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Our second place Middle School category winner was written by Catherine Liu of Bloomington, Illinois. Ms. Liu also won last year with her story Raven, the Black Cat and the year before with her story The Midnight Cat. |
Flap… Flap… Flap…
Two jet-black ravens smoothly sailed across the sky, flapping their wings softly.
It was a calm, quiet night. The sky was mostly clear, save for a few thin trails of misty clouds. The air was crisp and fresh with the occasional cool breeze blowing by. It seemed like the kind of night which was relaxing; the kind of night you would expect to spend stargazing peacefully.
Shadow glanced sideways at his friend Smoke, excitedly flapping his wings.
“I told you that tonight would be a good night for flying,” Shadow cawed with a wide grin.
“Alright, yeah, you were right,” Smoke admitted, grinning back.
“Ha!” Shadow fluttered his wings joyfully, enjoying the weather.
Smoke flew up with him and soared by his friend, his inky feathers shimmering under the starlight. His gaze scanned the moonlit trees below them worriedly, an anxious expression flickering over his face before being replaced by a blank grin as Shadow turned his head towards him.
Shadow glanced at his friend, blinking his dark eyes. Had he just imagined the flash of an expression? No, it’d be good to make sure…
“Is something wrong?” he asked, slight concern in his tone.
Smoke jumped a little, momentarily stumbling in the air before he pounded his wings and caught up with Shadow, who was now looking back at him with a concerned expression.
“Er—no,” he responded, his feathers slowly raising nervously.
“Then why—” Shadow started.
“I’m just a bit nervous,” he mumbled quickly.
“Oh,” said Shadow. “Why?”
Smoke did a little shrug, looking down uneasily at the treetops again.
Shadow frowned faintly, then let out a soft sigh. “Hey, Smoke?”
Smoke turned his head back to him, his obsidian eyes still flickering with worry. “… Yeah?”
Shadow’s gaze met his and he gave him a small smile. “Well… it’s just, we’re here tonight to enjoy the breeze, not spend time worrying about… whatever you’re worrying about.”
Smoke looked away slightly. “Yeah, alright,” he sighed, “I suppose you’re right.”
“Do you think you could relax just this one night?” he entreated. “It’s a nice night and it’d be a shame to waste it. It’ll be nice flying around with you, but not if the only thing you think about is scanning the treetops. Please?”
“Oh,” his friend said. “Yeah—yeah, of course. Sorry.”
“No, no, it’s fine,” Shadow said, shaking his head and smiling at his friend.
Smoke smiled back, shaking out his feathers and flying beside him smoothly.
Shadow gently flapped his wings, looking around for a moment, then gazing at the misty forests below with a smile. The moon had cast a silver glow upon the scene, brightening the trees with a bloom of light.
Shadow grinned and soared swiftly through the inky-black ocean of the sky, his feathers shimmering brightly and his eyes sparkling in the moonbeams.
The two raven friends flew for a few moments more, flying too freely to notice a fog cutting its way through the clear night and creeping through the forest.
After a while, Smoke suddenly jumped, startled, and scanned the skies.
Shadow turned to his friend. “What?”
Smoke frowned a little. “I thought I felt a drop…”
“Of rain?”
“Yeah…”
Shadow glanced up at the sky warily, then shook his head and smiled at Smoke. “Well… it’s no problem. We’ll just find a nice tree to perch under until it stops raining.”
Smoke hesitated, then nodded and agreed, “Okay.” He scanned the forest below for a brief moment, then dove towards a tall, strong-looking oak tree.
Shadow quickly followed, eager to escape the sky, which was now being lightly sprinkled with raindrops.
Soon Smoke and Shadow landed on a sturdy branch. Shadow scooted closer to the trunk, seeking better shelter from the sheets of hard rain that had started to shower down. Smoke shook his feathers out, shivering a little and inching closer to Shadow, searching the skies with a slightly nervous expression.
Shadow glanced up at the treetop with a smile, satisfied that the leaves had provided good shelter from the rain. He shook off the water that had fallen on his feathers and relaxed, waiting for the storm to pass.
Smoke, however, was still watching the gray skies. He wasn’t quite nervous; Shadow’s calm manner had eased him a little, but he was still wary of the storm. He sighed softly and shifted closer to Shadow.
Slowly, it started to turn darker, dim clouds swirling through the sky as they covered the moon and stars. The gloomy blankets of mist grew larger as the wind became more powerful, blowing thick clouds through the sky like a slowly moving river of smoke.
Soon, it was nearly pitch-black.
Unfortunately, along with the clouds, the rain only seemed to get heavier, the sheets of precipitation lashing the treetops harder. Eventually, the rain was strong enough to pour through the thick layer of leaves sheltering the two ravens.
Smoke stiffened as a drop slid onto his wing.
Shadow turned to his friend, his hackles rising nervously as he snuck a glance at the leaves that had been sheltering them so well just moments before.
“Er—don’t worry,” assured Shadow, “I’m sure it’ll be over soon.”
Smoke frowned, shaking water off his wing. “… Are you sure?”
Shadow opened his beak to reply, but didn’t answer.
