Coffin Tales Season of Death, page 3
Staring up at the pink and orange sky of the late afternoon, she realized she didn’t have time to ponder any longer. It made her nervous when she saw the full moon already in the sky. How is it possible for the sun and moon to be out at the same time?
“Okay, you help me erect the scarecrow, and you can have the clock. How you get it down is your problem.”
Nodding, the man lifted the scarecrow in his arms and carried it up cornrow easily, maybe a little too easily.
Bobby Sue followed, hurrying to keep up with him.
Stopping, the man lowered the scarecrow. Walking a few steps into the corn stalks, he returned with a roll of barbed wire. She knew it couldn’t have been there before, as she knew these fields well.
The man wrapped barbwire around the scarecrow and hoisted it into the air. Pushing the stake into a steel pipe placed in the ground specifically for the scarecrow. So eager was Bobby Sue for the scarecrow to be put up, she didn’t even question how the man knew the pipe was there.
Bobby Sue trembled as the symbols on the scarecrow’s shirt began to light up, and his face contorted, becoming lifelike.
She swung around but the man was no longer behind her. Moving her eyes back to the scarecrow, she gasped as it spoke.
“Help me, please,” the scarecrow pleaded. “Quick before they come.”
The scarecrow’s mouth turned down into a horrific grimace and blood dripped from the corners.
She backed away, unsure if what she saw was really happening.
“Please,” he turned his head toward her. “Please let me down.”
Watching him intently, she saw something swirling inside his belly, behind the plaid shirt, struggling as though trying to burst free.
Eyes appeared in the openings she had cut in the burlap sack, and she recognized them immediately.
“Papa, is that you?”
“Of course girl, it’s me, and I need your help before it’s too late.”
Bobby Sue took a step forward, but retreated when she saw the scarecrow’s belly bulge forward.
“What did you do Papa?”
“I met an old man when I was twenty, and he gave me a ride home. We stopped along the way at a carnival. The man went to talk to someone, and while he was gone I snooped around. I peeked in a tent, and saw a group of people performing some pagan sort of ceremony.”
“What kind of ceremony?”
“I don’t know what kind for sure, but they were making a clock that had symbols that looked strange to me, maybe satanic. I heard them say the clock would bring good luck to wherever it was placed. You need to understand, Bobby Sue, those were the dust bowl days. There were many that tried to sell you things that promised to grow into crops or make it rain. Lots of folks shelled out what little money they had just for a little hope.”
“Did you buy the clock?”
“No, I waited until they left and I stole it. I concealed it under a tarp inside the old man’s truck.
“They didn’t see you."
“No. When we got to Hanover the man went into the feed store, and I had plenty of time to remove the clock without being seen, but years later, the old man passed through town and saw it on Hanover’s library. He confronted me and told me a curse had been put on it and the person that stole it. He told me every September the crows would come to town in large numbers, and raid the crops that magic created. They came after me the same day. The crows plucked my eyes out. You saw that. I staggered deep into the corn row, and the men were waiting there.” He struggled against the bindings. “I was helpless to defend myself against them. They put me into these coveralls and shirt, and bound me to a stake, putting me on display as a scarecrow. The crows ripped me to shreds, and I have been resurrected every year to have them do it all over again.”
She stared at him trying to absorb the story, but it made no sense. There was no such thing as Hell Crow and people just couldn’t come back to life even as a scarecrow.
“Bobby Sue, please help me. This year Hell Crow is coming to take his revenge.” He jerked his head sideways as if listening.
Deep in the cornfield, Bobby Sue heard a rustling.
“If that man takes the clock, you will die Bobby Sue
“Why me?”
“You are next in the bloodline since your grandmother has disappeared.”
She shook her head violently. “I don‘t believe you,” Bobby Sue cried. "How do you know she disappeared?"
"I'm immortal, I know everything."
Turning, she ran toward town.
In town, she saw a crowd gathered near the entrance to the library. They were gazing up, gaping at the empty spot where the clock had been. They turned toward her with accusing looks in their eyes.
“What did you do?” Jimmy Baxter circled her.
“I don’t know what you mean,” she backed away. “What happened to the clock?”
“An old man took it away,” squinting, he kept coming. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
She tried stalling. “I don’t know what you’re trying to insinuate.”
Hearing footsteps on the gravel behind her, Bobby Sue turned, and saw the whole town, reading out loud from leather bound books.
She panicked. “You wouldn’t help me put up the scarecrow so the man did it for me. He only wanted the clock in return. The clock is the reason the crows keep coming.”
“Is that what he told you?” Jimmy laughed.
Glancing around her, she saw everyone’s eyes had turned black, and crows appeared out of them. The eyes, she gasped, the crows have been here the whole time.
She ran back to the field and the scarecrow, hoping she could release him in time. Reaching him, she jumped up and attempted to remove the barbed wire for around him, but it cut deeply into her fingers.
A noise made her glance over her shoulder. The crows had come, circling her.
Her eyes reddened, and tears blurred her vision as she looked up at the scarecrow. She jumped back to the ground.
“Bobby Sue,” bellowed the scarecrow. “I told you not to go outside, or the crows would pluck your eyes out!”
The crows flew down at her, and she put her hands up to protect her face, but they left deep gashes on her arms.
Suddenly, something snaked forward and grabbed the crows, preventing them from inflicting any more harm upon her.
Glancing back at the scarecrow, she saw something spill forth from its belly, and it raged a battle with the crows. Looking like tentacles but with teeth on the ends, it caught the crows in midair. Screams filled the air, and they fell in a bloody heap onto the ground.
“Caw!”
The shrieking caw sounded like thunder and shook the ground under her feet. She was too frightened to look. Then she took a deep breath, turned, and faced it. Hell Crow was all she feared.
Hell Crow was two foot tall. His blue-black feathers shone like a beacon, not of hope but of despair. His orange beak opened in a sneer, bobbing forward.
“Caw! Caw! Caw!”
Bobby Sue moved slow, reaching for a large stick at her feet. She snatched it up and swung it toward the advancing bird.
Crack!
The bird didn’t even flinch, but the vibration caused pain to shoot up her arm and into her shoulder.
Bobby Sue dropped the stick, turned and ran, but Hell Crow grabbed her from behind and flung her to the ground.
Her brows drew together, and she felt an overwhelming will to survive. No way was she gonna let Hell Crow take her down without a fight. She jumped to her feet and made a hard right, dodging into the cornfield. She knew better than to just run up the row, she crisscrossed across the field.
Tears filled her eyes as the corn stalks cut into her arms. The stinging pain didn’t deter her a bit. She kept running. Overhead she saw a dark shadow make its way toward her. Hell Crow’s wingspan spread out casting a shadow that was visible from overhead.
She saw a clearing, and raced toward it. If only she could cross that road then she’d be safe. When she broke into the clearing, she screamed. She stood in the same place she started from, as if she hadn’t gone anywhere.
Hell Crow landed on her, and she tried to dislodge the vicious bird from her back. Falling face down, she reached back and yanked out a feather.
“Caw!” Hell Crow screamed.
The bird released her and she tried to crawl away, but Hell Crow yanked her back, flinging her down near the scarecrow. He attacked her again, and she closed her eyes tightly. Trying with everything in her to kick him away. She expected Hell Crow to finish her, but when she opened her eyes again ...
She had switched places with the scarecrow on the stake.
Bobby Sue watched in horror, not at the battle her grandfather raged with the massive crow, but at the tentacles extending from her stomach.
Madison Johns, Coffin Tales Season of Death
