Shun

Thanks to the silence, I had fallen back to sleep. Seemed like I had been doing that a lot lately, despite the emanate danger looming outside. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I had been beaten to a pulp, but what did I know? It didn't feel like I had gone into a dream, but I had. It was one of those moments that the instant you fall asleep, you're in a dream. I wish I hadn't ever drifted off.

My subconscious mind had dropped me off in the Wastelands, right back at my home. Or, where it used to be. The poorly built homes, lay in a crumbled and ashen heap on the group. Thin traces of smoke drifted up from the ruble. My legs felt like stone, but I got them to move. Before I knew it, I was walking through the remains of the buildings that once housed several families at once.

Out behind the carnage, the stream that we got water from, was no longer there. Completely dried up now. I scanned the ground, expecting to see bodies laying haphazardly in the ash. There was nothing. Had the fire been enough to erase them from ever existing?

I doubted the Officials had anything that powerful, but I had been wrong before. I bent down, resting all my weight on my ankles, and traced my fingers in the black ash. The soot was still warm with heat, and smoke lifted into the air when I disturbed its prison.

It wasn't like when I went out into the Wastelands and found grass growing from under the ash. All that was under here were the leftover particles of what once was. I turned my head to the left, the direction of the City. It was still standing, but it no longer held any of the glory that me and the other Outcasts used to see in it.

Somehow, it looked just as lifeless as the Wastelands did. I stood up, my ankles popping from the weight that had been placed on them. I started to make my way back towards the City, seeing that there was no point in staying behind and looking at nothing.

The gate of the fence was wide open, and nobody was standing by to guard it. Anyone could leave or walk right in. So, I did just that. I stepped through the open gate, expecting to be confronted by somebody. I looked around at the buildings, puzzled by the lack of life.

I strode up to an old business, and looked through the glass window in the front. Shelves were knocked over, their contents splayed all over the floor. Behind me, I heard something beating through the air. I turned and found a crow perched on the wire of the fence.

The first form of life I had seen. When I got closer, I saw that both of its eyes were milky white, and blood stained its beak and feathers. I stepped back when I noticed this. The bird cawed at my movement, flapping its wings at me while still staying on the fence. It stopped its little episode, then stared right at me and tilted its head to the side. As if it was waiting for me to do something else.

I found myself squinting my eyes, examining the crimson stains covering him. The bird didn't look like he had any injuries, so where had he come in contact with the blood? My foot moved forward only a couple of inches, and underneath I felt something that didn't match with the flat dirt.

I lifted my foot, and saw a small bone, picked clean of the flesh that had been attached. My head shot back up, eyes fixed on the bird. Certainly a crow couldn't have gotten rid of so many remains and not left a single trace. I then realized that the crows hadn't killed anyone, they had just been scavenging on the leftovers of the killings that had taken place.

And they hadn't left anything behind except a few bone splinters. Now I knew why this bird was eying me with his lifeless eyes. I was probably the first living thing he had seen in a while. Fear washed over me when I thought about whose blood was on the bird. Had it belonged to anyone I knew?

I then started to worry that my blood would join it, but I told myself that one crow couldn't harm me. It might get the chance to peck and break my skin, but it couldn't kill me. And just as if the bird read my thoughts, it resumed to flap its wings and caw.

Only, this caw was different from the one earlier. It was more along the lines of a bloodcurdling screech. I covered my ears at the sound. The crow wouldn't stop. "Shut up!" I yelled, pressing my hands harder against my ears to block it out. The bird only got louder. And louder. And louder.

I looked up at the crow, and saw several more had joined him on the fence. Each of them letting out their own horrible screams. Out in the distance, I saw something moving towards the City. At first it looked like a black cloud, but as it got closer, I saw that it was a cloud; a cloud of crows. With them closing in on the City, the caws got louder and more unbearable. "Will you all just shut up!"

The noised then ceased. Slowly, I removed my hands from my ears and straightened up. All around me, on the rooftops and fence, were the crows that had been flying in a massive cloud. I found my hands shaking, and my heart racing. The stares that these birds were giving me sent chills all throughout my body.

I threw my hands up at them and shouted, "Shoo! Go on! Get out of here!" They didn't budge. Not a one even flinched. They obviously didn't see me as a threat. I found the first crow that had been on the fence. His dead eyes stood out from all the others. He then let out a long screech, and the others followed suit.

That crow then leaped off the fence, and so did the rest of the birds. The black cloud formed and circled over the City. Caws filled the air along with the beating of their wings. Then, the cloud turned towards me, and I felt the weight of the birds ram into my body.

I brought my hands up to shield myself, but I could already feel their beaks and talons leaving scratches on my body. Wings battered into my chest and legs as they flew around me. I was able to open my eyes and look at the mass of black feathers that was around me.

