Drumheller

Chapter four - the people we trust

The morning sun beamed onto Steph from the window of her room, waking her up to a hot, fall morning in the Canadian badlands. Steph covered her eyes and forced herself out of bed, only to realise that the shadow bird had been sleeping on her stomach. It squawks in shock "what the- you're still here?!" Steph blurts out. The bird quickly rights itself "well where else am I gonna go?! I can't even go out of this room because I'm attached to your hand" The bird pecks at her hand, which only phases through the bird. Steph rubs her hand, which still has the cut "oh...right. Sorry"
​Steph learned quickly that the bird is sensitive to sunlight. Before she could figure out a way to protect the bird from the harsh Canadian sun, Steph found out it could hide itself in her hand "now you can go out in the sun. I won't mind" the bird said, through thoughts. The fact the bird could communicate through telepathy only doubled down on how she really needed to talk to Eric.
​The taxi ride to the community centre was quiet for most of the ride until Sam spoke up "do you remember anything from last night?" he asked, glancing at his passenger. Steph glanced at her cut on her hand before speaking "...yes, but you wouldn't believe me" Steph answers. Sam almost chuckled at her answer "I've seen some shit, Stephanie, not much surprises me anymore" he says. Steph chuckled before shrugging "still, I don't think I've recovered from what happened. Maybe I'll tell you later" she says, ending the conversation as Sam pulls up to the community centre. Steph stepped out of the taxi as he drove off, only to stop in her tracks "...when did I ever tell him my name?"
​Noon came around, and Steph found everyone sitting in the circle of chairs, with the notable exclusion of Pam "hey Steph" Gabe nodded towards Steph as she sat down "Pam said she'd be late". Steph glanced towards Eric "hey...Eric?" she quickly pipes up, to Eric glancing up from his book on birds "I need to talk to you after-" "hello everyone~!" Pam suddenly interrupts Steph by coming into the room with an old tv on a trolley "guess what I got to rent for the day!" no one answers "the tv! We're going to be watching a very important video today about the importance of believing in god. How many here are Christians?" Pam pulls the tv between Eric and Pam's seat. Still no answer for her question, before Kathy silently rose her hand, explaining that she only believes in god for someone to turn to "very good!" Pam says, clasping her hand "now hold on everyone, let me just get the tape. Don't go anywhere! Heh~" Pam quickly exited the gym from the door she entered in. Steph quickly made her way beside Eric "look, something happened last night and I need to talk to you because you said you like birds" Steph explains "are you free after this?" "oh...yeah I suppose" Eric replies "why?" "hey what's going on with the tv?" Gabe suddenly interrupts.
​The tv, in fact, had turned on, playing static. The group was silent, as they watched the tv "did someone turn it on?" Steph asked, to no answers. Steph stood up to turn the tv back off, only for the static to become louder and sharper as she moves closer to it. It didn't take long for the group to realize that, the closer Steph got to the tv, the louder the static would become "what's going on?" Kathy asks. Steph glanced down at her hand, wondering if the bird was doing that. Ethan suddenly sat up "what happened to your hand?". Steph darted her head to Ethan, surprised as that was the second thing she's ever heard him say. Steph rubbed the cut "oh, it's nothing. Really. I just scraped it when I tripped" Steph lied. Ethan let out a "hm" while nodding. Pam suddenly explodes into the gym, waving a VHS tape "I'm back~!" causing everyone's heads to dart towards her. Steph quickly hid her cut in her pants pocket and everyone went silent "I'm glad you were all waiting so patiently. We'll start the video as soon as i..." the tv was still playing static "you guys turned it on? How thoughtful! I would have never figured out how to work this technology"
​The rest of the day went slowly. The bird kept interrupting her thoughts with questions of why they were there. As much as she tried, covering the cut more didn't quiet the bird more, which only made Steph have to listen to it. After the meeting, Steph found Eric outside the gymnasium "what did you want to talk about?" Eric asked, putting away a thick book about birds. Steph was hesitant, at first, but showed him her cut on her right hand "I'm not a doctor, Steph. I'm a-" As if on cue, the bird formed out of shadowy particles, perched onto Steph's shoulder. This causes Eric to flinch "what the hell?!" Eric yelped, with the bird only responding with "who is he?"
​Steph did her best explaining what had happened the previous night. The taxi she followed, the painting she saw, and the triangle in the sky. Eric was skeptical, but listened, while exchanging glances with the bird "that being said..." Steph concluded "I know you're a bird guy, so maybe you could tell me what I could do?" Eric stared at the bird for a while before speaking "well, Stephanie, you know I'm a bird watcher, not a...shadow creature watcher" "I know! I just thought- y'know" Steph quickly responded. Eric places his hands on his hips, digging his thumbs into his brown belt "and you said it doesn't have a name?" Eric asked, to both the bird and Steph shaking their head. Eric shrugs "...how about...Ziz?" he suggests "it's a huge griffin in Jewish mythology, that or you can just give it your own name"
​Although they traded more names, the name they settled on was Ziz. Steph laid a few of the photos she took of the markings she found in the tunnel on the table of the restaurant she was in. she's in the same restaurant Kathy is in, and found that Ziz was good at hiding from people, which allowed him to stay outside Steph's hand more often "so? Any ideas?" she asked Ziz, who stood on the table, looking over the photos. He lets out a bit of a sigh "it's...familiar, but I don't know where it's from. What's this from?" he asks, turning towards Steph, only to have Steph let out a sigh "I suppose it doesn't matter" she takes the photos and puts them back into her bag "I have a lot to figure out with this whole thing. Does the name Chaos ring any bells?"
​"hmm...I think...my memory is pretty blurred before I became attached to you"
​"is there any way to jog your memory?"
​Before Ziz could answer, Kathy comes along with the food Steph ordered. Ziz quickly dissolved away and Steph thanked Kathy for the food "y'know, Steph" she brings up, placing the tray of dinner in front of Steph "i don't know if I'm just being paranoid or anything, but I'm starting to get a bad feeling about all this" "don't worry, I'm getting the same feeling. If I figure something out, I'll let you know"