his balcony, but instead was looking at the reflection of someone who was standing right behind his bed. Bam! The man grabbed Anthony's ankle from behind him and began to drag him out of it as his scream filled the room, raising an alarm that nobody would hear, calling for a savior that would not show up.

Outside of the house, in the dark peace of cool midnight, the murder of crows all circled the house from high above. All cawing in ominous unison, "Hide! Hide! Hide!"

*****

THE END.