Chapter 3- Becoming
Lynn walked with Pike in her arms throughout the empty streets of New York City. Once, New York was a busy, bustling city, but now, it was desolate and full of gangs. Sometimes, poor families would live there, but only for a few months. Lynn and Pike seemed to be the only permanent residents. That is, beside the gangs, drug addicts and the plentiful supply of various rodents.
Once Lynn reached a spot of earth, she searched for a place to bury her dog. Finding a spot, she knelt down and with tears in her eyes, began to bury her loyal Pike.
After burying her dog, she rose, brushing away tears of pain for her dog. She was upset and angry that she had survived and Pike did not.
"Pike," She spoke to his grave, where he lay, buried under feet of dirt. "I swear I will avenge your death. It's the least I can do to pay you back for all those days of being my only companion. My only best friend." She cried now, and she didn't care if anyone saw her.
Suddenly, something moved next to Lynn. She turned and saw a large black crow sitting on a dead tree limb. The crow cawed, looking at Lynn.
"What do you want?" She asked the crow. It said nothing. "What do you want?" She yelled, shooing the crow away, but it didn't move. It cawed again, and flew to her, attempting to rest upon her shoulder.
Lynn screamed and ran away, but the crow followed her. Suddenly, the crow stopped flying. Lynn stopped as well.
"Why are you following me?" Asked Lynn, expecting the black bird not to answer. It didn't. But someone else did.
"Because he is bound to you. He is waiting for you to discover why you've been brought back from the dead." A man stepped out of the shadows. He had long black hair down past his shoulders. He was all in black, but his skin was a pale white. Almost too pale, thought Lynn.
"Brought back? You mean I didn't survive the shooting?" She looked down at her chest, and realized there wasn't even a bloodstain on her shirt.
"No you didn't." The stranger replied, brushing back a lock of black hair from his face.
"You mean, I'm..." She stopped How could she be dead, yet walking on this earth?
"Yes. You're dead, but you've been brought back. What's your name?"
"Lynn." She replied
"Lynn, you've been brought back for a reason." Said the man, "Can you tell me that reason?"
"To make the men who killed me and my dog pay." Lynn said, a vengeful look in her eyes
"Good girl." The man smiled, moving closer to Lynn "My name's Sean. I'm here to help you All I can do for now is answer questions. Do you have any?" Sean asked
"No. Not now." Lynn replied
"First, we must fix your face." Sean reached into his pocket, and withdrew white face cream and an eyeliner pencil. He moved closer to Lynn and opened the face cream. Lynn looked nervous. "Relax. Every crow needs their makeup done!" He squeezed out some cream and rubbed it over her face, making her face whiter than his! Next, he took the eye pencil and underlined her eyes, moving slowly and carefully, as if savoring every movement he made. He then made three long lines under both her eyes, and above them as well. "There." He said, putting a finishing touch on her eyes with the pencil. "Want to see how you look?" He asked. Without even letting her reply, he took out a small mirror and showed it to her face.
Lynn almost gasped, but she kept her surprise to herself. "T.. That's me?" She asked
"Why wouldn't it be you?"
"I've just... changed. I'm sorry, I haven't looked in a mirror in years. Sorry."
"A crow is born." Sean said, smiling.