A Murder

There was a murder on campus; a murder of crows that is. In this specific murder or group, there were six crows. They could be found anywhere altogether, perched in the same order. It was easy to pinpoint them out from the other crows. Each crow in this murder had something very particular about them, their own characteristics. The first that was always on the left end was very tiny. It could have been easily mistaken for a black robin. The second was of enormous size. It was the fattest crow one would see in a lifetime. The third had feathers that were ruffled up and would point in all directions. The fourth had a single, small patch of purple feathers on its left side, above its wing. The fifth, unlike the others, didn't have any unique physical traits. The one thing that made this crow stand out was its deep and low caw. The sixth crow that was always on the right end of the group was by far the strangest of them all because its right eye was a bold red. Not faded or bright red, but a strong red. Where this murder came from is unknown.

...

It was the start of a new school year for Jamie, a pretty brunette with hair down to her waist, at the small campus of Brookmont University snugged into the mountains of New York. A variety of cars lined up for a parking space to unload students' belongings. Jamie and her parents were already in the process of stuffing her items into grocery carts. It wasn't too long for them to get to her room to start decorating the dorm. It was quite spacious, but not cozy with its faded blue walls and cold tile floors. But once Jamie and her parents were done, half of the room felt homier with her desk arranged neatly, posters of The Beatles and Led Zeppelin taped to the wall, and the bed made up with a nice big floral comforter. After finishing her unpacking, Jamie said goodbye to her parents and was left alone for only a minute before the door opened again. Stepping in was Jamie's roommate, Drew.

"Drew!"

"Jamie!"

The two girls ran up and squeezed each other.

"I missed you!"

"Same here!"

Drew, a skinny redhead covered in freckles, entered the dorm along with her parents and started to unpack. Jamie assisted. As they arranged Drew's half of the room, the girls chatted away about their summers and vacations. After a few hours, the room was finally complete with Drew's desk buried beneath many items, her bed made up with brightly colored sheets, and her wall covered with her own artwork, mostly pencil sketching and watercolors. Drew said good-bye to her parents and the two girls were alone.

"So..." Drew clapped her hands together. "What should we do next?"

"How about we go to the cafe?" suggested Jamie

The girls grabbed their purses and headed out. Once outside, they walked through the campus, heading toward the cafe.

Drew spoke up, "I can't believe we're almost done!"

"It just goes to show you," said Jamie, "that time flies by when you're older."

"I know, right! It's insane. Soon we'll be starting jobs. I'll hopefully be in Paris and you in the city."

"Yeah." Jamie looked down at her feet. "Promise me we'll stay in touch."

"Of course. I won't be in Paris forever. Nothing will come between us."

"Okay... it's just a lot can change."

Drew chuckled, "You worry too much."

The girls talked as they continued through the campus. Along the way was the school's library, which had a big lawn area with benches placed all over. The girls crossed through the lawn but Jamie came to a stop, staring at one of the benches. Drew, who was a few steps ahead, turned and saw that Jamie was staring at something.

Drew approached Jamie. "What is it?"

Pointing at the bench, Jamie asked, "Do you see this?"

Drew brought her attention to the bench. "Whoa."

On the bench, there perched the murder of crow all perfectly lined up with one another. The birds kept a close eye on the two girls.

"That's weird," stated Drew. "Is that normal for them to be like that?"

Jamie replied, "I have no idea. I've just never seen anything like this before."

Drew laughed, "They're pretty cute. Awww! Look at the tiny one." She took three steps closer to the murder. As she came near to them, the crows focused more on her than Jamie. "I think they like me." She took another three steps. The crows seemed to be glaring at her.

"Why aren't they flying away?" asked Jamie.

"Like I said," responded Drew, "they like me. Hi, little fellas. Oh! And big fella."

"Okay, how about we get going?"

"Not yet. Let me look at these adorable guys," demanded Drew.

"I've never heard that word used to describe crows. You do realize they're scavengers, right? You know? They peck at dead things. They're just glorified vultures. Not even that glorified."

Drew responded, "That just means they keep everything clean. Without scavengers, the whole place would reek of dead animals."

