Curiosity Killed The Crow

Chapter 7

Hours later I sat up, panting.  My nightshirt clung to me, damp and chilled.  I tugged at it.  I knew where I was but my nightmare had been too real and I felt sick from it.  There had been men dressed in jaguar skins and macaw feathers chasing me with a fork and knife.  That’s what I get for reading that stupid book right before bed.

I curled my arms around my knees and made myself take slow, deep breaths.  My heart slowed back down.  I could hear Lilli-Mae snoring softly, from under her covers.  Lying back down, I tried to make myself go back to sleep, but my body wouldn’t listen.

I stared in the vague direction of the ceiling, not really seeing it.  My eyes were just beginning to get heavy again when a faint nose pulled me out of the half sleep I’d fallen into.

It came again and I concentrated, trying to figure out what it was.  The next time it happened it was louder and sent shivers down my spine.  At first I thought it must be a wolf howling, but then I realized there couldn’t possibly be any wolves in Albuquerque.  Whatever it was howled again.  It didn’t sound right...lower in pitch, maybe?  I couldn’t tell.

I peeked out the blinds, thinking maybe I’d see a bunch of stupid boys trying to pull some ridiculous prank, but the street was empty.  Maybe they’re doing it with a recording or something.  The sound began to grow fainter and I lay down, rolling my back to the window.

Something tapped softly at the window and I ignored it, figuring it was just a branch brushing the glass.  Wait…there aren’t any trees outside the window here.  I flipped over and screamed.

Someone crouched on the window sill, their shadow clearly visible against the blinds.  I scrambled out of bed, tripping over various articles of clothing on the floor and jumped into bed with Lilli-Mae, who bolted upright.

“What in heaven’s name is going on?” she screeched.  Her head whipped around, but with her sleeping mask on she couldn’t see anything.  I ripped it off her face and turned her head towards the window, unable to look again myself.

“There’s someone outside!”

“Then answer the door,” Lilli-Mae slurred.

“Not outside the door, outside the window.”  I pointed and she squinted in the direction I indicated. 

“I don’t see anything Ava,” she said, then yawned.

I peeked over my shoulder and sure enough there was nothing there.  I deflated.  “That’s not possible.  He was there, I swear.”

She patted my hand absently as she pulled her blankets back over herself.  “It’s okay honey, we all have nightmares sometimes.”

I scowled at the blanket-covered lump now beside me.  “I didn’t dream it.  I saw it.”

I crossed my arms, unwilling to go across the room and get back into my own bed.  A strange whooshing sound had me cowering under the covers with Lilli-Mae, who wrinkled her nose and sat back up.

“What is wrong with you?”

I shrugged and peeked over at the window.  A shadow was outlined on the blinds again.  “Lilli, look, he’s back,” I whispered frantically.

Lips in a thin line, she pulled her mask off again and did a double take.  She slid off the bed and I grabbed her arm.

“Be careful!” I whispered.

She rolled her eyes at me and walked across the room.  Grabbing the cords, she yanked and the blinds shot open.  I gasped.  Sitting on the window sill was a big crow...one I was pretty sure I’d seen not too many hours before.  Lilli-Mae put a slender hand on her hip and gave me a “are-you-serious?” look.

“Shoo,” she said, waving her hands at the creature.  It eyed her, condescendingly before lifting its wings and diving off the sill.  She sauntered back to her bed, pushing me off in the process. 

“Go back to bed.  Some of us need our beauty rest.”  She eyed me then finished, “Some more than others.”

I stuck my tongue out at her back as I stood in the middle of the room, still too freaked out to just go back to bed.  Finally I tugged the blinds back down and forced myself to crawl into the bed, putting my back to the window.  I found my earbuds in the floor where they’d fallen and put them back in my ears…just in case.

It still took me forever to go back to sleep.  I knew what I’d seen.