The town of Rhuen, sits upon a hill, built upon an burial site. Has long been known to be a place not to venture out at night. But the neighbourhood is quite, and fits most budgets right; so what happened on one cold, damp night, put the whole town in a fright:
•••••
Awakened in the dead of night
By pounding on my door
I then heard shrieks and screeching
That shook me to the core
The walls began to bow in
The door shot from the jamb
In flew a handful of blackbirds
As if a winged battering ram
I shrank back into a corner
And crouched close to the floor
A figure, easily nine feet tall
Stood where once had been a door
With it, preceeded an odor
Rank and profoundly noxious
The figure, shrouded in filthy rags
Was clearly furious
Who has dared to enter here?
Dare claims this as their home?
He spun around and waved his arms
The room transformed into catacombs
I could feel the walls closing in
I looked for a chance to run
If the ghoul had not eyed me first
That's just what I'd have done
Suddenly, the birds began to screech
A sound gurgled from inside me
It became a scream echoeing off the walls
Sounding much like a banshee
The sound I made was familiar
Sounding just like what I'd heard
But it then soon turned to strangled squacks
As I morphed into a bird
In synchronized murmuration
We all quickly took flight
On to the next mortal squatter
Who dared defile the night

Sharon Cunningham
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