Jamie sighed, "Okay, whatever, can't we just go to the cafe now?"

Drew didn't answer or make a movement. She pondered at the birds as they peered up at her.

"Drew? Drew? Hello?"

Drew backed away from the birds but didn't take her eyes away from them. She asked Jamie, "Did you notice it?"

"Notice what?"

"That one's eye?" Drew pointed at the crow on the far right.

Jamie looked and saw the crow's red eye. "Okay! That's just freaky."

"Yeah. But it's entrancing at the same time," stated Drew.

"Let's just go." Jamie pulled on Drew's arm and walked away from the murder.

Drew waved at the birds. "Bye, fellas!"

...

Three days later, Jamie went to the library, carrying only a notebook and pencil in her hand. She sat at one of the tables and attempted to write. After filling a whole page, she peeked up and saw that Drew was sitting at a table on the other side, drawing. Jamie gathered her things and trotted over to her roommate.

Jamie whispered, "Hey roomie!"

Drew stopped drawing and smiled up at Jamie. "Hey. What's up?"

Jamie sat herself at the table. "Oh, I just came here to get some writing done in quiet. It's like no one on our floor knows how to adjust the knob on their stereo."

"Tell me about it," laughed Drew.

"So whatcha' drawing? Something for class?"

"No, just something for fun." Drew slid her drawing over to Jamie. "What do you think?"

Jamie looked at the colored-pencil drawing and saw that it was of the murder of crows that they saw a week ago on the bench in the exact order. "Wow... um... that's a little bit too good. I guess these crows have made quite an impression on you."

"I just needed to draw them. I can't get them out of my head. There's something about them that I can't put my finger on."

"That's kind of weird. I mean... you're not really interested in animals. You don't even take notice of my dog back home who is the most adorable thing in the world."

"I know! It's weird. I just had to draw this picture. Oh, did you notice the names?"

Jamie studied the drawing and saw that there were words written next to each of the crows. Starting from the left, these were the names: Timmy, Albert, Ruffles, Patch, Barry, and Edgar.

Jamie asked, "You named the birds?"

"Yeah! Timmy for Tiny Tim, Albert for Fat Albert, and Ruffles because of his feathers. I couldn't think of another name. And Patch because of the purple patch."

"What's with the name Barry?"

"Okay. This is weird. I've been seeing these crows everyday-"

"Wait! You've been seeing them everyday?"

"Yeah, anyway—"

"Hold on! Where have you been seeing them, because I haven't?"

Drew responded, "I've been seeing them all over. Anyway! On one day, Barry cawed at me. It sounded like a deep male voice, which made me think of Barry White."

"Okay... what's with Edgar?"

"I had a hard time picking a name for him, but then the name Edgar just popped into my head. It's funny how the mind works," said Drew.

"Yeah, funny." Jamie slid the drawing back.

"So do you like it?"

"Um... yeah... it's great."

"What is it?"

"I don't know," replied Jamie. "I just find it weird that you are obsessed with these birds. And it is even stranger that you have been seeing the same six crows everyday."

"It's not that strange and I'm not obsessed."

Jamie responded, "You've said yourself that you can't get them out of your head."

"True, but I'm not obsessed. It is not like I need to see the birds." Drew picked up her phone and brightened the screen. "Oh shoot! I have class in a few minutes." Drew collected her supplies and rolled up the drawing. "I'll catch you later." Drew dashed out of the library, leaving Jamie alone at the table.

...

The next time Jamie visited the library was a few days later when she came with three other students. They sat down at one of the tables and discussed a group project on a book for class. They assigned each other some tasks to complete and organized how they were going to present their findings. In the midst of the work, the four chitchatted about other things going on in their lives. But one topic was brought up by one of the boys in the group, Quinn.

Quinn asked, "So who's it going to be?"

The other girl besides Jamie, Allison, responded, "What do you mean?"

"You know? Who's going to go missing this year?" Quinn laughed.

Jamie shook her head. "I don't think people going missing is a laughing matter."

"Okay, yeah you're right," he stated. "I just wanted to lighten up the situation I guess."

