Wonderwall

Fight or Flight

Entry for Inked_wings's Contest #2: write a 1,000-2,000 word short story with the prompt, "The crows were back a whole week early." This entry was rushed and unedited, so I apologize for its lack of consistency.

Won 1st place & now featured on Inked_wings's Prompt Contest Winners reading list!

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THE TIMER READ 169:20:05 the day our sky was swallowed by an abyss of darkness. What we later referred to as the "Death of the Sun" marked the end of the world as we knew it, completely changing our lives in mere minutes. I can visualize that day in more detail than any moment in my history, and I can still remember every emotion, every thought, and every regret that elapsed through my mind when the apocalypse first arrived. I didn't acknowledge the degree of danger my city was in until the second an animal carcass plunged down upon my balcony like some oversized hail pellet.

        The stench, overpowering and rancid, hit me first. Then, the realization followed: in front of my feet was a bird, lifeless and rotting.

        I'd been outside watering what was left of our garden—a makeshift trough housing no more than ten plants—when that first bird fell. Almost immediately, my attention averted to the sky, readily anticipating fate's next move. From where I gazed dumbfounded, my knees nearly buckled under my trembling body as the oh-so familiar black plumage swelled the cerulean sky.

Checkmate, the gods seemed to boast.

This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be right. The oracle never lies. Why would the oracle lie? This had to be some weird visionary dreamscape. But unless I'd completely lost my mind, my eyes were unfortunately not deceiving me.

        The crows were back a whole week early.

As if on cue, Ophelia blithely skipped out the sliding doors and greeted me with a toothless grin. "G'afternoon, Pup." With doe-like eyes and her doll—an ugly, raggedy thing—snug underneath her arm, she pleaded, "Will you play tea time with me?"

Ophelia. God, I'd nearly forgotten about Ophelia in all this madness. Her existence made the whole situation ten times worse. Innocent Ophelia with her picturesque blonde pigtails and floral pink sundress. From the day she was born, I promised her mother I'd keep her safe.

And I intended to keep it that way.

Frantically, I shooed her back and exasperatedly hissed, "Get inside! And tell the others to meet in the living room and barricade the doors!" Her confusion quickly contorted to terror as she scoped the horrific sight behind me. I don't think I'd ever seen Ophelia so obedient, doing just as I'd asked of her and retreating inside at a full sprint.

        By then, masses of crows and detached feathers were plummeting to the ground at rapid fire, like lethal and grotesque tennis balls. Through the disorderly streets, citizens tumbled and shoved past each other, desperately praying to make it home safely to their clan for at least a final and proper goodbye. Buildings seemed to be quivering in fear at the Armageddon in the sky, and panicked screams permeated through the rigid air. The city was pure chaos, and for once in my goddamn life, I was just some helpless kid with no way to save them.

        I had to see the Oracle. It was our only chance at survival.

        Nearly dropping and shattering the watering can in the process, I bounded back inside and down the stairs. Just as I requested, my clan was congregated in the living room, twelve faces staring back at me in a dazed shock.