Love Letters to Spacegirl (Part 1)

The painting depicted a woman with red hair that seemed to fade into the twilight sky behind her. Countless stars shone brightly on the horizon and it was hard to tell where it ended and she began. It was like her hair merged into the sky itself. Her eyes were closed and she wore a small but contented smile as she held a heart stamped envelope close to her chest. On her shoulder sat a white bird that looked up at her and there were more of its kind on the branches at the edge of the picture. Somewhere far off in the twilight horizon, there were even more of them. An entire flock of those pale birds flying beneath the starry sky.

I’m not exactly an art critic. Art was never really my thing, but I had to admit that it was a nice painting.

“This is one of Daniels newest pieces, and we’re proud to have it on display at the gallery.” Said the woman beside the painting. “This one is called ‘Love Letters to Spacegirl’, and it was painted for her wife, who we are very lucky to have with us tonight! Welcome Jane!”

The admirers of the piece applauded politely, and most of their eyes fell on a cute brunette in their midst. She smiled shyly before giving a little wave. She looked young, somewhere in her mid to late twenties. Maybe too young to be married. It was a shame. I’d noticed her a little earlier, and if I hadn’t been busy, I might have tried my luck.

“Thank you.” She said softly, although I could tell she knew that she didn’t deserve it. I didn’t bother applauding her. Why would I need to? Drawing a picture wasn’t that much of an achievement in the first place, and why would I clap for someone who didn’t even do the work?

“Megan would be touched to see you all here, and we’re sorry she couldn’t make it out tonight.” Jane said. She said some more, but I stopped paying attention at that point. Instead, I looked around at the art gallery. Our little city didn’t have much of an art community. The ‘gallery’ was a small building attached to the often forgotten Visitor and Tourism centre. The mainstay pieces were easily forgotten sculptures and other abstract crap that supposedly celebrated the heritage of our city in some way or another. It was all beyond me. Everything else in there was either by Megan Daniels, or part of that months showcase on local LGBTQA artists.

The little exhibition of her paintings was nice and all, but like I said before, it really wasn’t for me. Megan Daniel’s paintings were all fairly depressing. They were colorful and pretty to look at, but there was something distinctly unhappy about them.There was this one of a Unicorn standing by a fence and looking out at a City. You could only see it from behind, but it looked so forlorn and lonely. ‘The Fallen Kingdom of the Unicorn Prince’ said the title card beneath it. I guess the idea was that people had destroyed his ‘Kingdom’ and built something else there? Then there was this other one which really creeped me out.

It was called ‘Regret’ and showed a young brunette girl. She couldn’t have been more than fifteen or sixteen, but she was screaming in terror. There was no mistaking it for anything else. The detail was almost sickening. There were tears in her eyes. Her hands almost looked like they were reaching out towards the viewer, either begging them to help her or trying to pull them in with her. Just looking at it gave me a sense of vertigo. How did anyone find this interesting? Why would anyone celebrate this? Whoever Megan Daniels was (She couldn’t even be bothered to attend her own art showing) I got the feeling that she had some very serious problems.I think it’s obvious by now that I wasn’t there for the art. I wasn’t really even there for the food, although it was a nice bonus. I hadn’t had a good meal in a few days. No, what I was there for, was the people. A pretentious art showing like that attracts all sorts of people, but mostly the ones who have the money to waste on paintings. I knew that some of the paintings were for sale, and while I wasn’t looking to buy, I figured others would be and maybe they might even have a bit of cash on them. I was just there to scout out the most interesting ones. I was the only one in my little group of friends who actually owned a suit, so I was the guy they sent in to this little exhibition. Without a charge to attend, anyone could go. Anyone at all.

I took out my phone to look over the other people in the tiny gallery. It was easy to snap a few discreet pictures of the more promising looking ones. I texted those pictures to Christian, just so he’d know who to look for.

Christian Deere and I went back years. We’d grown up together, and we’d been through the shit. We both knew what it took to survive when you’ve got to work your way up from nothing. We knew what it was like to carve out something to call your own, and to have to fight for it tooth and nail every day. Nobody understood that better than Christian and I, actually. Not even the other guys in our little group, Cary and Seb. I knew that the three of them were outside, waiting for the little exhibition to die down, and I knew they’d pick the mark to close in on. They needed to be choosy. We could only hit one, maybe two marks. They needed to be worth it, but I trusted them. It was unfortunate, but life was unfortunate. Nobody ever gained anything in this world without somebody suffering even a little bit. That’s just the way the world works.