"What brought this on?" asked Allison.

"It was mentioned on Facebook this morning."

The other boy, Joe, chimed in, "How many have gone missing again?"

Quinn answered, "Well, I'm a senior and there's been a missing person each year I've been here. So... that would make it three. Four if one goes missing this year."

"It may be more than that," stated Allison. "I'm a senior and I heard there were two missing before I came here."

"Really?" asked Jamie. "There's really been five students missing?"

"I think so," said Allison. "They still have no idea what happened to them?"

Joe blurted, "I say there is a serial killer nearby."

Everyone ignored Joe's statement.

"Did any of you know one of them?" Jamie looked at each of them.

"I did," said Quinn.

"Who?" asked Allison.

"It was my freshman year. It was some guy on my floor. He was the party type and real messy. I swear the guy never used a hairbrush. Anyway, before he disappeared, he stopped going to parties and didn't talk to anyone."

Joe snapped his fingers. "I remember that guy! He sure was a mess."

"It gets weirder. Besides keeping to himself, he would go outside and dig into the dirt, collecting bugs and worms."

"That's bizarre!" exclaimed Allison.

Jamie asked, "What would he do with them?"

"He kept them in jars in his room!"

"What?!" Jamie's face scrunched up in disgust.

"I bet the roommate wasn't too happy about that," chuckled Allison.

"The roommate left," said Quinn. "The guy would talk to himself and make animal sounds."

Joe laughed, "What kind of sounds?"

"He mostly cawed. Probably had something to do with his obsession with those crows."

Jamie replied, "Wait a minute. Did you say crows?"

"Yeah. That's why he collected the bugs and worms. He fed the crows with them," explained Quinn.

"That's just messed up," said Joe.

"I'm not done. It gets creepier. The last time I saw him he was heading into the woods at night, carrying something in his arms."

"Carrying what?" asked Joe.

"I don't know. I couldn't see because it was too dark. I told the police about it but they didn't find anything in the woods."

Jamie asked, "Did you see the birds?"

Quinn gave Jamie a strange look. "What do you mean?"

"The crows! How many were there? Did they look odd?" Jamie continued.

"Um... I don't know... three I think. But I never was close to the birds to see anything odd. They gave me the creeps."

Joe asked, "Wasn't there one year where a student died the same time another went missing?"

Quinn answered, "I don't remember that."

"I think it was when the first one happened. It was the guy's friend I think."

Jamie asked, "How did he die?"

"The guy was on the rooftop of one of the dorms and fell."

"Wait that does sound familiar," said Quinn. "I heard something about someone jumping off—"

"This guy didn't jump."

"Didn't jump?" Jamie frowned. "How does someone accidentally fall?"

"I'm not saying it was accident."

The four became quiet.

"This is fascinating and all," Allison spoke, "but we should probably finish up here."

It took the four of them ten minutes to finish up. Jamie returned to her dorm after the meeting. She laid on her bed and read the short story Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka from a textbook. She read it in quiet solitude for quite some time until Drew rushed into the room. She roamed around rummaging through her stuff while holding a loaf of bread in her arm, muttering to herself. In her search, she stopped when she pulled out a roll of masking tape. She set aside the loaf of bread and brought out the sketching she made of the crows. She ripped off four pieces of tape and used them to put up the drawing on her wall.

"Hey," said Jamie.

Drew didn't acknowledge Jamie. She continued with the drawing.

"Drew!" Jamie raised her voice.

Drew turned. "Oh. Hey."

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing."

