Tales From Twistwood

The Black Bird

 The only thing people know about the bird is that it is not friendly.

Some say that the bird is a spirit manifestation. Others say that it is the grim reaper, come to watch us before our time comes. A small minority believe that the bird itself is God. However, none of these theories can ever be proven, so for now the creature will be a mystery.

No one has ever seen more than one of the birds at once, so we assume that there is only one like it. For that, we are glad. The bird is comparable to a crow, except no one would ever mistake it for something as simple as that. True, it does have black feathers and a long, pointed beak, but it's not that simple. The feathers have no shine or luster. They suck in the light around them, as if the feathers themselves are a black hole, devoid of space or matter. The beak is cruel and sharp, not rounded like a crow's.

The oddest thing about the bird is the liquid that drips from its feathers. An oozing black smile is always coated all around its body like a second coat of feathers. The slime hangs in droplets all around the tips of the bird's feathers, but never drops off. However, cloudy grey water splatters onto the ground wherever the bird goes. No one knows what the substance is, but it's been found almost everywhere. The bird will spread its ominous wings and take to the sky, the mysterious substance raining from its feathers.

The attacks began a few days after people started to notice the bird. People were reporting being dive-bombed by the creature, scratched and pecked all over but thankfully not enough to cause any damage. They started keeping their children inside, carrying umbrellas everywhere to avoid attacks. Hunters gathered in the forest to shoot the thing on sight, but they never succeeded. Whenever they would congregate, the bird wouldn't be seen by them at all.

The people who've been attacked have never been the same, either. Even though they escaped harm, they start telling stories of strange symptoms they've been having. Their eyes and nose start to itch, like they're allergic to something. Their bones begin growing sore, and they report tooth and headaches. The final symptom is the hair. It starts on the back of the hands, then it slowly spreads to the arms and legs, and finally almost everywhere else but the face. Most people don't know of this symptom, because by the time the hair starts to spread the victim will have secluded themself.

There may be more symptoms to the sickness than that, but no one knows yet what happens after the hair. Because after that, the victims disappear. Poof, as if a fairy made them fade away with the flick of a magic wand. Hospitals in the area have tried to contain patients once the disease starts, but after the hair starts to grow they seem to disappear into thin air. There has only been one case where they were able to retain a patient, but it wasn't very successful. This was the case of Mary Ann Davidson, who they managed to hold in a room for a few hours after she started to grow the thick, coarse brown hair everywhere. However, this was only found out because it was called in on a radio. The doctors and nurses were all found dead - stabbed to death where they had been sitting. All witnesses were disposed of, and Mary Ann was gone completely.

This led people to believe that someone was spreading this disease, although that doesn't explain how they're able to control the bird. It also doesn't explain why they're doing it, or why they don't want any witnesses to what happens in the final stages of the sickness. The only thing we know is that you don't want to be attacked by the bird. Keep your loved ones inside, or covered up when you go out. Carry a weapon. And whatever you do, don't touch the grey residue.

I took a deep breath and looked outside again. The bird is perched on a branch, not far from my window, watching, staring with an unfathomable black eye.