The rain shows signs of further relenting. The percussion of its fall above and about him grows muted. Then, the sound carries to him. A faint sound from the shore, that had been buried beneath rain and wind and he thinks, How strange to hear birdsong at night in the rain.
The familiar, beseeching song triggers a memory of his encounter in the wood. The singing flock soaring amidst the brilliantly colored branches of the bush.
A tree like a torch.
The image takes his thoughts to the book with the cartoon cardinal. How it bore the picture of a panicked flock circling a burning bush.
A story about a fire.
He recalls the encounter he had believed unconnected. A bird in the house, soiled black to the point of being unrecognizable as one of its breed.
A bird roosting within the fireplace.
Another memory comes without warning or reason. This one of her claims that his drinking and smoking had begun to scare the child. He had paid little attention, for he had thought the child imagined.
Now he remembers the burning pile in the junkyard on the way home from town. He had seen her pale as they passed it. She had regained her composure quickly. There had been no reason to pass comment.
With that thought still fresh, another on its heels. Only a word. A shared thread to the encounters with the birds. His face pulls taut and within him a sudden sensation, like a snake uncoiling itself within his guts.
Fire.
YOU ARE READING
Song, Unheard
Horror***Featured in Fright Profile*** Life has been different lately. She feels a growing sense of dread and wishes for things to be normal. His drinking is out of control. The child seems frightened and withdrawn. And then come the birds. Strange b...
