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Freak accident in the town of BurienAnna Harrison
Logan McClure, age 17, was found dead at noon on August 15. Sources say they seen him walking down 136th before the accident.
"He was walkin' down the street mindin' his own damn business," says Ben Dowry, a construction worker who was working on a nearby sidewalk at the time of the accident, "when all of a sudden this car swerves outta nowheres. I swear, God as my witness, I seen that boy fly fifty feet." Ben Dowry wasn't the only one who seen the accident. Kady Morris, age 67, was walking on the opposite sidewalk near Ben Dowry when she seen the accident.
"I was on my afternoon walk, as usual, when I seen the sidewalk up ahead was under construction. I waited to cross the street to the other sidewalk, when I hear this God-awful noise. I look up and see a car swerve onto the sidewalk. It hit him."
Ambulances and police cars rushed to the scene to find Logan McClure dead upon the spot. The driver who was babbling incoherently at the moment was taken to a local police station for interrogation.
Policeman Brady O'harris says: "Mr. Henderson seemed just as confused as we were. This is often a tactic that most people use, however, when asked to go over his daily schedule he got as far as just before the accident when he started shrieking."
Mr. Henderson was admitted to the Highline Mental Institute where professionals tried to fathom what he was screaming about. Unable to, they sedated him and sent him to his room where he could calm down.
Psychiatrist Ms. Borens was unable to find the cause of his breakdown. "We have yet to understand this unusual episode"
Mr. Henderson has no history of mental illness in his family. When asking a family member, who will remain anonymous, what might have brought about this strange episode we were given an answer that doesn't explain his crude actions. "James was normal. He worked for a local hospital in Burien; he had a wife and two children. There was nothing to worry about. As a child he was normal. As a teenager he was normal. And as a young adult he was normal. You could depend on James."
So what brought about his homicidal actions?
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James walked to his car and searched for the right key for his sedan. He went over the mental list he had created for these morning's tasks and checked each one off.
Always meticulous, he checked his rear view mirrors and buckled himself in. He took one final look in the mirror and backed out of his driveway.
3
James grew up in Mapton, Washington. His single mother struggled to pay for her four children. Being a single mother wasn't very common where they lived. Every family had a mother and a father. She was beginning to get discouraged. She loved her children, but her income wasn't enough to pay for all of them.
James was adopted into a new family. He packed his bags into the car, held a firm face, he didn't want his mom to cry, and got in. The lady was nice enough, but not enough to make him feel comfortable. She turned on the ignition and began to pull out of the driveway. James turned around to take one last look at his home that he had grown up in and seen his sister running out from behind the back yard.
"Jimmy, no!" She yelled as she was running. "Don't take him, please, don't take him! No!" The car pulled away and was driving down the road when young James burst into hysterical tears. His sister continued to run down the road after the car screaming all the way. When the car stopped at a stop sign she just caught up with them. She banged on the backseat window.
"Jimmy, don't go!" She yelled. Her tears showed rivulets on her grimy face. "Don't let It take you, fight It, Jimmy! Fight It!" She pressed her fingers to her lips and placed her hand on the window. Jimmy placed his hand on the window where hers was and felt something pass between them. Her hand slipped away as the car began to move again.
He watched her standing in the middle of the dirt road. Her black hair was plaited and misted with dirt. She was long and lanky. She became a dot in the desert. She was gone.
4
James went down the usual way he always went for work. He didn't have anything planned. It was a Saturday and he had to work a little overtime for his sick leave he took. But nothing out of the ordinary.
He turned onto the highway and sped up a bit. He watched the scenery out of the corner of his eye. The trees blurred together with the baby blue sky. Scarce clouds floated in the mid-August sky. James always like the scenery, it was so peaceful.
He turned off into exit 27 onto 136th.
God, what a beautiful day, he thought to himself. He looked up at the sky while he was waiting for the light to change. He watched a nearby bird fly in graceful circles onto a tree branch. Then something caught his eye. He squinted his eyes so he could get a better look at it.
It was something he'd never seen before. It was sitting on the branch with the bird. But it's body, Oh God, its body seemed to be charred. No it was charred. He watched in awe as it reached for the bird and snatched it. Pieces of its flesh glittered to the ground. It held it close to its face turning it in every angle. It loosened its grip and held it out in front of James. It made a gesture for him to take it.
Frightened James hit the gas. He sped down 136th until he finally calmed down.
"It was just my imagination," he thought to himself. "Just my imagination," he repeated to himself out loud.
"Yeah, just your imagination," a voice said from the back seat. He turned his head expecting to see the strange person, or whatever the hell that thing was, but seen the bird instead. Perplexed he began to pull over.
The bird flew at him and began to peck at his face. Suddenly he remembered when he was a child. He'd gone out into the woods with his little brother, Steven. He found a nest of eggs and began to inspect them. He began to turn his head to tell Steven his new discovery when the mother began to peck at him. Scared and panicked James flung himself to the hearth and tried to hit the bird in order to scare it off. The bird, angered at him for touching her babies, continued to peck at him furiously.
"Oh God, it's just the like the movie Birds," he thought over and over. He rolled and rolled for what seemed like hours when finally she subsided and went back to her nest.
"This is exactly the same thing," he thought. Now, in the present, James swerved the car hoping the bird would subside. The bird gave one hard peck at his eye. He didn't notice until he felt a hot liquid run down his face. He looked down his shirt with his one good eye and seen a white fluid running down his freshly ironed shirt. He opened his mouth to scream when the rest of the liquid fell out with a plop! The bird, satisfied with it's attack began to peck at his neck.
James let go of the wheel and flailed his arms maniacally. Fresh, warm liquid ran down his shirt. He screamed in terror as all his child hood fear rushed through his body. The bird aimed for his other eye, blinding him.
Completely frightened, he screamed even louder. Then it stopped, the bird was gone and he was left alone in his swerving car. He stopped it with a screech and put two shaky hands on the car.
He heard faint sirens in the background, but he was too scared to notice. Then there was a knock on his window. He felt for the handle and opened the door.
"Birds, birds, it-it- birds. It was the bird. Please help it was the bird, I need help I can't see," he screamed. He crawled on the ground feeling for whoever knocked on his window.
"Help!" he screamed, "Please I need help!" Then an arm wrapped itself around his waist and carried him into a vehicle. He continued to cry out, hoping someone would help.
He felt more liquid rush down his throat through the car ride to God knows where. It continued to run as some strange man asked him questions. It continued to run as they were injecting something into his arm. And it continued to run as he lay in a strange bed. He was enveloped in his darkness and felt the fear become absorbed in its atmosphere. He felt his soul slowly lift from his body. He watched from the ceiling.
His eyes were closed and he looked just as he did when he last looked in his car mirror. No blood anywhere. His eyes were still there. He watched dismally as the charred figure stumbled it's way to his dead body. Its body emitted a dark aura that seemed to rot whatever came in its path. It was a male, he noticed. James watched as he gently touched his body. The skin he touched slowly peeled away and slid to the bed. As if He were showing James this, he looked up at James and smiled. He bent over the corpse for a moment or two and then stood up. He looked up at James soul, it's malevolent eyes glittering with crimson hate, and grinned a blood-stained smile. James gasped in terror. The demon lunged for him and wrapped itself around his soul.
James didn't know if it was possible to smell death. Even if you could, could you smell it after you have died? He could smell rotting flesh. Its dank smell hovered over his senses and overpowered him, seeming to paralyze him. James heard Him chuckle as James struggled beneath his grip. He slowly dragged him down. Down into the darkness. Into the fear.