Craaven

Chapter 6: London, England 1977

After many more hours of pure silence between Will and me, we eventually landed on a small church and we took shelter in the gothic architecture that sheltered the front door. Will and I were both exhausted from the long flight (that I insisted we should make). William had tried to ask me multiple times about what had happened and what I was, but I never answered him. I was procrastinating telling him anything for as long as possible because I simply did not want to tell him the truth.

"Edgar...I know that yer tired but can you please explain to me the truth?" Will asked me groggily one last time. I looked at him half-asleep; I was on the verge of collapsing from my exhaustion.

"Can I just sleep first?" I whined, my words slurred slightly from exhaustion. William was silent as he pondered whether or not he could wait that long. But thankfully, he sighed and nodded slightly and settled down not too far from me to sleep. I want to say he was further away than usual because he no longer trusted me. But at the same time, I could've been overthinking and he was just being his usual un-affectionate self. Whatever the case, I forced myself to ignore it.

I listened to the sounds of the cars driving past, far down below. The ambient white noise of the hundreds of wheels and motors allowed my mind to drift to places that I'd rather not be. The haunting memories of mercilessly killing Hawky and seeing my dad's dead body on the floor of my bedroom caused me to fall asleep crying and deal with ruthless nightmares the entire night.

Day 18

I awoke the next morning feeling quite cold. The distant rooftops were obscured in fog and the sky was a foreboding grey colour that threatened rain.

The weather wasn't anything spectacular but it was still gloomy and only made me more tired. I looked in Will's direction and I saw that he was still sleeping peacefully. I was thankful he wasn't already awake; I was still dreading the impending conversation we would have.

I'm still unsure why I was so unwilling to explain everything to Will. I guess it was because I would rather pretend my human life didn't exist so I could be free and not have to worry about anything. Even though living like a bird was dangerous, I would still rather be a bird than grow up as a boy on the streets; dealing with other humans and their weird systems.

I'm not even sure if Will would want to stick around after I tell him. He said so a day or so ago, himself, that he thought humans were useless, ugly, and greedy so he avoided them as much as possible unless he needed food. What would he even think of me? I thought, ruffling my neck feathers to keep warm in the morning chill. I became so lost in thought that I didn't even notice William had woken up and inched closer until I heard his hoarse old-man voice in my ear.

"Somet wrong?" he wondered, tucking his talons underneath him to keep them warm. His voice knocked me out of my thoughts and for a few seconds, I looked around as if I had just heard a ghost.

"Oh! Will! N-no, I'm fine," I exclaimed once I acknowledged that he existed. He continued to gaze at me calmly, waiting for me to say something more. I didn't respond to him simply because I didn't know what he wanted from me.

"I'm still bloody confused 'bout yesterday... care to es-plain?" William hummed gently. I stared at him for a moment, internally panicking and wishing I would just fall dead right then and there to avoid having to explain myself.

"Um... well-... I don't know-..." I stammered and felt my stomach twist uncomfortably. William remained silent.

"Uhh..." My voice began to shake and I went quiet so I could compose myself; however, to my dismay, the urge to cry still remained strong.