Heed the Ravens

Folklore-inspired flash horror

Photo by Mark Timberlake on Unsplash

Let me tell you something about ravens, ravens are truth, and I’ll tell you how I know.

It was fall, late, we’d done brought in the harvest already but the weather was holding, the days were still warm. I’d been hung up with a pain in my knee that, if history showed true, meant the weather wasn’t holding out much longer. The pain was something of an inconvenience, but I woke up one morning with the damned thing swollen up like one of Old Johnny’s big red apples. This particular morning, my mind had been set on walking out to the pasture to check on my new bull. Make sure he was settlin’ in. Big fellow, expensive too, but he’d breed some good calves for market. I’d noticed him limping the night prior, but we were loosing the light and I was in no mind to take a lantern out to the field and spook him. So I waited for morning, but then the knee acted up, as I described.

My oldest had set off to the school house, the missus insisted he go in the winter when the farming was done. Never needed schooling myself, but the missus isn’t one to budge from her convictions. So I sent my younger son to the field. He gave me a smart, “Yes, Pop” and headed out, but his gumption lost him at the door. He stood in the doorway, letting the morning cool in. His towhead glowing in the rising sun.

“Elijah! Get out that door, Son.”

“But, Pa, there’s ravens flyin’ out there. Six of ‘em and you know what that means.” He looked back at me. The fear on his face only made me angry. Weakness in my children was something I did not tolerate and I told him so.

“But, Pa, six ravens means death. What if it’s my death they’re tellin’?”

“Will be you, by my hand, if you don’t get out that door!” I bellowed. I’d like to say the pain in my knee is what made me holler at him, but t’wasn’t, I was just mean. I spit venom as the door shut behind him.

That was early, he never showed up to breakfast. I cursed to the missus when she asked about where he was that a man should be let alone to eat in peace. But she ain’t easy to grumble off, as I said, so I hobbled out to see what had become of the boy, and my bull. The equipment was all lined up against the fence and ready for the horses to pull into the barn once my elder son got home, so I couldn’t see the field straight on. Through the gaps in the plows I could see ravens hopping in around in the dirt. There was blood spilling across the land. I hobbled faster, knowing for certain that my bull was gone and my spring income shot.

“Elijah! Why didn’t you come and get me, damnit!” I cursed the kid all the way to Devil as I stepped in between the plow and the seeder and under the barbed wire fence. A Galloway cow stood in my way, chewing placidly as I let a stream of curses go and cuffed her on the side of the head. She blinked and turned sideways, blocking me further. I slapped her rump and she backed up, just the way I had tried to walk around. I slapped her again and she moved forward. Just when I tried to move forward. Looking over her I could see blood soaking the soil, lengths of intestines strewn out and glistening in the morning sun.

The cow still had me trapped against the fence, near enough that I was afraid of coming up against the barbed wire. The ravens squabbled in a high pitched ruckus and two of them flew up into the blue air ripping what looked like bright red heart meat between them. On the ground, what of it I could see, anyway, another raven chased an eyeball across a patch of weeds. With relief I noted it was much too small to be my bull’s eye. But then, what was it? We didn’t have any calves at present. Nothing but the bull and the cows were out in the field. Forgetting my anger I scanned the land around me. There was the bull. In my haste I’d not even looked for it.

“Elijah! Answer me, son! Where have you got to?”

I slapped the cow again, this time she bellowed and trotted off. I saw Elijah’s feet first, moving a bit as six huge ravens, dark as my soul must surely be, tore him apart.

Ravens are truth, heed the ravens.