With a new morning came renewed courage.
Sliding out of my room and rushing over to grab a log of wood from beside the fireplace, I inched towards the window where I could hear tapping.
It was something hard on the glass that jolted me as I slid closer to it.
My mouth ran dry. My legs could only shuffle on the floor as my eyes spotted a black hand and long nails tapping the glass.
Yep, that wasn't terrifying.
Glancing down at the drawer below my abandoned soup, I contemplated trading the hefty wood I held over my shoulder for a knife.
Inching into sight, the tapping stopped when I locked eyes with my intruder and felt my muscles relax.
It was just a crow.
Blowing out breath, my weak arms lowered the log onto the kitchen bench gratefully.
It wasn't an ordinary crow though.
These ones were very human-like. Although it still had the fierce eyes and head of the creature, the body was human. Even the arms tucked on either side of it resembled my own; shrouded in long, gleaming black feathers that grew from them.
Sharp claws on four fingers made up the hands on the tips of the wings that reached up to tap the glass again.
I saw the crow swivel its head to look elsewhere, jumping at the noise of something else that had its tail flared.
Just a crow. A really, really tall crow.
It must have been what was leaving the things for me. It made sense, seeing it was in its nature.
But, it also had me nervous seeing one so close to my home.
These types of crows were seen as omens of death. With its white eyes and black feathers cloaking it's body, I could understand why. It had to bend just to tap my window from how tall it was.
The crow jumped back when I leant towards the window to try and see what it had dropped for me. It's eyes studied me as it's scaley legs tapped on the stone with its fidgety bird feet.
I had never seen one of these up close. They usually kept further away from humans, like the others I saw hunched further out in the field like boulders.
Dropping my eyes down to the stew, I sighed.
I wasn't even going to tempt fate and try to eat it. The crow could take it rather than me wasting it down the sink.
Cradling the coldness, I shivered to the front door I unlocked and snapped open.
The crow stood there, jumping when I poked my head out and smiled at it.
So nervous. It looked me up and down when I slid out slowly, eyeing it's exit behind it.
The stone slab that was my veranda didn't have any sort of railings. It was a steep drop to the ground, but not life-threatening.
The crow backed up to the edge and grumbled under its breath when I stopped inching towards it to place the bowl down.
Like the other two times, another gift had been dropped.
This one was a yellow button.
It was so bright too. It shone in the sun like money itself.
The sound of the bowl scraping against the stone when I pushed it towards the crow startled it into taking flight.
Disappointment hit me hard when I watched it arc through the sky and land further out in the field with a leap.
I saw a younger one nearby jump up too in response before dipping back under the growth blanketing it.
Sighing, I picked up the button and left the bowl to return inside.
The sun was hot today and sure to warm up my freezing body. Even though the air had bite to it, I pulled the blanket off my bed, dragged out my box of art supplies, and tucked a canvas beneath my arm to bring back out.
The crow had moved forward when I rested against my house to look over the field.
I saw its head peek over the flowers to look at me. Some even tangled in its feathers, giving it a more wilder look than it already had.
I giggled, deciding what to paint.
135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6VyS6jrB0
I was completely lost in swiping in the flowers in amongst feathers when I heard the bowl beside me dragging once more.
Peering over, the crow had its head dunked into the bowl and was dragging it while having its arse pointed upwards. It's tail flared as the curved bird legs pushed it around to try and snap up the stew.
I snorted, trying to hold in my laughter, which made it peel its dripping head up and caw back.
The noise was so loud. It's stuck neck feathers billowed out with the noise that pierced my ears.
It cawed again, and again, and again.
It was too much! I clambered to my feet and shooed away the crow who arched over to my fence to grip onto the leaning posts.
"NO! Not there, you stupid thing!" I bellowed out.
I couldn't hold it in any longer. Maybe it really was just a stupid, ignorant creature disguised as something smarter?
The fence creaked when the crow perched there, leaning further outwards.
"GET! GO!"
I threw the button towards it, which made it leave my poor fence to favour the fields again.
It was a wonder the whole fence didn't collapse from the weight forced onto it.
Growling, I dropped myself back down so I could retrieve my painting.
The crow in it had its beak open for an offering. I was going to use the button to glue to it.
Which was now lost in the grass.
Growling again at my oversight, I heaved myself up again, dumped down the comforting blanket, and stomped down to begin my desperate hunt for the damned thing.
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