All were driven by an intense, uncontainablewrath.
By the timemy vision returned, night had settled in and Father was gone. The hearth was cold and dark, and the cottage lay in silence. The air was warm, and my small fingers were coated in something gritty. I spread them, feeling the flakes crumble off.
I blinked and squinted as I searched the cupboard for the spare candles we kept. When I lit one, the sharp scent of sulfur filled the air, and the candle’s weak glow began to reveal the room around me.
Thefirst face I saw was my mother’s. She lay on the floor as if asleep, her eyes closed, her head resting gently on her arm. I stepped toward her to wake her, but I tripped on something.
A sudden fluttering broke the silence. Shadows scattered across the floor.
I looked down, and a scream tore from my throat.
Ravens.
Dozens of them.
They covered the floor, wings rustling, gathered around a large figure.
My stomach tightened as I watched them, some pecking at limbs, others tearing at the torso, one nipping at the scalp. I stepped forward, each movement pulling more of the scene into focus. The candle trembled in my grip, wax running in a slow trickle as my hand shook. Dread rose in my throat like bile.
Then I saw his face, or what was left of it.
Father. Nearly unrecognizable.
The cottage was in shambles. Objects lay strewn across the floor, chairs overturned as if a storm had passed through. Black feathers clung to every surface, stirred by the flutter of wings. One of his boots had been cast aside, half buried beneath a tangle of broken twigs and splintered wood.
A silver glint caught my eye. I saw the ax Father had held wedged deep in the floorboards, angled as if were mid-swing, like the iron hadn’t struck what it meant to.
The sight of it triggered a storm deep inside me. Something ancient and angry stirred in my chest, and all at once, the memories came back.
I ran to my mother. When I reached her, I dropped to my knees and the candle slipped from my grip and rolled away, its light flickering across the floor. I called her name, again and again, until my throat burned. She didn’t stir. I tried to lift her shoulders into my lap, but her body sagged, limp, her head lolling to one side.
That’s when I saw my hands, blackened and the color of soot. I stared at them, stunned, unable to understand what I was seeing.
Behind me, the ravens continued their work, pecking and tearing. Their frantic movements filled the air with constant noise. The sound gnawed at me, louder with every heartbeat.
That was when panic took hold, hollowing me out from the inside.
My breaths came in uneven gasps as I clutched my chest. I stumbled back against the wall, legs barely steady. The ravens sensed my unease. Some flapped wildly, others screeched, their cries rising like a warning.
The walls felt like they were closing in. My vision blurred. I sank to the floor, hands over my temples, rocking in place as I waited for the storm inside me to pass.
It was then the worst had just begun.
The ravens were no longer restless, they had gone wild. Screeching, they flew in erratic patterns with no sense of direction, slamming into walls and knocking over furniture. My panicked cries only made them worse. Objects crashed to the floor as wings flapped madly, and through it all, they answered with a chorus of:
Kraa, kraa, kraa!
Their cries echoed around me and I did the only thing I could.
I ran.
I bolted into the woods behind my cottage, my little legs carrying me as fast as they could. The moonlight was faint, hidden behind heavy clouds, and a thick fog curled through the trees and over the paths I knew by heart. Everything familiar was swallowed in mist.
Still, I kept running.
Branches clawed at my arms. Roots caught my feet. I stumbled over rocks, pushed through dense brush, all while the caws followed me, louder, closer, never letting up.
At one point, I slipped into a creek and landed roughly on the rocks below. The stones tore into my palms and knees, but even soaked and bleeding, I kept running, deeper into the woods. The ravens wereclosing in. No matter how fast I moved, they were always just behind me.