There was one promising mark I made sure to snap a picture of. He was an older man, but he looked like he had cash to spare. I overheard a snippet of one of his conversations with Jane and the woman who’d been introducing some of the paintings. It sounded like he was trying to discuss buying one of them. That was good. I sent his picture off to Christian, and kept an eye on him until I saw him finally headed for the door. Jane was at his side, quietly talking to him and I followed along. I texted Christian again, letting him know that the intended mark was on his way out. I watched as the Old Man was led out to the curb, and straight to a waiting car… I really should have seen that coming. I watched from the door as Jane saw him out before the car drove off. Across the street, I could see Christian and the guys watching the car as well. He looked over at me. No anger in his expression. Just a familiar calm. He seemed to notice something, and nodded at me from across the street. I followed his gaze to see that Jane wasn’t headed back into the gallery. Instead, she was on her way down the street.

Christian moved to follow her and Seb and Cary followed him. They’d chosen their mark, it seemed. I started to follow as well. Chrisian said something to Seb, and he crossed the street so he could tail Jane a little closer. I stuffed my hands in my pockets and caught up to him. I hadn’t known Seb as long as I’d known Christian. But we still went back a ways. He was a short and snappy little bastard, but I liked him. We didn’t speak as we followed Jane. We were too busy focusing on the job ahead of us. No time for formalities.

It wasn’t long before Cary crossed the street to join up with us. He was really just a kid. Christian had taken him under his wing a few months back. He’d gotten him a job at the factory he worked days in, and tried to help him stay on his feet. Christian was nice like that. Cary seemed like he was too smart for his own good. Maybe if he’d ever had the chance to do something with it, he could’ve gone somewhere. But instead, here he was stuck with us.

Jane was headed towards a nearby parking lot. One of those city ones, where you pay by the hour. Maybe she was just going to feed the meter, or maybe she was ready to head home. It didn’t matter either way. The streets were pretty quiet, and we all knew that it was just a matter of time until we got our shot at her.

She turned and headed down a quiet little side street. Basically just an alley, and as she did, I saw Christian coming up to join us. He nodded at me before walking past our little group and closing the distance between himself and Jane. She didn’t even notice he was there until he was almost on top of her, and with no one around to stop him, Christian was quick to get into the groove. He put a hand on her shoulder and cut out in front of her. He flashed that coy, apologetic smile he always had, before reaching into his pocket and taking out his switchblade. She tensed up immediately.

“Hey, hey. Hey now. Easy.” Christian said softly, “No sudden movements, alright? Nobody here is looking for any trouble, yeah?”

She didn’t answer. But I could tell from her posture that he had her undivided attention.

“Now, let’s just keep things simple. I’m gonna need your wallet and your phone, okay sweetheart.”

Jane took a step back, pulling away from Christian and backing into Seb. Seb wasn’t a big guy. But the way she turned and looked at him, he might as well have been. Her eyes darted between the three of us behind her as she realized she was surrounded, before she looked back at Christian.

“Let’s not make this any harder than it needs to be.” Christian said, “Just give us what we asked for, and we don’t need to make a mess.” He held up the knife to indicate what he meant. I knew that Jane was looking for a chance to run, but Cary and I were already moving to cut off any escape. This wasn’t our first rodeo. She ruffled through her purse, handing over what Christian had asked for. As she did, her sleeve pulled back, revealing an expensive looking watch. I saw his eyes drift down to that when he took her phone and wallet.

“That’s it.” He said, “How about that Watch too, huh? That looks expensive.”

There was a palpable unease in her eyes.

“No! I can’t…” She said, “You can have the money. Just please, not the watch.”

“It’s just a watch, lady.” Christian said, “Take it off.”

“No! It’s my Mother in laws…” Jane shrank back, and Christian drew in closer as did the rest of us.

“That’s nice. Now it’s mine. Now give it to me.”

