Author's Note: Here is the fourth chapter in the story. It has been quite some time sense I uploaded anything and looking back on this story I now see it was far from spectacular, no matter. I shall post the rest of it as is.
I awoke early and hired a boy from the village to send the letter for me. After a brief walk to clear my head I returned to the Wood's household to depart for the hut. As he led me to the small house Matthew Wood turned to me and peered slightly.
"Let me warn you that she is unpredictable. Katherine will seem perfectly sane one moment and the next she will be cawing loudly, believing herself to be a Raven." He shook his head and sighed, handing me a small skeleton key. "This is the lock to the cell." I took the key as we approached the small house and even from a far distance I could hear loud wails and mutterings.
Matthew stayed behind me as I approached the building Kit was isolated in. It was hastily made of wood and mud stacked on top of one another. The roof was just straw and mud. I opened the door and stepped inside. The place was remarkably clean for the condition Katherine was in.
"Hello, Katherine, my name is Harold P. Lovecraft. I have come to talk to you." Kit sat in a chair, rocking back and forth slowly.
"I already know why you came here. You want to know about my husband's death. I had no part in it at all. I am innocent. It's all that Goodwife Cruff's fault. She killed him I tell you! I had nothing to do with it. They are just jealous that I can hear better than they can..." She began to mutter wildly again, then she stopped looking at me with wide eyes and an odd grin.
"My Sparrows told me you were coming." She grinned again and pointed to a small patch of feathers and blood in a corner. "They are ever so nice to me; you see they bring me food like the ravens brought Elijah bread." She smiled widely and I noticed that she had what seemed to be raw meat and feathers stuck between her teeth. I gagged and looked at her, horrified. Gathering myself quickly I forced myself to look her in the eye.
"Why did you murder Goodwife Cruff?" I looked at her intensely; she was quiet for a moment as if processing what she had just heard. Suddenly and without warning, she lunged at me, grabbing my throat, sneering as she did.
"Who told you? It was my business! Mine alone! Not yours! Never!" I was amazed at her strength; it was uncannily strong. I forced her off me with a quick kick, sending her into a corner of the room. I shook my head and left the room, locking it behind me.
"Matthew, she is mad I say! Mad!" I shook my head and looked at him. "Tell me; in what direction did they set out that night?" He nodded and pointed me towards the path. I got some supplies and set out walking. The sun was setting on the second day when I smelled it. A foul stench, worse than any I had ever smelled before in my life. I followed it and what I found disgusted me.
There in the clearing I found a rotting corpse hanging from a large willow tree. The grass was stained red beneath it. The body had obviously once been that of a man, though it was hard to tell due to the state of decomposer. A large maggot occasionally crawled forth from the corpse's mouth, only to crawl back in through its nose a moment later. I shook my head and turned away from the tree, leaving the accursed place with great alacrity.