Elizabeth Turner stared at her mother's grave in the dark cold night. Her mother had died a few weeks ago, yet she couldn't shake off the feeling she was given from it. They knew it was coming, everyone knew it was coming. Her mother was getting old, and battling an incurable disease. Everyone was there, everyone made her happy. And she died that way, happily and softly in her sleep in the comfort of her soft warm bed at home.
A black crow cawed from the top of the stone, twitching its head at the young adult. Elizabeth looked up, her black hair moving away from her face to see the bird. After a brief moment of silence between the two, a heavy feeling started to form inside of her chest, and suddenly she began coughing. She stopped after a few seconds, and looked back up at the crow. It only cawed, and flew away suddenly and behind her.
Elizabeth turned her head to see where the crow went. Standing towards the entrance of the cemetery was a man, dressed in black robes, a very old fashioned top hat, a leather belt with a few pouches attached, and a strange bird's beak mask. He was holding a staff, in which the crow willingly landing and stood on, only to be given something by the strange man.
The sight of someone like him was completely strange. She had to admit that mask was pretty cool looking with it's perfect bird's beak, but something was very off with him. All of his clothes were dark, and seemed old. And his body language was very odd, and nearly scared her slightly. But her thoughts were interrupted by yet another coughing fit.
'I should probably go home,' she thought to herself when she stopped and sighed. She looked back up, only to see the strange man gone. She felt a small wave of relief, and began walking home.
Later that night, Elizabeth had gone into her kitchen to get some medicine for her coughing. She got some, took it, and walked over to the sink to rinse it out. While doing so, she looked out of the window above it. There was that man again, off in the distance, looking away from her window, allowing the beak of the mask to clearly be seen. The sight of seeing the stranger once again started to put her off in a trance. It seemed as if he was talking with the bird on his staff. Elizabeth was snapped back into reality when the water her hand was under went boiling hot, and she yanked her hand away. "Shit shit shit!" she murmured under her breath, and turned off the water.
She looked back up while reaching for the towel to dry off her hand, only to see the stranger gone. "You're just seeing things Liz, he was never there. Gotta stop watching so many horror movies!" She told herself, and walked into her room and went to sleep.
Over the next few days, Elizabeth's condition just got worse. She was forced to stay at home from work, and stayed in bed the majority of the time. Her boyfriend, Jack Stone, came by to visit her and make sure she was doing fine everyday. And when he did show up, Elizabeth's dark green eyes shined in delight, and would reach for a hug that would be denied over her disease.
"You know I won't, you're sick and I don't want to get it. I've been very busy this week, remember?" he told her, and sat down on the edge of her bed.
"It's still worth a shot," she replied, and sat up a little.
"Are you feeling any better?" he would ask, only for her to shake her head.
"I wish... but sadly no. Can you go get me a glass of water?" she would ask, and he would nod and get up and do so.
That's how their conversations always went at that time, and they never got any longer due to Jack having to go to work. A few hours after Jack had left the 5th day, Elizabeth went into her kitchen to go get a glass of water. As she did so, she stopped dead in her tracks to see the window above the sink wide open, with a crow sitting on the window sill staring right at her. The young adult held her breath for a moment, as a small staring contest between her and the blackbird had begun.