His arm shot out, trying to rip it off of her wrist. She pulled back and swung her purse. It struck Christian on the side of his head. It didn’t hurt him, but it did manage to properly piss him off. His fist connected with the side of her face. Cary and Seb came in. Seb grabbed her arm and wrestled the watch off of it, while Cary drove his fist into her stomach, sending Jane buckling to the ground. The fact that she was down didn’t stop them though. She’d caused trouble, and now she had to be taught a lesson.

As Cary, Seb and Christian beat the living shit out of her, I looked back up and down the street to make sure no one was coming. I could hear her sobbing and trying to protest, but that was all par for the course. Nobody liked getting their ass kicked. It wouldn’t be much of a punishment if they did. Really, she’d brought it on herself. She’d stepped out of line, and made things difficult for us. Now we had to put her in her place. This was just the way things were.

I saw a shadow at the end of the street. Someone was coming. I quickly tapped Christian on the shoulder, trying to get his attention.

“Let’s go!” I said. Jane lay slumped against the wall of a building in front of him. Her face was bloody. Her eyes were half closed, but I could still see her breathing. The boys had really done a number on her! Cary and Seb backed off immediately. Seb snatched her purse before he ran. Christian stayed though. The knife rested comfortably in his hand, and I could see that Jane was eyeing it. Her breathing was heavy and terrified.

“Go? Before I’ve finished up?” Christian asked playfully. He twirled the knife between his fingers and looked down at Jane, “Gotta make sure she doesn’t talk, right?”

We didn’t have time for this! I looked down the street, to see our bystander breaking into a run to come to the aid of our victim. I put a hand on Christian’s shoulder.

“Come on!”

He didn’t fight me, and let me pull him away, chuckling all the while as we left Jane beaten and bloody on the side of the road. We’d gotten what we came for.

​

“Fifty fucking bucks!” Seb said as he sat in the back seat of my car, “Are you kidding me? All we got off of that bitch was fifty bucks?”He threw the purse down to the ground, and shook his head.

“Waste of a goddamn evening…”

“Aren’t you glad I grabbed the watch?” Christian asked. He sat in the passenger seat, calmly smoking a cigarette as we drove away from Jane Daniels and her wifes miserable fucking art showing.

“That might still net us something half decent.”

“I grabbed the watch.” Seb said, holding it up, “You just noticed it, oh, and nice job clocking that, Eddie!”

“I was looking at the old man!” I said, “You're the ones who went after the girl!”

“Whatever. We got fifty bucks. Just let it slide.” Christian said, “Fifty bucks we didn’t have before, right? That’s… what? $12 for each of us. $13?”

“And thirty three cents.” Cary said, “That’s not much though. I was kinda hoping for a little more.”

“Well, shit happens.” Christian shrugged and took a drag on his cigarette, “Sebby, pass me that watch.”Seb did as he was told, and Christian examined it quietly.

“Not bad… Omega… Yeah, I’ll bet this is where we’ll get our money.” He said, before pocketing it. “I’ll talk to my friend down at the Pawn shop tomorrow. See what he says. In the meanwhile, we’ve got fifty bucks. Who wants a beer?”

“Sure, why the hell not.” Seb murmured, “Rent cleaned me out this month. Twelve bucks ain’t gonna get me much else.”

“Thirteen.” Cary corrected, although nobody gave a shit.

“I could use a drink, are we headed to the bar then?” I asked.

“Yeah, I think so.” Christian said, “Take us there, Eddie.”

He didn’t need to tell me twice.

​

I got home that night unsatisfied but buzzed. I had been hoping that the art exhibition would get us more than a measly fifty bucks. But maybe Christian was right, and we’d get our money from the watch. God, I hoped so. I needed the money just about as bad as the rest of our little group did. My little apartment was a shithole, but it was still my shithole. Temp work in the warehouses outside of town only paid so much, and unfortunately, what they paid wasn’t always enough to make ends meet. I’d had to choose between eating and sleeping under a roof too many times. That’s life, though. It’s not always fair. That’s why I didn’t think I should feel all that bad about what we’d done to Jane. Me and my friends did what we had to do to get by. Sometimes we had to do things that were downright horrible. That was just the way it had to be.

