This story takes place in Singapore,in the present time, when the government ordered crows to be shot…
“BANG!” The crow stopped in mid-flight, and fell upon the hard concrete ground dead. “Oi, Harry, you done yet?” the second “crow-killer”(as he was called) yelled to his partner. “Yah, here`s the last one,” Harry replied, bending over to pick the little corpse up-it was gone. “What the-” “Harry? What happened?” “I shot the crow, Robert.. Iswear I did..its-gone..” ” Aiyah.. a cat must have taken it..Never mind lah..how many we kill?” “20,” “OK Lah, come on, let` s get rid of the corpses-then we can have lunch.”
As they discarded the bodies, a figure in black watched them from a tree branch, stroking the corpse of the dead crow….
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It was 6am in the morning. Robert Lim and Harry Tan were up and early. Today, they were going to receive their monthly pay. Dressed in their best, they drove to their workplaces in a cheery mood. When they got out of their Mazdas, they swore upon seeing bird droppings on their cars. They heard cawing- like a mocking laughter. “Stupid crow..” they thought. “Shoo!” they spat. The crow replied by dropping its droppings on their heads. Snarling, they went to wash their heads.
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The crow landed on the velvet covered shoulder of a young girl-hardly a child. She was enigmatically lovely, what with her ink-coloured eyes and lusturous raven hair tied back with a ribbon-black. Her alabaster skin and rosebud lips was a screaming contrast to her flowing black velvet gown. `Hello, my dear…did you get their names and faces?” The crow cawed. “Clever dear, now we must find out where they are going…as for our murdered loved ones…their deaths shall be avenged….” Her angelic features distorted into a devilish smile.
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By 9pm, the men were celebrating their promotion by treating all their friends at Boat Quay. Just then, they saw a murder of crows-they suspected nothing. “Just getting paranoid…” they thought. If they had paid more attention, they would have noticed that the murder of crows had parted to reveal the enigmatic child, still clad in black. She walked calmly to where the men where, a scantily-clad woman hanging onto them each. “Disgusting…” she thought. “Hello, Father, where have you been” she said sweetly. The women abruptly left their sides. The girl calmy strode away. “Hey you!” they yelled, running after her. Thanks to her, their ladies were gone. They followed her until she stopped-at a dead-end in an alley. She turned around and said in a voice that sounded ageless,” Tonight you will pay for your crimes!” “What crimes?” She sneered. ” You killed my brothers and sisters!” As if on cue, the crows circled around them. Some around the girl, giving her the aura of a leader. “It was our job!” Harry blurted. “They were pests!” “Are not pigeons pests too? Why don`t you shoot THOSE! My brothers and sisters, feed on these fools!” The last thing the men saw were a murder of crows flying at them…
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Inspectors Ricki Tan and Aaron Aziz shuddered as they surveyed the crime scene. The late Harry Tan and Robert Lim-or what was left of them- were nothing more than a bloody mass. It was as if several birds had pecked them to death.
“What do you think, Ricki?”
“Dunno..too little evidence…all we have are the bodies-and a lot of crow feathers and an eye-witness…some kid dressed in black.”
“Wednesday Addams?” Both laughed.
“Nope, pretty sweet kid…doesn`t talk much though, all she said was there were a lot of crows, there was blood and screaming…”
“She didn`t have to see that..poor kid. What;s gonna happen to her?”
“I`ll leave her with my Mom-”
“And? What?”
“Damn! She`s gone! Without a trace!”
“She could have flown off..”
“Ricki, I`m serious…its dangerous for a kid to be around here around this time of the night..What`s this?” Ricki picked up a black ribbon, made out of Victorian lace-it was worth a small fortune.
“Whoa..whose is that?”
“Must be the girl`s,` Aaron replied.
“She`s a mystery…”
“You`ve said it, Ricki.`”
From afar, on top of a tree, the Crow Child-with her hair let down-giggled.
THE END