Dawn Of The Crows

It was midnight, the crow was flying above the trees, gliding on the wind with the glow of the moon on its wings. Bang. The sound of Baron's pistol echoed through the forest and bounced off of the trees.

" why are we huntin' crows again?" asked Tim, crouching down and looking at the lifeless bird on the floor.

" Cause' of them crow spirits, " Baron replied.

" But ain't that jus' a myth'? " said Tim, still not quite satisfied with Baron's answer.

" Sure is, but you know that paranoid mayor, " Baron said, slightly annoyed as he reloaded his pistol. There were many things Baron would rather be doing right now,like going out for dinner, meeting some ladies, or just having a good night's sleep. But instead he was stuck here, in the forest with Tim, hunting crows.

" This is the fifth one tonight, think we can go back home now? " Tim asked Baron

" Sure, why not. Tired of doing this anyways" replied Baron, happy to finally be done for the night. Tim picked up their lantern and the two men made their way back to town, with only the moon and an oil lantern to guide them through the woods.

Both men slept long after sunrise and a bit into the afternoon. After Baron got ready for work, he made his way out into the town. Echo Creek was a small and rickety town. There were ten, maybe twelve houses. The town hall was the biggest building in town, which wasn't saying much. It felt like every other day something was either falling apart or had stopped working. In the center of town there was a fountain. The stone was cracked and it never seemed to have water in it.

There she was. Lady Clarissa was sitting on the fountain, talking to the other women. She was the prettiest girl in Echo Creek and good friends with Baron. Before Baron could get close enough to talk to her, Tim came rushing up.

" Baren! Baren! You'll never believe what I just saw!" Tim said excitedly as he stopped to catch his breath. " I seen a giant crow this big! '' Tim stretched out his arms to demonstrate the size of the alleged bird.

" Jus' like you saw that ghost wolf and jus' like you saw a golden rabbit? Baron said skeptically.

" Im tellin' the truth this time, I promise! An' I'll go catch it," Tim said determinedly.

Baron rolled his eyes and watched as Tim ran into the store and come out with a bird cage and seeds then run right back into the woods. Baron set his mind back to what he was originally doing. When he got to Clarissa the other women looked over at him and giggled a little bit.

" We'll leave you two be now " said one of the women as they walked away, still giggling. " Good morning, " Baron said, just trying to have a normal conversation.

" Don't you mean evening? It's past eleven you know " Clarissa teased, tucking a strand of her ginger hair behind her ear.

" You're right! Sorry Clarissa, wish I could talk more but I have to get to work! " Baron said as he ran towards the road out of town.

" It's alright, wouldn't want you ta miss work, '' Clarissa yelled to Baron as he left.

When Baron got to the dirt road he went back to a saunter, since he was going to be late anyways. Baron worked in a city named Crooks. Despite its name, it's much larger and nicer than Echo creek, and it didn't hurt that the jobs paid better there too, which is the main reason why Baron chose to endure the couple mile walk to get there. Everyone in Echo Creek was just there to save up enough money to be able to move to Crooks. Which is probably why the town is so small, nobody ever stays and Baron wasn't planning to either. Baron wants to live upstate in Brooklin but moving to Crooks is the first step. Baron walked down the dirt road thinking about life in Brooklin as the summer heat beat down on his back and the cool breeze blew leaves back and forth.

It was Saturday now, which meant Baron and Tims one day off, they didn't even have to go hunt crows that night because Brandy and Charlie substituted for them last night. Tim and Baron only hunted Crows every three nights. The first night Tim and Baron would go out, Brandy and Charlie would go out the second and on the third both groups got a break. This was the routine ever since the new mayor moved into office. Since his office is in town hall, the mayor spends most of his time there and goes home after everyone is asleep. Some say he doesn't leave town hall at all, because despite the town's small size no one knows where he lives. In Echo Creek everybody knows everybody, except for the mayor. No one knows his name, who he is or what he looks like, he's like a ghost with only the town as proof of his existence.

Even though Baron wasn't quite sure on how to spend his Saturday, Tim knew exactly what he was going to do. He grabbed his bird cage and seed once again and darted straight into the woods. Although he was unsuccessful yesterday, he was sure that this time would be different. Once deep enough into the forest, Tim put the open bird cage in front of a bush with bird seed leading into it. Tim was hiding behind the bush, ready to close the cage once the bird was inside. Hours had passed and Tim had fallen asleep with a small pile of leaves that had accumulated on his head over the hours. Suddenly Tim heard a squawk and jolted awake. There in front of him was the large crow he had seen before. Without thinking, Tim jumped out of the bush and tried to catch it, but naturally the bird flew away. Tim went chasing after it through tree branches and mud. After about five minutes of Tim chasing the Crow he stopped to catch his breath. There were burrs stuck to his jeans and shirt, mud and dirt was caked on his shoes and there were leaves and small twigs stuck in his hair. He was about to give up when he heard the bird again and slowly walked towards the sound.