Still… It was hard not to think of her, lying half conscious and penniless. Seb was quite the bruiser despite his size, and Christian was tall and skinny, but had a wiry strength to him. I’d never met anyone who could actually knock him on his ass before. A beating from the two of them would’ve hurt like a motherfucker, and Jane had looked like shit when we’d left her… Still, she’d probably be fine. Probably.I wished I could’ve gotten shitfaced. It would’ve been easier not to think about what we’d done to her if I was absolutely trashed. As it was, I couldn’t stop thinking about how terrified she’d looked when Christian had flashed that knife at her. I’ll bet she thought he was gonna punch her ticket right then and there. Maybe he would have. I’d never seen Christian kill anyone before, but I didn’t doubt he’d do it if he had to. He was calm, but he was tough. That’s why I liked him. I swapped out my suit for something more comfortable and collapsed down onto the couch. I didn’t have a bed, so the couch was just fine and I had enough of a buzz to get me to sleep. I tried not to think about Jane. She wasn’t my problem, and chances were, I’d never see her again anyways. With that in mind, I drifted off.

​

I woke up to a tapping at my window. It was still dark outside, and I lay there for a few minutes, listening to that rhythmic, insistent tapping. This wasn’t normal. I was on the sixth floor. Who the hell was tapping on my window? I was still a little groggy, and a part of me was considering just ignoring it. But it just wouldn’t go away. That seemed a little weird to me, more than that. It was starting to get really fucking annoying.

I slowly got up off the couch to see what was making that noise. Looking out the window, I saw what looked like a white bird. It sat on my windowsill, knocking its beak against the glass of my window.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

I tapped back, hoping to just scare it off, but the bird didn’t move. It just sat there, looking at me and the more I looked at it, the more weirded out I got. This thing looked like a bird, but there was something off about it. It looked shiny, smooth and wet. I could see its body glistening in the streetlights outside. Its eyes didn’t move either. They were just simple black dots that stared into my apartment.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

The Bird looked up at me, and I took a step back from the window. For a moment, I wondered if I was dreaming. Maybe this was just some construct that was all in my head. But I honestly wasn’t sure if I believed that or not… The Birds head followed me, tracking me as I moved. It tapped on the window again before it finally flew away. Maybe it got bored, or maybe it saw something else. I really had no idea. I watched as it flew off before just shaking my head and getting a drink from my kitchen. Then I tried to get back to sleep.

​

I was woken up again a few hours later by a call from Christian. I fumbled with my phone before answering it.

“Hello?”

“Eddie. Where are you?” His tone was sharp and adamant. No hint of the collected Christian that I knew. Something was very, very wrong.

“Home. Why?”

“Good. You’re alright? Nothing happened? Nobody tried anything?”

“No, I’m fine. What the fuck is going on?”

Christian paused for a moment. I could tell he was trying to think of the best way to say this.

“Cary’s dead…”

I felt a sudden pit in my stomach. A sinking, deep sensation.

“What happened?”

“I dunno… I stopped by his place to pick him up for work. He wasn’t coming out, so I just thought he overslept. I went up to check on him… I found him in his kitchen. Shit, there was blood everywhere. His face… Jesus Christ, his face. It looked chewed up or something. There were cuts all over it, there were… pieces of him… missing. His fucking eyes were missing man! I dunno what the fuck happened to him!”

“Jesus!” I could visualize what Christian had seen, and just the thought of it made that sinking feeling in my gut all the worse. I hadn’t heard that kind of fear in Christian’s voice before. He was always so calm, but now he sounded shaken.“Did you call the cops?”

“Course I called the fucking cops!” Christian snapped, “I dunno what did this to him… It looked like… Jesus Shit, I feel like I’m losing my Goddamn head for even saying this. It looked like something fucking attacked him. Like, something tried to eat pieces of his face. He was all chewed up.”

“Wait, like an animal or something?” I asked. I stood up, quickly trying to make myself somewhat presentable so I could head out and check on Christian.

“Yeah. Not a big one though… I dunno what. His window was open. I think something got in and just fucking went to town on him.”

“Shit, man… I’ll be down in a little bit. You need anything?”

“No. Don’t come. I’ll meet you later…” Christian said, “Shit, I see the cops… I’ll call you back!”

​

He hung up, and I just stared down at my phone. My heart pounded in my chest, feeling heavier than normal. I didn’t know what the hell to make of this. A freak accident maybe? Something else? As far as I knew, Cary didn’t exactly have any enemies. Even if we had to stoop to some lows, he was a good guy. People seemed to genuinely like him. This couldn’t have been a person, could it? Something else weighed on my mind too… Christian had sounded worried when he’d called. Not just about Cary. About me. I almost felt like he’d called just to check in on me. Did he think there was more to this?

