We Found Bodies in the Woods

Troll Horns and Human Cartilage

The first time that Aradia saw him was from across the park, his red hoodie and bleach white hair standing out starkly against the green of the shrubs behind him. Looking at him, she found it hard to draw her gaze away. Like he was a beacon of light in pitch darkness, and with hair like his he sort of was.

The dead pigeon in his hands might have something to do with why she couldn't look away too.

He was crouched down next to the public toilets, presumably where the poor avian had taken it's last head-dive into the tiny windows of the building, searching through his back-pack with one hand and holding the bird with the other. Eventually he pulled out a opaque white container. The bag fell over as he set the tupperware down on the ground, reaching to pull off it's lid before pausing. He looked between the the tub and the pigeon slowly, noticeably worrying his lip before mouthing something and ripping off the container's lid; dumping it's contents on the ground and the dead bird in as replacement.

Then just as suddenly as she'd seen him, Dead-Bird Guy was gone into the thicket of the trees that lined the edge of the park. Leaving only a half-eaten sandwich and apple in his place.

-_-_-_-_-

3 AM, an ungodly hour to most-. Well, no, to absolutely everyone but some just ignored the urge to crawl under the covers and sink into oblivion. Instead they sat in the middle of an empty road under one of the few working street lights, waiting. For what? Aradia wasn't really sure if she was honest. Curiosity to see if anyone else would be up and on this street at the same time as her? Or maybe it was some otherworldly intuition that brought her here. Perhaps she just wanted to see if some drunken driver would come barreling around the curb; killing her on impact.

Who's to say, really?

Miraculously her cat curiosity paid off, as she could make out the silhouette of someone walking down the pathway in the dark. They slowed down significantly, seeming to spot the crazy bed-headed girl sitting in the middle of the asphalt; the magical spot of a road most definitely not meant for sitting. But there she was, in the middle of the road, sitting. What a rebel.

They stopped under the glare of the only other working street light revealing Shadow-Dude to in fact be Dead-Bird Guy. Shocker. (Aradia ignored the part of her whispering that she'd already known it was the guy from the park.)

Aradia and Dead-Bird Guy watched each other for a long moment. Or, she thought he saw looking at her? It was kind of hard to tell with him wearing shades in the middle of the night and all. Suddenly, Bird-Guy waved at her, causing Aradia to grin and wave back enthusiastically. He smirked, before continuing to walk, melting into the surrounding shadows.

No matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find him again, only hear the sound of his fading footsteps on the pavement.

-_-_-_-_-

Next time she saw him, he was in the supermarket of all places. Of course he was! Everyone needed to eat and where were you going to get food if not for your local oversized farmers market! It just seemed... Wrong for him to be there. If you asked why she wouldn't be able to tell you, just that it was.

Dead-Bird Guy was lugging around one of the store's customary shopping baskets, the ones they provide even though 99% of all its patrons opted for a cart no matter how little they were planning to buy in the first place.

She could hear him talking... Rapping? a first in any case. His words were whispered underneath his breath, more of a consequence of boredom or being lost in one's own thoughts than of the conscious decision to start rapping to yourself in public. It seemed to be about something only being a matter of time? Connections? Gods? As he moved down the aisle towards her she could hear what he was saying more clearly, but every word he uttered seemed to go in one ear and out the other no matter how hard she tried to concentrate on what he was saying.