The Girl and the Crow - Part 1

The crow arrived three days after the funeral.

It was waiting on the rusted iron fence outside Elara's bedroom window when she woke, black feathers slick with rain and one pale gray eye fixed directly on her. Most birds fled when people approached. This one merely tilted its head and tapped the glass twice with its beak. By sunset it was following her through the graveyard behind Saint Brigid's Church, hopping from stone to stone while the fog crept between the names of the dead. When she finally asked what it wanted, the crow opened its beak and spoke a single word in a voice that sounded impossibly old.

"Below."

That night Elara awoke to find the crow perched on the foot of her bed. In its claws was a tarnished silver key she had never seen before. Outside, somewhere beyond the cemetery wall, a bell rang once despite there being no church service, no storm, and no one awake to pull the rope. The crow dropped the key onto her blanket and stared toward the darkness beyond the window.

To be continued...