I brought up Seb’s number on my phone. Christian had probably already called him, but something about the unease in his voice left me feeling uneasy myself. Just in case, I figured it would be best to call. If nothing else, I’d reassure myself that Seb was fine.

I was relieved when he answered on the second ring, although he sounded off. He sounded like he’d barely slept at all.

“Eddie? What’s up?”

“Did you hear from Christian?” I asked. No need to bother with the formalities.

“Yeah. I heard.” Seb said quietly, “Poor Cary… That’s real fucked up…”

“No shit.” I said, and looked back towards the window, “Christian made it sound like some sort of animal attack or something. You don’t live all that far from him, right? You notice anything weird last night?”

“No, I went home and passed out.” He said, “Woke up to Christian calling. That’s it. Still haven’t processed it all, honestly. An animal attack in his own fucking apartment? That’s fucked up.”

Seb swore under his breath and I heard a faint sound in the background.

Tap, tap, tap tap.

“What was that?” I asked. Seb paused.

“What was what? The tapping?”

“Yeah, what was that?”

“I dunno, some fucking bird at my window.” He said. “Why?”

That sinking feeling got just a little bit worse. I thought back to the bird I’d seen last night.

“Has it been there long?”

“A while.” He said, “Think I saw it last night. What’s this got to do with anything?”

“Nothing… I saw one too. Just thought it was kinda weird.” I said. Seb swore under his breath again.

“Fuck me… Look, I’m real bummed about Cary. But I’ve gotta go, Eddie. I can’t really afford to be late for my shift today.”

“Right, sorry man. Take care. Stay safe out there, alright?”

“Yeah. I will. See ya.”

Seb hung up abruptly and as the line went dead, I heard a familiar tapping at my window. A shiver went down my spine as I turned to look, knowing what I’d see.

The White Bird was back. It sat in my window, quietly looking at me. I stared back at it and this time, I could see movement outside behind it. Slowly I approached the window and looked out across the street.

There were more of them. I couldn’t even count how many. Several white birds perched patiently on the building across from me, like they were waiting for something. Were there more lingering around Seb’s apartment too? The birds all seemed to look at me, their dead black eyes all fixated on me. The one in my windowsill tapped urgently against the glass, never once looking away from me.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

I looked silently down at the bird, and now that I was a little more awake, I couldn’t help but notice that they looked familiar. Where had I seen birds like that before? The bird at my window tapped again before looking up at me, as if asking me to let it in. I stared back at it and I could’ve sworn that I saw little drops of blood on its smooth white body. The bird looked around, then flew away. I saw its companions doing the same. They all took flight at once, moving like one being and in just a matter of seconds, they were all gone. They left only a deep sense of unease in the pit of my stomach.

Christian hadn’t mentioned anything about a strange bird when I’d spoken to him. Why would he have? It was just a bird. It wasn’t anything worth sharing. But still, I wondered if he’d seen one too. I thought about Cary and the flecks of blood on that bird…Where had I seen a bird like that before.

‘Love Letters to Spacegirl’ I thought to myself. I remembered the bird perched on the woman's hand. Pure white with beady black eyes. The one I’d seen had looked exactly like the one in the painting. Not just close. Exactly, even down to the weirdly smooth body. It was like the damn thing had come off the canvas. I stared out the window, watching for any sign of the birds. There was none. Just my empty street in the early morning sun. I didn’t have a shift booked. I had a day to burn… Maybe it was just paranoia eating at the back of my mind. But I decided that I wanted another look at that painting.

​

The Art Gallery was open, but no one was there in the morning. I made sure to park as close as I could to the gallery. There were no unusual birds in sight but something still had me on edge. I guess I was trying to reason with myself. I figured that if I could see that painting again, maybe it might ease my nerves. Cary had died in a freak accident. Something had gotten in and killed him. Maybe a coyote or something. There were coyotes outside of the city, right? It wasn’t too much of a stretch to think that one could have wandered deeper into town looking to scavenge some trash, and ended up chowing down on my friend instead. It made more sense than the absurd conclusion that the birds from a painting came alive and killed him, or worse, that they’d been outside mine and Seb’s windows, waiting to do the same to us! In my head, it all sounded ridiculous. But in my gut, it was hard to deny the feeling.

