The deafening sound of wings

Lorrie!

The voice echoed in the room as the silence dropped. The two of them turned to stare at the person who had said her nickname in this manner; neither Hazel nor Harrison had taken this name since her parents died.

He walked slowly, as if on the red carpet. He stopped in front of Lauren, who was standing there amused. Her eyes shone brightly as she stared at him. One side of her was happy to hear the name again, but as the word came out of his mouth, the other side was not so happy.

Somehow, she felt he was familiar, not in a way that suggested she had seen him here a lot, but as if she had seen him somewhere else. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she knew that she had seen him before, somewhere. Where, though, she couldn't say.

Was he maybe, perhaps he like her...? No that couldn't be true, she shook her head mentally. Lauren tried to deduce his words from the deafening silence that held a certain tranquility as the clouds continued to growl.

And though it deafened everything around them, she still managed to hear him call her 'Lorrie'. But the more time passed with him waiting as he stared at her. Her heart started to beat, increasing its pace, and she hoped he wasn't able to hear it.

"What's going on?" He looked between them. "Why are you urging Lauren to keep away from me, Hazel?"

Hazel hesitated, unsure of how to respond.

He approached the bed where he had been resting earlier when he didn't hear back from her.

"I don't know why you are saying this to her. But... you should think about this before you get her admission here." He lamented, showing his back to them as if he were busy.

"Anyway, I was here to take my belongings. I don't like when someone touches what's mine." The last, he said in a gravelly voice, his blue eyes focused on her and the ends of his lips ticking upward.

Hazel, was taken aback by his words.

Lauren looked stunned, her mouth was slightly agape.

She must have heard his lie, but Elliott Rodriguez didn't need to rely on her heartbeat or lie, for that matter. Her face was enough for him to read the emotions that were going through her, one by one.

First came the confusion, which was followed by a deep concentration as if she were in thought, which finally led to the realization.

She tried to hide but not enough from his eyes, which made him grin. His eyes lingered on Lauren's too long for comfort, and then, without another word. He strode out the door and it closed behind him.

Lauren and Hazel were silent for a full twenty seconds after he was gone.

"He is a total crack man." Hazel hissed angrily, looking at the door from which he walked out. Leaving the room in dead silence.

Hazel was standing there in shock, while Lauren just sighed and inhaled as much as she could. She didn't realised that she had been holding her breath for a long time, but now she did.

It was easier to ignore the effect he'd had on her now that he was gone. What kind of person had self-love that absolute? It was there in every aspect of his posture and word choice, in every interaction.

Power was as much a fact of life for this guy as gravity. The world bent to the will of Elliott Rodriguez. What money couldn't buy him, those eyes probably did.

"And finally," suddenly the black LED screen blinked and the news channel started playing itself. This brought the girl's attention to it.

"Bird-watchers all over the country have reported that the country's birds have been behaving strangely today. Although birds generally sing and are rarely spotted making strange noises, hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in all directions have been reported since morning. Experts are baffled as to why the birds' behavior pattern has abruptly shifted, especially since crows have come down on the roads too. Which is terrifying for citizens." The newsreader cracked a worried smile. Hazel glanced at Lauren while she frowned at the news.

"Most mysterious. And now, over to Kim Thronhill the weather. Going

to be any more showers of birds tonight, Kim?"

"Well, Ms.Larissa Weems," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the birds that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Álencia, Valendia, and Ourediz have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of snow in Valendia town too."

"Do you have any report from Máville, Kim?" The newscaster asked. This time, Lauren glanced at Hazel's face and both of them looked worried and shocked by the sudden news.

"I'm not sure. No one has entered the Máville. If there's bad weather that doesn't concern us, does it?"

"Of course, not. Thank you for your—" Suddenly, the TV's screen went into gitch form.

There was silence, no one spoke as both girls tried to think about the news they heard.

"Birds acting weird?" Hazel murmured in thought.

"This is suspicious." Lauren ricocheted at Hazel who walked towards her and said, "You also feel something is suspicious. I... Think we should go."

Saying this she stepped out, Lauren looked at the TV's black screen one last time with a jaundiced eye before following Hazel.

Lauren stopped after she came out of the infirmary to find Hazel's halt figure standing at the center of the road. Lauren looked around and came out from the fleece canopy .

Lauren stepped outside but was greeted with an unnerving sight. The sky was painted a foreboding shade of grey, and the air was thick with the incessant cawing of crows. The usually majestic birds circled aimlessly in the sky, dipping and diving erratically as if they had forgotten how to fly.

The unnerving sensation in the air was palpable. Hazel had never seen anything like it, and even Lauren was hesitant to step any closer. As they cautiously edged forward, the crows began to swoop lower and lower. The once-still air was now full of the deafening sound of wings beating together and the incessant cawing that made the blood curdle.

With sudden, shocking speed, a few of the crows fluttered down to the ground. Hazel felt a jolt of fear as she watched the birds lift their heads and look back and forth as if they were lost or confused. The scene was surreal, like something out of a horror movie.

Suddenly, a hundred crows fell from the sky, crashing onto the ground with a messy flurry of black wings and feathers. The chaos of the morning grew worse as panicked students rushed to avoid the injured birds, and others ran inside for safety.

The sky had turned dark, and the crows seemed to be the only hint of life in the heavy silence. As quickly as it came, the strange behaviour of the birds dissipated, the crows finding their way back into the sky and flying away as suddenly as they had appeared.

Lauren and Hazel stared speechlessly as the birds vanished too then never reappear again in such numbers, leaving the air strangely silent again.