The Bird

Word count: 990

         The house rose in front of them out of the darkness like some crouching beast waiting for its next victim. The front lawn was an overgrown tangle of weeds barely leaving the cracked, concrete pathway visible.
         “Well, go on then” said Matt.
         “You first” said Dean.
         “It was your idea” said Amy.
Dean scowled at her through the darkness.
         “Scared huh?” he said.
         “Nope.”
         “What's wrong then?”
         “I think, if it was your idea you should go first. Unless your scared?” said Amy.
         “I'm not going if you guys aren't” added Matt.
         “Babies.” Dean cut in”I'm not scared, there's no such thing as a haunted house.” and with this he pushed his way past the rusted gate walking up the path, Amy followed. Matt sighed, he paused by the gate for a moment before scurrying up the walkway behind the others. 

         Dean pulled the torch from his jacket pocket and flicked it on, aiming the beam through one of the shattered windows. The room was deserted, except by the spiders scuttling along their webs to hide from the light beam. A stair case lay ahead leading up into murky darkness.
         “Nothing here” he said. The others said nothing. They both stood back to let him through to the heavy front door with the flaking whitewash. He scoffed at them as he walked up. The door opened with a long drawn out 'creeeeaaaaak'. As they walked in they disturbed a thick layer of dust across the floor. Amy sneezed.
         “Sssshhhh” said Matt. Not even Dean responded to this, it did seem a time for silence.

         They explored through the ground floor noiselessly. The only sounds were of rats scratching behind the walls. Every room was starkly empty, blanketed with dust. They did a loop ending back in the entranceway. Dean shined the torch up the stairs to the second story. The beam hit a lone picture frame. It held a photograph of a boy their age sitting on a bike, a  forced grin across his face.
         “Let's go” whispered Amy. Goosebumps were bristling down her back.
         “No way.” said Dean. He too felt his hairs rising. Not that he'd ever admit it. “Let's see what's up there.”
Matt sighed.

         Dean led the way up the stairs with his usual false bravado. They all paused at the top as he waved the torch beam around.
         “C-CAW!” they all jumped, Matt squealed. The three of them froze, not daring to move, their ears ringing with the now overbearing silence smothering them. Dean swung his torch on the nearest doorway exposing another bare dust choked room. His muscles slowly relaxed and he trod carefully down the hall. Matt and Amy pressed right against him as he walked. They passed another deserted room.
         “C-CAW!” again all three flinched though not as violently as the first time. Dean pinpointed the noise as having come from behind the only closed door, the last one on the left. A cobweb covered sign was pinned to the door. Written on it in faded marker were the words.
“Garys Room, KEEP OWT.” Dean reached for the door knob. Amy reached for Dean's arm. Matt reached for his eyes. Slowly, silently, the door swung open.

         The moonlight streamed through the window illuminating most of the room. There was a small bed set under the window fully made. They could smell the stench of mildew and decay which must have emanated from those sheets. A chest of draws stood against one wall. There was a skateboard, baseball bat and a hockey stick jumbled against other equipment in one corner. The bedside table next to the bed had an alarm clock and bent baseball cap sitting on it.
         “C-CAW” Dean swung the torch into the last corner hidden in shadows. A pair of dark empty obsidian eyes looked back at them. The eyes belonged to a large, black bird, resembling a crow but with a more stunted beak, long, ragged looking feathers and thick stumpy talons. It stared at them challengingly.
         “Ha, just an old bird. I knew it.” choffed Dean. He walked to the cage, the bird kept its steady glare. Amy and Matt released their breath. Dean stuck a finger through the birds cage. It snapped at him tearing into the flesh of his index finger.
         “Ah, you little” He shook his bloody hand at the creature in the cage, the bird didn't move. He laughed. “Stupid thing, probly just hungry.”
         “This is weird” said Matt, finally brave enough to speak.
         “You're weird” snapped Dean.
         “Come on, let's get out of here” said Amy. This was weird, the whole thing was giving her the creeps.
         “I'm with you” said Matt turning to leave. Amy didn't even wait for Dean or the light. She shuffled Matt out of the room and headed for the stairs.
         Dean stayed with the bird, eyes locked, a thoughtful look touching the empty smirk on his face. Suddenly reaching a decision he lifted the cage by its handle and followed the others.
         “C-CAW” screeched  the bird.

         “Dean!” yelled his mother. “Dean Thomas, time to get up.” She banged heavily on his door. “Dean?” She opened it to the sight of an un-slept in bed before recoiling in horror at the thing on his desk. A large deformed looking crow type creature stared blankly back at her.
         “C-CAW, C-CAW” it screamed.

         Amy and Matt stood outside the abandoned house. The lawn was starting to get wildly out of control. The 'FOR SALE' sign was already looking grimy and faded with age. Once it had become obvious Dean wasn't going to return his mother couldn't bare to live there any more. Matt sighed. They were both looking thoughtfully towards Dean's window when they heard it.
         “C-CAW, C-CAW, C-CAW”