From the swarm, I saw that crow flying right at me. Its white eyes locked on me as its target. When it got right at my face, I jumped awake with a short gasp on air. Sweat was covering every inch of me. I sat upright as quickly as I could, and began to investigate my body for cuts.

There were only the wounds left by the Officials. I started to look around at my surroundings, and saw that I was still at the house that Alice brought us to. The same room that I had been in when I first woke up after she broke me out of the jail. And even in the same bed that I had been in before that horrible nightmare. In the other room, I heard the quiet chatter of people.

Slowly, I started to calm down. The birds had been nothing but a dream created by my mind. They hadn't eaten the dead remains of people, and they certainly didn't attack me either. But I still couldn't shake the feeling of their wings slamming against my arms.

I laid back in the bed, and covered my face with my hands and wiped the sweat off. I lifted my hands above me, and saw how badly they were shaking. My nerves made my jump when the door opened. I relaxed when I saw it was Alice. Who else would it have been?

She seemed surprised at my reaction to her coming into the room. "You startled me," was all I was able to get out, and even that was as shaky as my hands. She quickly closed the door behind her and flipped on oil lamp on that she was carrying in her hand. My eyes squinted in the sudden light, and it was then that I realized it was nighttime.

Alice looked at me for a moment, then turned to face the wall. She stood on the tips of her toes, and hooked the handle of the oil lamp to a small hook that I hadn't noticed. "You look horrible," she said while making sure the lamp wasn't going to fall and catch the room on fire. "Thanks," I replied sarcastically. She left the lamp and sat down in the chair beside my bed.

"I didn't mean it as an insult or anything. I just noticed you didn't look so good." My hands had stopped some of their shaking, but they were still trembling. Alice saw them, then gripped her hands on mine to stop them from their convulsions. I told her, "Really, really bad dream."

She glanced down at my hands and back up at me. "I can see that." The flame from the oil lamp flickered, making its light dance on the walls and floor. The little fire made me think of the smoking ruble of my old home. Was it like that now? Was that what the Officials had been doing when we heard those popping noises?

Alice loosened her hold on my hands, but still kept hers on mine. I could feel that my hands were hardly trembling anymore. Alice then said, "By how freaked out you look, I'm not even going to press and ask what that dream was about." I didn't even want to think about that nightmare, much less talk about it. Eventually I would come around and tell somebody, but not at the moment.

I noticed the silence coming from the living room and said, "They're pretty quiet in there." Alice looked at the door and said, "They all must have gone to bed." The oil lamp's fire grew brighter as it burned more of its fuel. I told her, "You should be asleep too."

She at least needed to be rested, because it was clear that I wasn't going to get anymore for the rest of the night. I was much too afraid of falling back into that dream and resuming at the part I left off at. "I will in a moment, but I wanted to talk to you about something."

I gave her my attention. "What is it?" I asked in response. She took her hands off of mine and placed them in her lap. I had completely forgotten they were there. Not that I didn't mind her holding my hands. In fact, it gave me a sense of comfort and security after that dream. Alice leaned back in her chair.

"Earlier, when you got out of that bed and fell. I know that wasn't just nothing. You were trying to get away from that conversation, weren't you?" I moved my eyes from her, and stared down at the foot of the bed. I let a short laugh escape. "Yeah. It wasn't the best thing to sit and listen to."

I wanted to get off of the topic. It brought up the realization I had when I fell to the floor in front of everyone. The one that showed me that things would never change. Alice nodded her head. "I'm sorry about that. I should have thought about what I was saying and where the conversation was going."

She was holding her head low, and was turning her face slightly away from me. I stared at her, then sat up in the bed and moved over to the right. "Come here," I said and placed my hand on the spot that I cleared off. Alice turned and look at the space, then got up and sat down.

"Ok, I'm here-" The moment she turned her head around to face me, I cupped her face in my hand and made her look me right in the eyes. She was taken aback by my actions, but it was the only way I could think that I might be able to get to her. "Alice, I don't care what you think. None of what's happening is your fault. You couldn't have been the cause of something that's been years in the making."

Her eyes were fixed right on mine when she said, "I know it's not my fault, and I keep telling myself it isn't. But it just feels like it is."

Tears started to form in her eyes, and I brushed them away with my thumb before they could spill over. I found that we were leaning in closer to each other, and our lips met in a kiss for a spilt second. It broke when the elderly woman charged into the room and said that the Officials were here.

-head falls on keyboard- uhdujadhafhsuhfahaf -.- this is what happens when i write at midnight. sorry for being so late. i woke up late this morning and had a lot of stuff to do, then we went out to eat and blah blah blah. either way, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~