Random Short Stories

The Warning Raven

A/N: This is a REALLY old story from around three years ago.

The first time I saw the raven, I didn't know what it meant. I didn't know that this raven meant the end of everything. Let me tell you the stories of the times I saw the Warning Raven, which is what I call it now, not that I can tell this to anyone but you, the person that finds this.

It's pure luck that the man's wife is a kind woman and slipped the note from the house. I don't know where it's ended up now, but I hope it ends up with someone.

Story one:

     I walked outside into the white winter world of my neighborhood. The pure white had buried the door to my house the previous day from a blizzard, blocking me from my desire to go and play with my brothers in the snow. But now that it'd been shoveled, the door was clear, along with the streets, and the pale winter light of the early Sunday afternoon was calming. But I was not calm. I ran with my brothers onto the front yard, and we started making snowballs. Carson and Jamie were tasked with a snowball fight, while me, being the snow-sensitive person I am, stood by making snowballs for them when they couldn't. At some point, we played one of the pretend games we love to play in the winter, with Jamie as the villain and Carson as the hero. They both loved
their roles, and I love mine: the good sister and the evil sister. One part of the game I'm the good sister, on Carson's side, and another part I'm the evil sister, on Jamie's side. We do this at least once every winter, and we love it. We never make snow angels or snowmen, we have snowball fights and games. Usually at some point Jamie and Carson end up in a physical fight, friendly, but sometimes they hit each other too hard into the snow. It's fun to watch. I was watching one of these fights when I saw the Raven. It was just at the edge of my vision. I turned to see what it was, since I couldn't tell then, and it was staring directly at me, it's calm yellow eyes peaceful but foreboding, drawing me in. But when I blinked, it was gone. I turned back to Jamie and Carson to tell them about the Raven, but just then Mom opened the door and called for us to come back inside.

Story 2:

    The second time was in school. It was still winter, but the snow was clearing up. I was waiting for my bus on the hill with my friends. We were talking and laughing as we waited. I saw the flash at the edge of my vision again, and turned to look like last time. Again, it was staring at me with those yellow eyes, but they were different. They were frantic. They gazed at me with an alarmed warning that I didn't understand. Then I noticed the yellow color was different too. Instead of the sunny shade like the first time I saw it, it was darker, brownish, even. I didn't understand, and I knew my friends wouldn't either, so I turned away from it, swirling myself back into the conversation I was having with my friends.

Story 3:

     The third time was the second-to-last. It was on my windowsill. I was playing my violin, practicing for the playing test. It was almost the end of winter now, and I didn't know how bad this was. I was looking forward to spring. As I practiced I saw it again. I looked up from the stand to see it sitting there, watching me, and I faltered. No one was in the house but me and Jamie, and he couldn't hear me, so I wasn't worried about my mistake being noticed. I stared at it, studying its gaze for any changes, and I saw them. The look it was giving me was pure anger, like it knew I'd ignored it the second time. The yellow color was reddish now, a mixture of blood red and dark yellow. I stared at it with my brows furrowed in question. I didn't understand! What was it trying to tell me? It's gaze changed to sympathy for a moment, then I blinked, and it was gone. Still confused, I turned back to my piece, pushing my thoughts about the raven to the back of my mind.

Story 4:

     This is the worst one. It was Spring, I was with my dad. And Jamie. Well, sort of. It was Saturday morning, and I was in the little clearing with the rocks, humming softly to myself and daydreaming. I was alone in the clearing. This was a bad position for me to be in, but I'd done it before; I was unconcerned. I saw it again. The raven's eyes were fearful, terrified, and I sat upright, staring at it. It's eyes flashed with warning, danger, and I was scared by it for the first time. It's eyes were the color of dried blood, and suddenly all the times it had appeared to me flashed into my vision, consuming me. They crashed into my head like lightning, and the pure shock of it sent me reeling. I passed out, crumpling forward, and when I woke up.....
     There was a person standing in front of me. But it wasn't a person I recognized. This person was wearing all black: black long-sleeved shirt, black pants, black gloves, black socks, black shoes... but these didn't scare me. What scared me was the black mask covering their face. I tried to speak, to ask who they were, but I couldn't. I'd been gagged. I struggled to move, but my hands were tied with a rope behind my back, another rope around my stomach pressing me painfully on a wooden chair, yet another tied around my ankles, tied to another tighter rope binding my bound feet to one leg of the chair. I'd been kidnapped. And the Warning Raven had tried to warn me.

Please come and get me out of here. The house is dark red with a black roof. The windows are always closed and the blinds are always drawn. The door is ebony. It has a small front yard, simple driveway, and a small front porch. Come at night. Look for the brightest patch of color on the exterior of the back of the house. It should be a shade of yellow. There's a bush near that patch of color. Under the bush is a trapdoor. It's never locked; my captor hid it so well barely anyone can find it. Open it. Come save me. I'm tied up, probably sleeping on the chair in the center of the room. Wake me, untie the rest of my body (The kidnapper's wife untied my hands and gave me a pencil and paper so I could write this), and we'll go.

Get me out of here. Please. I'm counting on you.

                                            Good luck,
                                                         Beth

Beth spent the rest of her life trapped in that dark room. Missing persons reports appeared all over within days of her disappearance, and no one found her letter.