Mina couldn’t feel her toes. Or her ears. Or her nose. A cutting wind nearly knocked her to the ground; she crouched low, bending her knees and hunching her back while she waited out the gust. The sun was high and bright, but its warmth wasn’t strong enough to cut through the ferocious wind.
Only a bit farther to go. She was almost there. And while she longed to get out of the wind and into a sheltered place, the anxious knot in her stomach grew tighter and heavier as each step brought her nearer to her destination.
The lonely road was bleak and barren, coated with a dirty rime. The few trees along the road offered no shelter from the cold wind. There had been buildings all along this route once, but all that remained of them were evenly spaced concrete slabs that outlined the now-abandoned foundations.
Once this area had been measured in blocks, but no one thought of them that way anymore. That unit of measure no longer served a purpose. Still, Mina liked to count off the blocks between the shelter, where she lived with the rest of her community, and the temple, which she was required to visit every day, regardless of the weather. Four more blocks. And then at least she’d be out of the wind.
She struggled down the road to the end of the block, where another abandoned road crossed her path. Three more blocks. She could see the temple ahead of her now, getting closer.
A crow wheeled in front of her, seemingly out of control in the strong wind. It made a rough, graceless landing on the road in front of Mina, barely keeping to its feet. It shook out its wings, then folded them back and pinned Mina with its glass-black eye.
Mina froze. A crow was the worst possible omen. Death and destruction, fire and fury. Well, the fire part didn’t sound so bad right now. But a crow blocking her path as she walked to the temple must foretell disaster and sorrow. She stood as still as she could with the wind assaulting her, transfixed by the crow. In turn, the crow stood, statue-still even in the wind, and stared her down. It did not fear her as wild things should, and it did not flee her presence. Should she tell Father Lucas about this omen? No, no. No good would come of that.
She wanted to wait for the crow to fly away before continuing, but the bird was steadfast, and Mina was cold and late. She braced herself against the bird’s evil gaze as much as the wind, and took a step forward, expecting the bird to start and fly.
It did not.
She took another step, bringing her almost close enough to touch the crow, and still it held its ground. She turned to step around it, and the bird swiveled, still watching her every move.
The bird’s uncanny behavior was alarming, but Mina knew that if she was too late to the temple, she’d have to explain why, and explanations never went well with Father Lucas. She steeled herself, looked away from the bird, and stepped past it, intent on reaching the temple as quickly as possible.
After five steps, she felt a strange pressure on her right shoulder, almost light enough to mistake for the wind brushing its arms around her. She angled her head to peek out around the edge of her hood, and there, perched on her shoulder, was the crow.
(This post is part of the 500 Words short story project.)
1 comment:
More, please!
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