Meanwhile Baron was pacing around the fountain trying to think of what to do, when his focus was suddenly interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Charlie.

" Oh, hey Charlie. Where's Brandy, wasn't he supposed to be with you? " Baron asked

" Oh, Brandy? Las' I seen him, said he wanted to stay out a bit later while huntin' crows. He's probably jus' sleeping in. " said Charlie. " Anyways, I jus' came ta ask why yer' walking around in circles. Somethin' on your mind? "

" No, jus' tryn' ta figur' out what ta do." Baron answered

" Well if that's the case, then why not check out the museum? I'm sure there's something to do there." Charlie suggested

" Ok, I'll try that. " Baron responded as he walked away towards the museum.

" Glad I could help! " Charlie said

When Baron got to the museum, he was strangely drawn to this big taxidermy crow in a glass case. He read the description on the wall next to it.

" In 1915, June 13th the Town of Echo Creek was founded. Legend has it that the town was built using the trees that housed the local cryptid known as the four foot tall crow and that the town has been cursed ever since. It is said that the four foot tall crow appears every June 13th on the town's anniversary to bring great misfortune."

Baron Shook his head and wondered how the mayor could believe such a ridiculous story. Today was the 8th which meant the town's anniversary was in just a few days. Baron wondered what sort of crazy thing the mayor was going to do when the 13th rolled around. Baron continued to browse the museum and just got to the section on the history of the town's trade route when he heard a loud shriek coming from outside. He immediately ran out to see what was going on. There were some other people outside who had also heard the scream and came to investigate. One of the women from Clairessas gossip group was standing on the edge of the fountain, presumably to try and avoid whatever was on the ground. When Baron got closer to the small group of people that had accumulated around the fountain, he saw what they were staring at.

There, on the ground, were eight dead crows laying neatly in a line in front of the fountain. Each one had bullet holes in them, suggesting the cause of death. Baron recognized five of them as the ones he and Tim had killed a couple of days ago, but the other three seemed foreign to him. He could only guess that the other three were the ones that Charlie and Brandy had killed, but the real question was how they got here. Whenever Baron and Tim went out to hunt crows, they always left them in the forest, Charlie and Brandy did the same. When Baron looked back up he saw Tim running out of the forest, noticeably without his bird cage and seed. Baron had thought that Tim was running up to update him about the supposed giant crow, but instead he ran straight towards the tiny shack that is the police station. Weird.

A few hours later, the mayor had ordered everyone to come to town hall for a village meeting. When Baron got to town hall, everybody else was already seated. It was rather crowded, the buildings small size made it seem like there were more people living here than there actually were. Baron scanned the room for an open seat among the aisles and saw Tim waving to him from one of the benches, motioning for him to come sit down next to him. Baron squeezed past the people who were already seated and plopped down next to Tim. Baron had no idea why a town meeting was called, and he seemed to be the only one who didn't as the room was completely silent. Ten minutes had gone by and everyone was staring at the mayor's empty chair at the front of the room. Ten more minutes passed and the mayor's assistant came and sat in the mayor's chair.

" The mayor cannot make it to this meeting, so I will be filling in for him, '' the assistant announced. This was nothing new to the townsfolk, it happened every time there was a town meeting or if the mayor had to be somewhere. But this time was different. The townsfolk grew agitated.

" This is outrageous! A person has just died and the mayor isn't here! " a person yelled out.

" Yeah! What kinda mayor is he? He's been neglecting his duties ever since he came into office! '' another person cried out.

The room immediately went into an uproar. People were yelling and arguing. Some were standing on their seats. The assistant began demanding order to resume, but to no avail. The townsfolk were sick and tired of their mayor's behavior, and expressed that quite chaotically through shouting. Meanwhile Baron was silent, wondering what the heck was going on. Someone died? What? When? Where? He tried to figure out what was happening, but it was too loud for him to think clearly. Eventually the single police officer that was present managed to usher everyone out of the building and stated that the town meeting would be moved to tomorrow once everyone has cooled down. Baron asked Tim what was going on, but he said he didn't want to talk about it. Baron eventually figured out what happened. It turned out that Tim found Brandy's dead body in the woods and reported it to the police, which is what prompted the meeting.

Baron didn't get much sleep that night, nor did the rest of the town, so he was up early and didn't have work for a while. Clairessa said that she didn't feel safe around town with a possible murderer on the loose, so she stayed inside that day, and left Baron to sit on the fountain by himself. No one in town was themselves, everyone was still rattled from yesterday's events. As Baron sat on the fountain, he heard the murmurs of the few people who had come outside today as they speculated the cause of Brandy's peculiar death. Most assumed it to be murder and they made suspicious glances as they talked, watching very carefully what they said incase they were in the midst of a killer. Others believed that God was punishing them so they began to refurbish the old church in an attempt to repent.

