Bones for the Magpie

Part One : Chapter One

    [1963]

A dead rat lay on the floor—its neck was broken by the metal trap that came down on it, blood pooled from its mouth, eyes, and nose and covered the wood that shaped the trap. Before it, stood a child staring at its carcass with an odd fascination. The child bent down and grabbed the rat's body, massaging it to feel the tiny ribs that rested inside its chest. The rat's thin skin moved with ease around each bone. The child moved to the rodent's face—its bulging eyes popped out of its skull with the force of the trap. He felt the gelatinous black blooded eye with one finger, then attempted to pick it up from the ground. The rat was stuck—its blood dried, causing it to glue the rat's body to the hard kitchen floor. The child didn't seem to care and pulled the rat from its own pool of red, watching with great interest as the skin peeled from its body, revealing gore and exposed bones on one side. With the rat's body, the child walked away, leaving the fur, skin and blooded crime scene in the kitchen.

..

"I don't care, Wynn! The boy needs to be placed in a highly secured facility—he's dangerous." A doctor shouted.

"Loomis, Michael Myers is a six year old boy, I think you're overreacting. What harm can a child his age do?"

"Rats are disappearing from the traps with nothing but their skin left behind. Judging from what happened recently, I'd say my patient is the one behind it."

Wynn rolled his eyes, "You're grabbing at straws—if your patient is stealing rats, then maybe we should consider this as him helping the staff dispose of the bodies."

"That boy has had a fixation for dead animals for years according to Mrs. Myers. She watched him take a bird's carcass, break its wings off and try to work towards peeling off its face before she stepped in and stopped him." Loomis replied.

"So he has an obsession with dead things—that's nothing out of the ordinary for the other patients here. It's nothing that needs high security, Loomis, please you're making this a much bigger problem than it needs to be."

Loomis gave Wynn a sharp gaze before turning around, "If anything happens, it's on your hands, Wynn."

..

[1978]

A group of girls stood on the corner of a block, each discussing their plans for the evening. It was Halloween, they wanted to celebrate but were too old to Trick or Treat.

"I'm babysitting Tommy tonight, so I can't go anywhere." One said—she had blonde hair that curled at the ends and sported a light blue shirt with tight jeans.

"Typical Laurie," Her friend replied, this one was a short, fluffy haired brunette with a yellow top, and had an orange vest covering it, "well Paul can't hang out either, he's grounded, so I suppose I'm babysitting Lindsey tonight. No fun for me.."

Laurie heard a sigh coming from her friend and attempted to make her feel better, "You can take Lindsey to Tommy's house and we can tell ghost stories or carve pumpkins together, Annie."

Annie rolled her eyes but turned as their third friend chimed in the conversation. She was blonde like Laurie but towered over the others—her platform shoes gave her an additional boost of height. She was wearing a thin light green jacket and bell-bottom jeans and was the most bubbly out of her group.

"I'm gonna be with Bob," she grinned, "we're planning to spend the night together, so I can't come."

"Oh, great." Annie sneered, "Now I'm stuck telling bedtime stories to a bunch of babies."

"Come on, Annie," Laurie sighed, "at least try to have fun."

"Alright, fine, but I'll think of a story that will have them shivering under their blankets tonight."

The three girls crossed the street to head home. For Laurie, it was a successful school day—she finished all of her work and made high scoring on each of her subjects. They passed by Lynda's house and bid her goodbye, watching to make sure she made it inside before continuing down the sidewalk.

..

Tommy, the little boy Laurie was assigned to babysit, was also heading home for the day. Not having many friends, he walked alone. It was a nice afternoon and he enjoyed the quiet. It was autumn and the air was crisp and clean. The bright blue sky was complimented by the yellowing leaves, soon to turn to a burnt orange. A sound came from a bush that was a little ways ahead of him. It was a mixture of rustling leaves and hollowed clanking of an unknown instrument. He watched, wondering what kind of animal would appear, hoping it wasn't a stray dog. He thought he could see a shimmer of a pair of eyes looking back at him. The noise never came again, so Tommy continued but gave a wide birth around the bush, keeping his eyes locked on it, trying to see if he could see the animal. He squinted—there was a definite shape hiding in there, but it was bigger than any bird he'd known. Perhaps it was a dog, but dogs usually growl, this one was quiet. His heart dropped when he could make out the slight resemblance of a distorted face—amidst the darkness of the bush, something of a lighter color was inside of it. Tommy was a paranoid child and believed any ghost story that came his way. Having heard stories of witches, boogeymen, and demons, the boy made a quick getaway and turned his walk into a run.

..

Annie had made it home so only Laurie remained on the sidewalk. She was almost home but was in a hurry, so she made sure to pick up the pace. In the distance, a few houses down, Laurie saw someone standing on the sidewalk. They were dressed up for the evening—they were an adult, so she assumed they were headed to a party. Something about their costume unsettled her though. The air grew still, crickets ceased to chirp and birds didn't make a sound. The two stared at each other, Laurie examined the person's attire. She couldn't make out what the person was wearing exactly, but a chill ran up her spine as she stared—they were in black clothes, a jumpsuit of sorts, but something was off about the sight above their chest. If they were headed to a costume party, they'd win without a second thought.

"I like your costume." She raised her voice, attempting to calm herself down with simple conversation.

The person walked away and she assumed they probably didn't hear her. Laurie walked inside her house to do her homework and eat before heading out for the night.