Crow's Influence

        Dave's alarm rang preciously at 5:00am every morning in fact, nearly his entire day was timed to the second. Getting out of bed he slid into his slippers and headed out into the rest of his apartment. It was nothing fancy by the standards of New York, but it was his place. A T.V sat in a corner on top of a small coffee table, with a simple 3 piece leather couch in a corner shape facing the television; a small dinner table with some padded chairs was set in the center of the room,though Dave never had guests over anymore, so they remained mostly untouched. Smiling he walked over to pour his morning coffee. The coffee pot rested on a countertop by the front door, it was on an auto timer; a feature that Dave was oddly proud of. Adding exactly 2 spoonfuls of sugar with a splash of creamer to blend in a smooth taste; he stirred away at his coffee. Beginning to walk towards a window which lead out to a fire escape he passed by some pictures on the wall of family and friends, few were turned over though with dates on the back that had been recently scribbled out. Outside he had a nice planter box set on a ledge with some tomato vines growing quite well despite the New York air quality. Sipping at his coffee Dave poured water into the plant, he was now well into his 30's and he took high pride in perfecting nearly every aspect of his life. Never did anything happen that wasn't timed or out of his control...except Yorgan. A small black crow that had only recently become a pain in his life. Most of the time animals of any kind didn't bother Dave yet this bird, it seemed, rather enjoyed wrecking Dave's mornings. He knew it was absurd but if he listened closely sometimes he thought he could hear the bird laugh as it flew away, as if wrecking Dave's mornings were the only joy that it experienced in a day. Yorgan was especially fond of tearing apart at his planter box, a recent hassle Dave had been dealing with. As the bird seemingly flew in from nowhere it began picking away at the vines, Dave set down the watering bucket and began to shoo off the bird. Waving his arms frantically at it and shooting '"GO ON, SCRAM! OUTTA HERE, YOU!" The bird would fly away without much resistance and Dave went on with the rest of his morning. Showering, Shaving, and suiting up, he was a detective on the Manhattan Police Force. Grabbing his keys he headed down to his car. Pulling into the precinct, he greeted Prinna who was the main desk secretary. She handed him a notice that informed him about his request for a new partner, it read DENIED. Crumbling up the paper he headed upstairs to start the day. Not that he liked to give into the coffee and donut stereotype, but Dave would never say no to glazed donut. Headed to the kitchen to grab a morning donut he checked for his donut yet it was gone and he knew exactly who took his donut...Terrence. The man that was quickly becoming the biggest problem in Dave's life and the only other member in the whole precinct who enjoyed Glazed donuts. Sure enough he found Terrence sitting at his desk adjacent to Dave's own desk. Crumbs littered all over his shirt and paperwork, a thick layer of glaze covered his lips. Terrence had only been recently assigned to partner with Dave within the last month or so, and Dave couldn't stand it. Having done this job alone for some time, Dave had created a routine way of doing things but now Terrence, very much like Yorgon the Crow, was wreaking havoc on said routine. Sometimes when Dave became bored of his paperwork he would write out a list of who was a bigger nuisance in his life, the bird or Terrence, he'd chuckle to himself as he made comparisons between the two of them.

The troubles both caused on his own life seemed to be parallel to each other, while he silently told himself that killing his partner was wrong repeatedly, that never stopped him from imagining several ways to "get rid" of Terrence. Just then Terrence spilt coffee all over his desk, the liquid oozed and seeped over to the top of Dave's desk as well, ruining some of the paperwork he had just finished. With a deep sigh, Dave moped up the rest of the coffee with the paperwork and trashed it. Having to now start over on at least an hours worth of paperwork. Killing my partner was wrong, he constantly muttered, but with each day and with each problem that arose, that voice got quieter and less compelling. Finally 5 O'clock rolled around and Dave clocked out heading home. As he came home Dave liked to eat chinease food while watching whatever the sports channel was showing. It was his only time for peace where Terrence or Yorgan didn't bother him. Sitting down on his couch, just before he dug into his food, a crow flew through a window he had left open. Dave sprung up immediately to try and catch the bird, its shrieking was skull piercing, and the laughter was at a pitch that could shatter glass. He struggled immensely, knocking over dishes that shattered all over the floor, turning over chairs, all while avoiding Yorgan's screeches, as he would tear and rip up the furniture. Finally Dave corned the bird into the bathroom, gun drawn, cocked, and finger on the trigger. All sense of timing and better judgment was gone, his face dangerously red, tears pooling in his eyes mixing with beads of sweat dripping from his forehead, the ever thinning hairs on his head on fringe.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT! LEAVE ME ALONE AND GET OUT OF MY LIFE!!!" Losing it the tears were gushing, this bird represented everything wrong in his life, the havoc he had fought so hard to dispeal from his life, after losing his everything he had finally gotten back on track. The grief and emotions that he had buried for life all came out as with a final scream he fought to pull the trigger. Every nerve wanted to but he couldn't; so conflicted Dave tried his hardest to pull the trigger. A sudden loud pounding at the door distracted him, looking over at his door, the pounding sounding frantic and rapid like someone was busting his door down..