She finished placing the sketch on the wall, snatched up the loaf of bread without saying anything to Jamie, and left. All Jamie could do was stare at the door in confusion. "What the heck?!" She grabbed her key and rushed out the door, turning towards the stairwell. Once in the lobby, Jamie hid behind the wall as Drew came off the elevator, hurrying towards the door. Jamie followed Drew outside to the opened rooftop next to the gym. Jamie observed Drew from the corner. Standing around Drew was the murder of crow. She grabbed a slice of bread and tore it up into tiny pieces. She spoke to the birds, "Are you all hungry, fellas? Here you go." She flung the pieces of bread at the crows and they gobbled it all up. As they pecked away, she crumbled another slice but kept the remains in her hand. She lowered her hand down. The crow with the red eye, Edgar, inched up to her. "Go on." Drew offered her hand to Edgar. He twitched his head as he stared at the crumbs, but finally pecked at the pieces. Another crow came up and bellowed out a deep and low, but loud, caw. Jamie covered her ears at the sound of Barry. He too pecked at Drew's hand. Soon all the birds went to Drew's hand and ate the broken up pieces of bread. Jamie crept away and hurried back to her dorm.

...

A few days later, in her dorm room alone, Jamie opened up her laptop and went to a search engine, typing in 'Missing students, Brookmont'. The first article that appeared on the search engine was about the student that went missing last year. Jamie clicked on the article and began to read.

'In late November, local college student, Owen Lebovich, went missing from campus. The local authorities haven't found any clues as to his whereabouts. Owen is one of five students that have gone missing over the past five years. Each student disappears in the fall semester and, in every case, professors and peers close to them have reported strange behavior from the students.'

During her reading of the article, Jamie came upon a picture of a group of students. The caption to the picture mentioned that Owen was the student in the middle. In viewing the picture, Jamie saw that Owen was a very small guy. Not skinny, he was quite average. He was just very short, especially compared to the others in the picture with him. Below the picture, the article listed the names of all missing students.

Owen Lebovich -Freshman (November 13, 2013)

Arnie Balmer -Junior (October 21, 2012)

Martin Rosenthal -Sophomore (September 29, 2011)

Skylar Birch -Sophomore (December 5, 2010)

Clark Pascall -Senior (November 23, 2009)

The door opened and Jamie screamed. It was Drew.

"Drew! Oh, my gosh. You scared me. I mean—" Jamie stopped talking. Drew was dressed in sweatpants and a stained hoodie, holding two jars full of bugs and worms. There was dirt underneath her fingernails. She appeared as if she hadn't showered in days. "Drew?! What's with you?! You're a mess! What's going on?"

Drew set down the jars on her desk, not responding to Jamie. She scrambled to her bed and hid herself underneath the blanket.

"Drew?... Drew?... Come on, get up!" Jamie left her desk and inched towards Drew. "It is the afternoon. Don't you have class? Drew?" Jamie pinched the edge of Drew's blanket and started to remove it off her friend. Drew tugged the blanket back from Jamie. Jamie sighed and turned to the jars. The bugs and worms crawled over each other and wriggled around; the slimy skin sticking to the glass and the tiny, black legs digging at the lids. Jamie covered her mouth as her cheeks puffed out. "Okay! This is ridiculous! I can't have these things in here." Jamie picked up one jar.

Drew popped up from under her blanket. "Put it back!"

Jamie stood still, the jar shaking in her arms. Drew glared at Jamie with crazed eyes and flared nostrils. Jamie lowered the jar back down onto the desk and held her hands up, stepping away.

Jamie insisted, "It's okay, Drew. I'm... sorry. I won't touch your jars. I get it." Jamie returned to her desk and Drew went back under the covers. At her desk, Jamie sat there doing nothing. She took long breaths as she kept a close eye on Drew underneath the blanket. Then her eyes diverted to the wall. All of Drew's artwork was missing except the drawing of the murder.

...

Jamie was sitting in silence at the bench near the library where they first saw the murder. As other students passed by, she watched squirrels play with each other and birds fly by over her. She stayed at the bench for an hour until she saw Drew walking along the sidewalk. Perched on Drew's shoulder was Edgar. Jamie rubbed her eyes and watched as Drew made her way towards the bench area. From behind Jamie, the crow, Barry, landed on the top of the bench. He made a loud caw at Jamie, causing her to jump from the bench. After Barry, came Patch, Ruffles, Albert, and Timmy, all lining up in the same sequence. Drew marched towards the bench with Edgar, carrying one of the jars of bugs and worms.

Jamie stepped into Drew's path. "Drew!"

