Odd Prompts Week 4
Another round of story prompts at Odd Prompts.
It’s been a long week and my mood was a bit low, so I went a bit dark this time.
The story was not coming, the plot was a jumble and the character was being stubborn. Deciding that I wanted a break, I flipped back to my blogs and social media. I’d barely skimmed a few posts when I heard something at the window to my right. Curious I turned to look. There’s a bird-feeder hanging from a shepherd’s hook just outside and we feed the local squirrels, plus our cats like to sleep in the window sill and sometimes they try to get to the animals outside. In short, noise or activity from that area is far from anything but uncommon.
Instead of the one of expected critters, I saw a large black bird perched on the window ledge. He squawked at me and side hopped a step.
“Well, hello there. What are you doing there?” He just looked at me and side hopped again. “No message for me?” I laughed. “I thought ravens brought messages.” He shook his head and squawked at me. “Okay, that’s better. If you start speaking English, I’m getting out my camera and recording.”
He cocked his head and peered at me.
Starting to get a bit unnerved I stood up and leaned closer to the window. There was something in his talons. It was a handle of some kind. I also notice a shadow in the dogwood tree, something that looked like another bird in the upper branches. Torn between curiosity and being freaked out, I walked around to the front door and stepped out.
The raven on the window ledge hopped a couple of times on the ledge and came closer to the porch. He squawked at me again, a high pitched caw, not the deeper croak of a raven. Once I got a good look at the narrow, slightly sharp, beak and tail feather of equal length, I realized that it wasn’t a raven after call, but a common crow.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to misidentify you.” I laughed. Both birds were common in the area so getting them mixed up was common.
I also got a better look at what he held, a knife stained dark red with partially dried blood.
He hopped another step closer and the one n the tree dropped down a few braches. Both of them squawked at me. Sounds from the townhomes around me pulled my attention up, I could see a dozen or so across the street sitting in trees or on roofs. I walked down the walkway to the curb and looked down the street and looked up. More lines the homes on either side of me. Several of the birds held bits of steel, glass or sharp twigs. A couple of them murmured, but otherwise it was silent. In fact, I finally noticed, it was totally silent; no neighborhood dogs were barking, no kids laughing, not even cars on the roads. I looked around at the birds, images of Alfred Hitchcock’s old movie “The Birds” flashed through my mind.
I turned to get back inside and saw the first crow standing on the porch, knife now in his beak. The second crow was perched on the shepherd’s hook. Both were staring at me intently.
They all started calling out, changing their positions. It was only then that I remember; a group of crows is a Murder.
Jennie Posthumus sent the challenge: There’s a tapping on your window. You look out and find a raven sitting on the sill holding a bloody knife.
The prompt called for a raven, but after a bit of research I found that ravens are not that common in my area. (The football team does not count) So I had to switch it to a crow, but then most people can’t tell them apart. *grin*
Here’s a good place to start if you want to know the differences.
Orignially posted (along with a fwe others) on https://undomesticatedfeline.wordpress.com/