The Raven's Cry: A Surprisingly Long Short Story

It was a dark and cold night.  A young married couple decided to take a walk after a rough Sunday.  Little did they know it would be their last.

They left their tiny apartment next to an abandoned tortilla factory wanting to get a little exercise and a little fresh air.  They didn't think anything of the occasional raven's caw as they started their journey, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

They looked up into the sky to look at the stars when they saw a number of bird flying past the moon, mesmerized they continued to look. And suddenly the moon was blackened, covered by an unkindness of ravens.

The man screamed.  The ravens had started to circle so they couldn't run back to their house, so they ran across the church parking lot, dodging ravens and they began to swoop down at them.

Their only chance was to make it to the church that was near by...it was a small chance, the doors would probably be locked.  They ran making it to the doors with only a few minor cuts.

The doors were unlocked by some miracle and they ran inside, a few birds following behind.  The husband grabbed an abandoned set of scriptures to fight off the stray birds.

After the birds had been killed the couple looked at each other speechless, not knowing what to say or do.

The women ran to the phone in the lobby to call the police, but it was dead.  She reached in her pocket for her cell phone but it was empty.  She looked up expectantly to her husband.  He looked just looked at her with tears in his eyes and shook his head, unable to say anything.

They sat there for an hour or so coming up with a plan.  If they could gather up all of the coats that were left behind they could create a kind of armor and one of them could run and get they car, bring it back, and save the other.

The husband dawned the hastily assembled armor and left.  The birds inexplicably didn't move or even make a sound.  It was easy retrieving the car.  He fired up the six cylinder car and raced back to the church.  The birds still didn't make a sound.

The wife prepared herself to run, as she opened the door of the church the unkindness of raven swarmed.

It was a mad dash to the car, the man thought that if he honked the horn and flash the head lights but it just added to the noise and confusion.

The woman ran, screaming and flailing her arms.  The ravens were attacking her, the car and even each other.  Just as the women got into the car it stalled.

The man tried to start it.  But it wouldn't start.  He tried it again.  Nothing.

The birds started slamming their beaks against the windows.  It was only a matter of time before they broke through one of the windows.  They just sat there, resigned to their fate.  Saying nothing, just holding hands.

The man tried the car one more time.  Not expecting it to work.  The car roared to life.  They looked at each other, amazed.  The man threw the car into reverse, elated that they might just survive the night.  They sped out onto the road, a strangly empty road even for a Sunday evening.

They didn't notice, they just drove, trying to escape the unkindness of ravens.

After a few minutes they looked behind them and saw that they hadn't escaped, they were being chased.

They weren't being attacked as long so they were driving they thought that they could go to the police department or maybe someone would notice an unkindness of ravnes chasing the car and would call the National Guard.  That's when they saw that no one was on the road.  It was empty, it seemed like the only living things on the earth were the couple and the ravens.

A deep despair enveloped them at that moment.  The only way to extend their life was to drive, so they did.  They entered the freeway driving as fast as they dared, driving on a deserted freeway.  They drove for hours, happy that they had filled the tank the day before.

They drove until just before sunrise.  That's when the car ran out of gas.  The raven's immediately landed on the car, attacking it anew. The car soon became completely enveloped with ravens.  The only thing they could see were ravens attacking the car.  The fear and the dread returned an new, the knowledge that they would soon be eaten by these ravens from hell. 

Just as the first raven broke through the windshield the sun rose.  It was a brilliant yellow.  It didn't mean much to the young couple.  The car was still covered in ravens.

Then they noticed that they could see to the outside a little.  They then started to notice that the ravens were disappearing.  In their stead a heavy black smoke was billowing around the car.  Soon the only thing they could see was this dark, oily smoke and not any ravens.  Then the sun crested over the mountains and the smoke disapeared.

There wasn't a raven in sight.

The couple stared at each other, stunned.  They didn't say a word to each other for over an hour.  They just stared out of the windows confused as to were the ravens had gone.

A man drove by in a truck and asked if they had run out of gas.  They shook their heads in the affirmative and he gave them some gas.  He drove away without the couple saying a word to him.

The husband turned on the car and headed for home.  Neither one saying a thing to the other.  They both had cuts and scraps so they knew that they hadn't just had a horrible dream.  But there was no explination for what happend.  They pulled off the freeway heading home and the husband turned to his wife and said the first words that had been spoken since they had gotten into the car.

"That was crazy, I think we deserve a sausage biscuit."


I decided to write a short story about our little raven adventure that happened last Sunday.  I've been feeling really lazy since I graduated so I wanted to do something academic.  Something to make me think a little.  I've never been good at creative writing but I thought that this turned out well.  I didn't have Katie or Sarah edit it so its still kind of rough but I thought it was a good exercise for my mind.

David