"DAVE, DAVE BROTHER! COME ON DAVE, OPEN UP!!! I KNOW YOU'RE HOME!!! I'VE GOT SOMETHING HUGE, YOU'LL TOPPLE OVER WITH THIS NEWS!!! LET ME IN!!!! Terrence's voice screeched as he relentlessly continued his pounding. The bird startled by this noise, flew past Dave who had been briefly distracted by Terrence's pounding. The bird flying right at Dave scratched his cheek with razor sharp talons causing Dave to fall backwards and hit his head on the sink counter. Way past the secure man he had built himself to be, head throbbing and looking like a man past any amount of sanity he opened the door.
"WHAT TERRENCE, WHAT! WHAT IS SOOO IMPORTANT THAT CAN'T WAIT!!!" Dave spat into Terrence's face. Terrence began to open his mouth showing Dave the file in hand but was silenced before he could speak

"THAT'S RIGHT, NOTHING TERRENCE! NOTHING IS SOOO IMPORTANT THAT CAN'T WAIT TILL MORNING! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M DEALING WITH THIS BIRD IN MY APARTMENT?" Dave swung the door open, the bird still flapping its wings about, causing more damage, ripping up his couch while still shrieking at a piercing pitch. Dave grabbed the door shouting one final "GOODNIGHT!" as he slammed the door in Terrence's face. Terrence thought about knocking again to ask Dave if he was ok, having noticed the cut on his cheek, curious by what he meant "bird in the apartment" but decided to just wait till morning. He turned away and began heading home.

The Next Day Dave woke up on the floor with a splitting headache, his cheek covered with dried blood from the previous night. Groggily he stood and stumbled to look at the time. Cursing loudly as he realized he was running late. Having no time to spare, he slapped a Band-Aid to cover his cut and still wearing the clothes from the day before he ran down to his car. Speeding through traffic, using his siren to get past traffic. He swerved in an out of cars he couldn't believe that he would throw away 15 years of perfect attendance with one morning. Trying his best to remember where things went wrong, he couldn't. The previous night was just pitch black except for a laughter that sent chills through his whole body. He struggled to recall something, anything but couldn't. He figured he had just fallen asleep in front of the TV perhaps watching a scary movie, that would explain the laughter, it was a nightmare he repeatedly told himself. Bursting into the precinct he immediately spotted Prinna, She had covered for him, telling the Captain that he had gotten an early start to the morning and was checking out a tip they had gotten on the Mad Hatten Killer. She had also said he would come back to pick up his partner later that morning. Dave couldn't express his thanks enough and went back to his squad car to await Terrence to come outside. It began to rain as Dave sat there, he pulled out the file Terrence had tried to explain the previous night to him, which he had acquired from Prinna. The car door opened and he heard Terrence get in the car, closing the door. Not even looking up from his notes till he was done reading. The work was solid and Terrence it turns out might actually be a decent detective. Dave looked over next to him to congratulate Terrence on breaking a lead in the months old cold case. He saw sitting where Terrence should be, Yorgan the Crow, the birds feet covered with fresh blood, clearly mangled, his wing bent out of shape and many feathers missing, utterly disgusting it looked half dead. Still Dave felt the blood drain from his face and a wave of coldness and hopeless shook him to the core. The crow with a sickening snap twisted his head upside down completely; maniacally crackling with laughter it stared deep into Dave's eyes telling him he couldn't escape him. Faster than the rain fell, Dave pulled out his gun; and released every built up emotion of hate as he fired shot after shot till the laughter stopped.

Prinna and a handful of cops came out to inspect the gunshots they heard fired. They saw Dave sitting in the car, gun drawn and hot pointed at Terrence who sat there, a clip of bullets buried deep in his ribcage. Somewhere nearby Prinna noticed a horribly mangled crow that seemed to be staring at the car. Its screeching almost seemed to be that of a croaking laugh. How silly she thought, birds can't laugh, right? Just then the birds head snapped upside down and looked right at here. The laughter stopped as her whole body froze in fright, the bird winked at her before flying away.