Love Letters to Spacegirl sat in the same place it had the night before. I drew closer to it, stopping a few feet away and staring at it. I knew I couldn’t reach out and touch it, but looking at it seemed like more than enough. The woman in the picture looked a little different than before. Last night, she’d looked so content. But now, I could’ve sworn she looked upset. The bird in the foreground of the picture looked the same as the one I’d seen on my windowsill, although this one wasn’t moving. There was no way it ever could have been alive. Maybe I’d just seen a similar species? I wasn’t exactly a birdwatcher so that was possible, right? How many white birds were there out there?

Looking at that painting, I was able to put a lot of my own irrational fears to rest. It was just a painting. Nothing to be scared of. Hell, maybe I’d just dreamed the whole thing up, and now I was spooked because of what had happened to Cary!

“Help me.”

The whisper came from somewhere to my left, and I looked over to see who’d spoken. There was no one there. Not that I could see, anyways. Just more paintings. I recognized the one with the sad Unicorn and that creepy girl. Regret, it had been called. Probably because Megan Daniels regretted drawing something so downright fucking ugly.

“Hello?” I asked.

“I’m scared.” The voice said as I drew nearer. It sounded like a kid, but as far as I could see, there wasn’t anyone there.

“I’m sorry.”

I stopped a few steps away from Regret, and looked around. My eyes were drawn to that painting again. The girl in the picture was as uncomfortable to look at as ever, but looking at her again, something seemed off. It looked like she was actually crying now. No… No. She was crying! I watched an actual fucking drop of water run down the canvas from were the girls eye was. It was slow,but impossible to miss. Another drop followed its trail down, and I watched as a second tear rolled down from the girls other eye.

“What the fuck…” I said under my breath as I looked back up at the picture.

“Jane…” Said the girl in the picture, and I stumbled back a step. Her mouth fucking moved! I watched as her fucking mouth moved to say that goddamn name!

“I’m sorry.” She said, “Please… Let me out…”

​

I fell on my ass as I tried to back away. From the corner of my eye, I noticed the Unicorn in the other picture had turned around and it was looking right at me! My heart was racing in my fucking chest. I didn’t know what the hell this was, but I was scared! I’d never been so scared in my entire fucking life! My eyes darted back to Love Letters to Spacegirl and to my horror, I saw that the picture had changed. The girl was still there, but the birds were not. Not the one in the foreground, not the ones on the sides or the flock in the distance. I blinked in disbelief. When I opened my eyes again, the birds were still gone. I scrambled to my feet and turned to get the fuck out of there, and as I did, I saw a woman standing by the door.

There was something familiar about her, although I was sure we’d never met before. She had long, kinda frizzy red hair and big round glasses. She was dressed in layers with a long dark green overcoat over all of it. The buttons down the front reminded me of a marching band jacket. Beneath that fancy coat, though, her clothes looked shabby and were spattered with paint.She took a step back when she realized I’d noticed her, and for a moment, we just stared at each other. I looked back towards the paintings. They’d changed again. The Unicorn had turned around completely and was looking at me. I could see that several of the other pictures had shifted as well, and I realized that the woman in front of me saw it too.

“You’ve made them angry.” She said quietly and I looked back at her. She had a low voice, like a shy whisper.

“Angry?” I asked, “They’re fucking drawings! How the fuck would I make them angry?!”

“I think you know.” She replied. She gave me a wide berth as she went around me. She looked over at Love Letters to Spacegirl, and I thought I saw something mournful in the way she regarded it.

“Someone’s already dead, aren’t they?” She asked. “One of your friends, I suppose.”

“How would you know?” I asked. “What the fuck is going on here!?”

“They were gone last night too, and back this morning. Now they’re gone again. They don’t usually stop until they’ve found someone.” She said, looking back at me. “I imagined that they found someone last night. I haven’t heard anything yet, though, but if you’re here to rile them up, you must have seen or heard something.”

“Lady, you better start making some sense right fucking now or I swear to God, I’ll-”

“You’ll do what?” She asked. Her tone shifted into something more akin to a snarl. I caught a flash of rage in her eyes.