Every sunday the merchant from Crooks came to Echo Creek and today was no exception. The clicking of horse hooves coming from the dirt path grew nearer and the merchant's horse and cart came into view. The horse eventually stopped in the center of town, near the fountain, and the merchant hopped off of the cart.

" Good mornin' Alastor " Baron said glumly

" Good morning! " Alastor replied. " I heard about what happened, " he said and tossed Baren a newspaper from his satchel. Alastor was a rather chipper guy and talked like a radio host and always seemed to have a smile on his face. Even now, he still acted like his everyday self despite knowing that someone had just recently died. Baron unrolled the newspaper and read the front page out loud.

" MAN IN ECHO CREEK KILLED BY LOCAL CRYPTID"

" How did the newspaper company hear about this? " Baron asked.

" News travels fast around here, they start printing as soon as word hits town. It also helps that the mayor sent a letter to the local newspaper this morning. " Alastor replied. Baron was irritated now. Of course! Of course the mayor would not show up to a town meeting, but waste no time letting the whole world know about a made up bird. Baron ripped the newspaper in half.

" This is ridiculous! " Baron said angrily

" I know! And everyone in the city thinks so too! " Alastor said rather enthusiastically. " Also I ran in to your boss, he said you can have the next few days off because of the murder. Also because It would be bad representation for the business to have someone who might be a killer working there."

Baron scoffed at that last part. " Good ta know that my boss suspects me of murder. " Baron said sarcastically.

" Indeed. Anywho, if you're not going to buy or sell anything then move along. Time is money, Baron," Alastor said, ending the conversation.

As Baron walked away he noticed that there was a ninth dead crow added with the others. Ever since yesterday, no one was allowed to go into the forest, especially at night, so seeing another one was odd.

Every day another crow was added, like some sort of sick calendar, all the way up to the 13th. Strangely enough, the mayor did not organize or enforce any sort of weird rule or ceremony or something that day. It was practically a normal day for the most part. Except the doors of town hall were bordered up and nobody was allowed in or out. People tried asking the police what was going on, but they didn't know either. Some suggested dark magic was responsible for everything. Others said that they were being punished by God and the rest just chalked it up to a wild animal.

It was midnight, the glow of the moon shown on the town like a spot light, and the night breeze lightly howled through Baron's open window. Suddenly the peace was disturbed by a loud caw that echoed through the night. The noise woke up Baron, and he sleepily walked towards the front door, in some sort of daze. When Baron opened the door, mist flowed from the ground, creeping into the house, but disappearing when it entered the threshold. Baron walked outside, just in front of his house, when he realized what he was doing. But before his mind could think of why he was outside, his eyes gazed up to something on the fountain.

There, perched on top of the fountain was a giant crow, it looked to be about four feet, no five feet. The moonlight reflected off of its jet black feathers and its eyes were an inky black abyss .Baron realized this was the crow from the legend, it had to be, what else would it be? But if it was, why did it look bigger than four feet? Baron also noticed that thick fog was streaming out of its beak like water. Baron couldn't move. He was forced to watch as more and more fog came out and it was too late now, but Baron realized the fog would engulf the whole town.

" And that's where the journal ends. " said the detective.

" Really? That's it? '' exclaimed the apprentice

" Yep, that's the final page." the detective replied.

" Ok, well why are we investigating this, didn't the crime happen decades ago? " the apprentice asked.

" We're cold case detectives aren't we? " the detective said. " Anyways we need to start investigating this. "

" Let's start at the town then " the apprentice suggested

" No can do " the detective stated. " I've spent months researching this and there is not a single record, file, or even mention of the place "

" So, it just disappeared without a trace? " the apprentice asked, a little confused. The detective closed the journal.

" It didn't just disappear. Echo Creek never existed. "

Epilogue

The detective dismissed his apprentice twenty minutes ago. He had originally found the journal a few months ago, someone had left it at his office door step. He looked through the journal front to back but couldn't find any form of signature or note saying who wrote it or who had left it at his doorstep. He could only assume the author was the man in the journal, Baron (although even that didn't seem like a sufficient answer). As for who left it was still a mystery. The detective spent those months leading up to now endlessly searching for any proof that Echo Creek existed, but couldn't find anything, not even a single lead or file. The detective looked over at his calendar on the wall, June 8th circled in red ink. When he looked back to his desk the journal was gone, in its place a single black feather. The detective looked up, in the open window stood a crow, staring at him, before flying away.