His heart slammed into his ribcage over and over again as he burst through the screen door, sprinting down the wooden porch steps and out toward the tree line.
"GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" his mother screamed from the porch behind him, the door slamming shut until his father followed her outside.
"He'll come back... he has nowhere else to go."
The boy ignored them, escaping into the safety of the woods, refusing to look back. Blood trickled down his forehead, trailing down to his eyebrow; his head began to spin, causing his stomach to twist, forcing him to slow his pace as he grew more and more uncoordinated with each step.
He stumbled, his breaths becoming shallow.
His body ached; bruised and bloodied.
Why did she hate him so much?
Everything he did was wrong in her eyes.
The boy stumbled, tripping over knotted roots beneath the tall grass. He pushed himself forward, despite his vision beginning to blur. His knees soon buckled, forcing him onto the ground before the edge of a bank, descending down into a river.
His eyes began to well with tears as he crawled forward, sliding down the sandy embankment, landing beside the river's edge. His chest rose and fell quickly as he rolled onto his back, now staring up at the sky.
He remained still, soon forcing himself to swallow. His raw throat becoming coated with a warm liquid that began to flood, pushing its way through his cracked lips and trailing down his cheeks from the corners.
A faint smile began to tug at his lips despite the excessive substance, watching as black feathers began to descend around him; dancing through the air similar to leaves during the fall.
Crows.
His only friends in this world.
The boy observed as they circled above him, desperate cries emanating from them. His breathing began to slow, a small tearing trickling down his cheek, mixing with the blood staining the surface of his skin, as he finally closed his eyes.
The crows' panicked calls grew muffled, becoming distant as the world faded to black.
YOU ARE READING
Experiment Scarecrow
Mystery / ThrillerSeventeen-year-old, Brooke Whitlock, lives in a rural town of Virginia where everyone knows her name. She has always been the "perfect" child with good grades and a decent social life. But when Brooke sets off to find the truth behind the recent di...