Smoke blinked, silent.
Suddenly, the night flashed bright white and a loud roar shook the skies soon after, growling like some fearsome beast.
Both Shadow and Smoke jumped, startled by the lightning. Smoke’s feathers were raised in fright, his eyes shining with fear. A few big raindrops then splat on their heads, the treetops having been disturbed by a gust of wind.
Smoke shook out his feathers and stated, in a quivering voice, “O-okay, that’s it, I’m f-finding a different tree.”
A sudden flash lit the sky once again, searingly bright, followed almost immediately by a loud bellow that shattered the dark skies.
Shadow and Smoke nearly jumped off the branch in terror, their eyes wide.
Shadow nodded hastily, agreeing with Smoke’s idea for finding a different place to wait the storm out in. “Me too,” he said meekly.
Smoke didn’t want to stick around any longer. He bolted off the branch, powering his wings as fast as he could, heading back to the warm barn where they had ventured so far from that night.
Shadow felt a twinge of regret as he followed his friend shortly after. Maybe things would have been better if they had just stayed home. He shouldn’t have tried to convince Smoke to come flying with him. He sighed sharply, watched his friend struggling in the harsh wind and rain, suddenly feeling guilty.
Shadow soon realized that he was slowly falling behind his friend. He flapped his wings faster to catch up with Smoke, but suddenly felt something cold grab his tail feathers.
Shadow whirled around, hoping to get his tail loose, but one of his tail feathers got ripped out as he trashed around awkwardly. He turned his head around and immediately froze, coming face-to-face with his attacker.
Shadow gasped sharply, then screeched in horror.
The two white, beady eyes just continued to stare at him, completely empty.
Shadow stared at this strange bird with fright. This was a fellow raven—but—no, it couldn’t be. It had the slick black feathers he did, but they were singed and dripping heavily with a foul substance.
Shadow shivered and wriggled around as the cold white claws tightened around him. He pecked his attacker desperately, but the strange creature didn’t even flinch.
Then, slowly, a faint hissing sound started as the creature creaked open its cracked beak.
Ssssssssssss…
Shadow continued to flail around, violently thrashing his wings, when the strange creature gave a sharp, sudden, yank, somehow forcing the raven to stop moving.
The creature’s beak slowly continued to open, the hissing sound growing louder every second.
SsssSSSsssssss!
A long, twisting tongue emerged from the dark depths of its beak, slowly climbing its way through the air towards Shadow’s head.
Shadow tried to scream, but he couldn’t; all he could do was hope that Smoke had heard his earlier screech and would be coming soon.
He waited for a few long, agonizing seconds, slowly coming to the realization that Smoke might not be coming after all…
Shadow could only feel an overwhelming sense of doom as the tongue snaked its way around his neck. He was not pleased to find that the tongue was just as cold as the claws gripping him so tightly.
The slithering tongue suddenly wrapped tightly around his throat and he started struggling to breathe, letting out strangled gasping every few moments.
Smoke… he thought desperately.
Suddenly, another flash of lightning struck nearby and, to his surprise, the strange raven-creature got pushed back by some invisible force, jolting its head towards where the lightning had struck and letting him go, leaving him gasping for air.
Shadow took advantage of the few moments he had free, rushing forward and quickly pecking the creature, aiming for its eyes. Unexpectedly, it fell, falling to the ground far below as if it was a bird who had suddenly forgotten how to fly.
Shadow suddenly thought he had spotted something odd about it falling, so he squinted at it. He frowned and moved back a little. Oddly, it seemed as though the strange creature was… dissolving…?
He nervously shook out his feathers, quickly glancing around before he turned around, suddenly remembering Smoke.
“S-Smoke?” he called, worry staining his tone. “Smoke?”
A flash of something caught his eye.
He whirled around and widened his eyes as he saw the weird creature from before. It was back.
Wait—no, this one looked different. It had less of the odd liquid. And… and strangely enough, kind of looked like Smoke…
Shadow felt a jolt of dreadful realization strike him.
This… this was Smoke. Turned into one of those strange creatures.
It was the lightning, he found himself realizing silently. The horrible lightning.
“Smoke!” he cried.
The Smoke-creature didn’t answer, its hollow white eyes fixed on Shadow.
Shadow watched it with despair.
No—this wasn’t Smoke.
It couldn’t be…
Suddenly, the Smoke-creature lunged forward, reaching out its talons to grab him.
Shadow barely dodged and quickly turned away, flying away as fast as he could. Oh, if only we hadn’t gone flying tonight, he thought, a sinking wave of regret churning inside him. No, no, no… he just needed to get to the barn… everything would be alright….
Sssssssssssss…
Shadow felt his emotions sink. He remembered that sound. Panicking, he picked up his speed as much as he could, draining his energy quickly—but he didn’t care, he just needed to get out of here as soon as possible and—
The night flashed white around him and suddenly, he couldn’t see anything.
Time seemed to slow down.
The world flashed in his eyes one more time, before darkening as he felt a slimy substance drip down his head, weaving its way through his feathers.
Shadow tried to scream, but he couldn’t.
A flash of darkness—
Then the world was consumed by shadows.
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