I pulled up onto the side of the road in front of my apartment, my black attire hanging loose from my carelessness putting them on. I just needed to get away from that place. Slapping a bug off my arm I headed towards the empty stairwell and walked up a few flights, my footsteps echoing through the corridor. The black and orange thing flew off. I pulled out my keys and unlocked the door, tearing my suit and tie off. I left just my undershirt and pants on, then collapsed on the bed I had shared with my wife not to long ago. The one who was kidnapped and left for dead in the street about a month ago, the smell from the carnage lasting for days. They hadn’t figured out the culprit. And as much as I tried, I couldn’t cry. I had gone numb.
I slowly awoke from my dreamless sleep, and started to become aware of my surroundings. I checked the clock, 1:46 AM. Through the thin walls of the building, there was the familiar echo of footsteps coming up the corridor, stopping at my floor. I rolled over so my back was facing the door, and tried to get some rest.
I decided to get some air. I couldn’t sleep at all. I threw on some shoes, checked the clock which now read 3:07, and headed out.
My shoes hit and dragged along the pavement of the dimly lit sidewalk, a single car passing me. I stumbled a bit, a tipsy from the beer I had purchased at a gas station nearby. I looked up, I could hear faint humming up ahead. There was a little boy leaning against a building while sitting. His eyes were closed, and he was patting his hands against the ground as he hummed a song I didn’t know. The clothes he had were ragged and old. He’s homeless, I thought, and I passed by him I dropped a dollar in front of his feet.
As I kept walking back towards the apartment, he stopped humming, but kept pounding his hands against the pavement. Then I realized something, the boy didn’t seem to have any color at all. I turned back, but by then he had begun to stare into the distance at something, eyes still closed. Before I could turn around and keep walking, he disappeared and a new figure stood inches away from my face. My wife, colorless with burning orange eyes. I gasped, and stepped back, almost dropping my bottle of beer. It smiled, rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth. Then it changed again, this time, looking exactly like me. I turned to run and it followed, catching up to me quickly and sinking its teeth into my arm. I screamed, and threw my beer at it. It yelped, and stopped running, tearing off bits of flesh from my arm. I kept running, and I new it was close behind me. I made it to my apartment and flew up the stars and into my room, locking it as fast as humanly possible. There was a loud bang afterwards, followed by another, and another. It continued for a few minutes until there was a small dent in the door, then it stopped.
The sun had finally risen, and I awoke from the sleep I somehow managed to fall into after that night. The first thing I saw was my window on the opposite side of the room, and in it there was a raven, staring back at me intensely with burning orange eyes.