Drew walked around Jamie and sat the jar down on the bench.

"Drew! Do you hear me?" Jamie reached out for Drew but retracted as Edgar flapped his wings at her. Jamie stood frozen as Drew continued with the jar, pulling out the bugs and worms and feeding them to the murder. Edgar joined the others on the bench and feasted as well. Other students on campus walked by and witnessed the sight of Drew feeding the crows. Everybody whispered and murmured to each other or gawked at Drew, who didn't acknowledge anyone around her. Jamie left the area.

...

As Drew slept, Jamie kept a close eye on her, seated at her desk with the lamp being the only source of light. Jamie tapped her fingers on the desk, not taking her gaze away from Drew. After an hour watching, Jamie started to doze off as she lowered her head and shut her eyes, but she would catch herself and continue keeping watch. Two hours later, Jamie was fast asleep still seated in the chair with her head lying on the desk. She muttered in her sleep, "No... no... don't go... you can't... you can't have her. Get away... get away!" Jamie yelled out of her restful state. She caught her breath but lost it again. Drew wasn't in the room. Jamie grabbed her jacket and rushed down the stairs, through the lobby, and out into the cold night. Drew was nowhere in sight. "Drew!" Jamie called out. She ran through the parking lot, heading towards the main road to the sidewalk. She looked left where the road went into town. She didn't see Drew. She looked right where the road went into a more wooded area. There was Drew walking down the road. Jamie chased after her. "Drew!" Drew disappeared over the hill. Jamie sped up and ran through the freezing air. Wisps of breath came out of her mouth. As Jamie came over the hill, she saw Drew crossing the road, making for the tree line. Perched on Drew's arm was Edgar. His red eye could still be seen in the darkness.

Jamie followed but stayed far behind. The two girls went further and further into the woods. Drew finally came to a halt to a spacious area within the trees. Jamie watched from behind a tree. In the center of the opening lied a carcass of a possum. Drew got down on her knees next to the animal's dead body. Edgar flew to the ground and strutted around the carcass. Sitting amongst the trees around the opening were the rest of the murder. They all were focused in on Drew. She eyed the carcass, licking her lips. Drew readied herself to pick up the body but gave Edgar a look as if she was asking for approval. Edgar cawed at her and the very next thing Drew snatched the carcass and ate through the flesh. Jamie watched in horror at the sight of her friend eating a carcass like a wild animal, like a scavenger.

"Drew! Don't!" Jamie dashed to Drew. She clutched Drew's shoulder, which startled Drew, causing her to scratch Jamie on the arm. Blood trickled down from the two scratches on Jamie's arm. Drew returned to eating the carcass. Jamie cried, "Stop, Drew!" She tried to grab the carcass away but it became a tug-of-war between the girls. Suddenly, Edgar flew into Jamie's face and started to peck at her. Jamie waved her arms to rid of him but he kept pecking. She grabbed his leg and swung him, sending him into the bark of a tree. Jamie returned to Drew, seeing that she wasn't eating the carcass anymore but was bent over, heaving. "Drew?" Drew sat up and released a long and loud caw. As her caw echoed throughout the woods, she started to change. She grew smaller and smaller, black feathers broke through her skin, her nose and mouth transformed into a beak, and her eyes went black. When her caw had ended, Drew was no more. In her place, was a skinny crow flapping its wings. Jamie screamed at the sight and screamed as she ran out of the woods. She exited the woods and sprinted across the road. Flying over the hill, came a car. Jamie stopped in her tracks as the car rammed into her, knocking her off her feet as she flew back, falling on the asphalt. The car screeched to a halt. The driver hopped out and hurried over to Jamie who was lying on the ground. The driver cried when he saw that Jamie's neck was snapped. Her eyes were wide open but there was no life in them.

...

The next fall semester at the bench in front of the library stood not six birds but seven as a skinny crow, with a red tinge to its feathers, was now standing at the far left of the murder of crow. Walking by the bench one day was a boy carrying a basketball. He noticed the crows and stopped. He put his foot up on the bench and bent down to look at the crows. He said, "Hey there, fellas."