He Sees You When You're Sleeping

9th December- A Robin's Ballad

Freshly fallen snow rested in thick layers over the grass. Frost coated the window pane. Icicles hung from roofs and windowsills. A single robin was perched on a branch in the garden, singing merrily as to welcome this picturesque landscape. The small town of Lardensby wasn't used to this sort of weather. But to the townspeople, it was more than welcome.
      Lawrence gazed out of the window in awe. His twin, Alexa, was standing beside him, eyes wide with wonder. Lawrence felt an elbow prod his shoulder.
     "Move over. I can't see anything." Alexa demanded.
     "You have, like, half the window." He replied, refusing to budge. Alexa grunted.
     "Come onnnnnn," She moaned. "Just a bit."
     "Go find your own window. There's more than one, you know." Lawrence crossed his arms, glaring at his sister.
     "This had the view of the garden." She fought back.
     "If you want to see the garden so bad, just go outside." He said, growing increasingly tired of his sister's constant nagging. Alexa opened her mouth to respond, before shutting it. She couldn't counter that. They both knew how much she loved the outdoors.
     "Fine," she grunted. She tried to contain her glee as she walked towards the front door and stepped outside into the frosty air. "I hate you!" She called, before slamming the door shut behind her.
     "Hate you too." Lawrence mumbled, rolling her eyes as he watched her play around in the snow.

      Alexa spun around in the snow, taking in her surroundings. Her breath steamed as she wondered around the garden, examining each snowflake and icicle she could. She reached the little apple tree that marked the boundary of their garden. Its bare arms stretched out, covered in crusty snow. A little robin was perched on the branches, its red chest providing a splash of colour to the blue and white landscape. It was piping out a simple tune. Alexa felt herself being drawn to it for reasons unknown to her.
     "Hey there, little buddy," She smiled and held out her finger. The robin hesitated for a second, before it took a tentative step onto her second finger. "Aren't you cute?" The robin dipped its head. It raised its eyes to meet hers, and Alexa seemed unable to avert her gaze. Something about it made her want to stay with it... forever.
      Suddenly, the robin leapt off her finger and took to the air, its little wings fluttering energetically.
     "Wait, little guy! Come back!" Alexa called. She ran past the boundary and began stumbling through the snow in pursuit. Towards the forest.

     "Lawrence, have you seen your sister? It's time for dinner." Lawrence heard his mother call.
     "I saw her this morning. She went outside to explore the garden."
     "And you haven't seen her since?" His mother appeared behind the door.
     "Well, no.." he said quietly. "But she's probably with her friends out in the forest or something." His mother didn't look convinced. "Look, mum. Chances are she's out with her friends again and spending the night with them. She has a tendency to do that without telling you. She'll probably be back by morning."
     "Alright," she sighed. "I just hate it when she goes off like that. Come on, dinner's ready." She led her son to the table.

      Alexa wasn't back by the following evening. Lawrence's mother had panicked and called the police to search for her daughter. So far, no luck. Lawrence couldn't believe how much he missed her. It was one of those things you don't really appreciate until they're gone.
     "Miss, I think we may have a lead on your daughter. One of our dogs picked up on her scent. It's leading into the forest." A man in a dark uniform explained.
     "I'm coming with you." She claimed. The man nodded.
     "I'm coming too." Lawrence piped in. His mother pondered this idea, before agreeing.
     "Let's go, then. Time is short." The man said curtly before leaving, the other two close behind.

      The police dogs barked wildly as they bounded through the woods, stopping every few minutes to sniff at a tree stump or a spot in the snow.
      One of the dogs stopped suddenly, raising his nose to the sky. The other dogs caught up and began circling the area, whining and barking. It took the humans a second to catch their breath before looking closer at the spot of snow. It didn't look like anything too special. Just an area of snow.
      Lawrence saw a little robin on a nearby branch. It locked eyes with him and Lawrence found himself unable to look away. It began to sing. Lawrence started walking towards it, before he bumped into a tree.
     "I don't understand. This is where the dogs led us." An officer sighed, scratching his beard.
     "Wait- look. They're digging." Another voice said.
      The dogs were, in fact, digging. Clumps of snow flew behind them as they burrowed into the icy ground.
     "What is it, boys?" The man in black asked. The dogs stopped digging. They'd cleared out the area and revealed the body beneath it.
      Lawrence felt bile rising in his throat. Buried in the snow, body preserved by the ice, lay his sister. Her eyes were gouged out and stomach torn open. Her organs were visible, still a bright red. Her liver and intestines spilled out onto the floor. Some parts of them looked half-eaten and chewed on. However, other than that, there was nothing. No scratches or bruises on her body- no signs to suggest there'd been any kind of struggle at all. Had she accepted her fate when she realised she couldn't win? Or was it something more sinister than that?
      A little tune floated into Lawrence's ear. Birdsong. Lawrence turned around and his heart sank. The robin had begun to change.