“You’re all by yourself this time. No friends to hold me down, like you did to Jane. Besides… Do you really want to try it here?”

Her rage was quickly buried away back inside of her. She stared at me, waiting for me to make a move. But looking around, I realized that she was right. If I’d wanted to, I could’ve strangled the life out of her and she wouldn’t have been able to do a thing to stop me. She was a skinny little thing. But the way that all of the paintings leered down at me told me that if I moved on her, they would get to me first.

“These are yours…” I said, looking back at her, “You’re Megan Daniels.”

Her head nodded slightly in quiet confirmation.

“You and your friends put my wife in the hospital.” She said softly, “All over my Mother’s watch… Congratulations. You’ve stolen the only thing we have left of her. I hope it was worth it.”

“People do what they have to, to get by.” I said, “That’s the way the world works.”

“Maybe.” She said, “But They don’t care about that… It’s not going to stop them. If it was just the Watch, maybe They wouldn’t have woken up. I would’ve been upset, yes. But now I’ve watched my wife spend the night in a hospital bed. You can’t imagine how scared I’ve been. Never knowing if she was ever going to wake up or if I was about to lose her forever… I haven’t felt like this in a long time, you know. It’s been years…”

Her eyes drifted towards the unsettling portrait of that girl.

“I told myself I’d never slip up again and I’ve been calm. Everything was going fine... Then you came along…” Her cold blue eyes settled back on me. I could see a barely contained rage in her, although the simple act of speaking seemed to be wearing her out. She looked so incredibly tired.

“I’m sorry.” She said. “I wish I could stop them. I really do. But you brought this on yourself.”

A pale white bird landed on Megan’s shoulder, its black eyes fixated on me. I could see the dried blood on its feathers. I saw the Unicorn pacing eagerly, glaring at me from within its own painting as if it was waiting for the chance to cut loose and hunt me down. And all I could do was back away slowly.

Megan Daniels watched me, and while I could sense the cold anger radiating out from her. She hated me… After what my friends and I had done to her wife, of course she did. But there was more to it than that. Looking into her eyes, I saw pity. That was what scared me the most. I couldn’t speak. I didn’t know if speaking would even help me. Something told me that no matter how much I begged or pleaded, it would not save me. All I could do was run. To my left, I heard an angry huff. My eyes darted to the side and my pulse spiked as I saw the Unicorn standing there. It wasn’t confined to the painting now. It was right there, mere feet away from me. For something I would have imagined as a majestic of beautiful creature, it instead seemed brutish and angry. Its hooves echoed through the gallery as it drew nearer to me. I could hear the fluttering of wings above me and a quick glance up confirmed that the white birds had taken various perches to watch me.

Megan turned away, not wanting to look at what was about to happen and that was the last thing I needed to see before my fight or flight instinct kicked in. I sprinted for the door. Behind me, I heard the Unicorn cry out followed by the sound of hooves on the stone floor. I felt the birds coming down around me and moments later I felt their wings striking at my head and their beaks pecking at my flesh. I tried to cover my head swatted at them in desperation as I burst through the door and out onto the street. The Unicorn didn’t follow me, but some of the birds did. I swatted at them like oversized bugs and I managed to grab one of them as it dove for my face. Without thinking, I spiked it to the ground before dashing to my car. I shook them off long enough to get inside. As soon as I was out of reach, the birds who’d attacked me took off. I saw them circle back and find a perch on a nearby tree, where they stared at me, waiting for another shot to finish what they’d started. All of them save for one, at least. The one bird that I’d managed to wound lay on the sidewalk, weakly flapping its wings in an effort to flee. But the injuries I’d left it with were too much. The bird sank back down to the ground and I watched as it seemed to melt into the pavement, leaving nothing but a puddle of white paint. All of its kin continued to stare at me and I could’ve sworn that there was a new intensity in that stare. With a shaking hand, I keyed the engine to my car and drove off. I didn’t stop until I was safely back at my apartment and locked inside.

I need to talk to Christian and Seb. I don't know what we've gotten ourselves into, but I know that we're in some deep shit. I don't know what we're going to do. But I'll be damned if I'm going to die just like Cary did.

Submitted December 02, 2019 at 07:05PM by HeadOfSpectre https://ift.tt/2P4ECJp