This is another one which follows Devastated's plot, written mainly by her-

Red Robin

Laughing in the background, everyone was having fun. A boy slid away from the dinner table and slowly tiptoed away towards the garden.
     "Ben Ben? What are you doing?" Ben skidded to a halt.
    "Oh, I wanted to go outside: it's snowing and I want to make a snow angel."
     "Not now."  replied Ben's mother,"First we have Christmas lunch and then you may go outside." Ben sighed and sat back down the table and time passed by.
      First came the turkey with carrots and brussel sprouts, then the pudding. All the adults were chattering away. Ben didn't pay much attention. Time passed he looked at the clock; it was 3:30.
     "Can I go now?" Ben's mother gave him a look and in a low voice said,
     "No- stay for a little bit longer. Your grandparents are leaving soon and I need to clean the dishes. Can you talk to them whilst I do that, please?" Ben nodded, frustrated, but went back to the dinner table.
     "So, Ben, how was school?" Their voices seemed to fade away.
      He looked at the snow falling to the ground. The sky was a deep blue, the way that everything looked when you were looking through blue tinted glasses. "Ben?"
Ben snapped back to reality. Everyone was staring at him
     "So.... How was school?"
      "G-good" he stuttered. He pushed himself out of the chair. the dishes were done, and it was 4:00. He stared at his mum and, already knowing the answer, she nodded, and Ben walked to the garden.
      It was beautiful outside. The snow was a glittering white, and the sky was now a deep blue. The half-moon glowed bright in the sky, casting a silver light onto the earth. Ben lay on the ground and looked up. The stars winked in greeting as he took his steps outdoors. It was darker now, so dark that it looked like snowflakes were coming down from nowhere and just appearing in the sky. He stood up and touched one. It was cold and felt damp as it melted into his glove. He didn't realise the blackness that engulfed his vision.
      Ben saw a flash of red amongst the black. He was forced back into reality by two hands on his shoulders, shaking him back and forth. He was lying on the ground, staring up at his mother's worried face.
     "Ben? Are you okay?"
     "Y-yeah. Fine." He mumbled. What just happened?
     "Your grandparents are leaving. Say goodbye." Ben hesitated for a second but then walked back to the house and waved his grandparents goodbye.

      The next morning everyone went into the garden to play. The snow was thick and blanketed the grass. It glistened white in the sun, enchanting and beautiful, even though it had stopped snowing. Ben was playing with his two brothers. They were engaging in a fierce snowball fight. Ben slipped on a patch of ice and fell to the ground. His scarf fell from his neck and landed a few feet away.
     "Lunch time!" Came a shout from their mother.
      His brothers stop playing and ran back home, their boots crunching in the snow. They were instructed to change out of their freezing wet clothes.
     "Ben?"
     "Coming! I just need to get my scarf back." He explained and stood up, wiping the snow off his knees. He was about to grab the scarf when it flew away again, carried by the wind. He ran after it, trying to catch it. It was like this for a few minutes; like a game of catch between his scarf and him, then the scarf finally dropped to the ground as the wind stopped. Ben grabbed the scarf. Then he spotted  something on the snow; it was a robin.
      Blood seemed to be seeping from its chest staining the pure snow crimson. The robin looked hurt, Ben couldn't leave him. He gently picked it up. A scream cut through the air.
     "Ben are you OK? What's wrong Ben?!" His mother rushed out and stopped dead. Ben lay on the ground, a trail of blood leading towards him. His mother's eyes widened, filling with tears.
     "Ben?"
      Ben's body was lifeless. Blood clung to the corners of his lips and spilled out onto the snow. His stomach was torn open and almost nothing remained of it; where it should have been was only an empty hole. His eyes didn't shine- they were glassy, staring into nothing. Dead. She gazed at him and spotted a little red robin walking away. There was no blood on its chest anymore; the blood was on Ben.

      A week had passed. They held the funeral for Ben in the garden, the place where he had died.
     "I feel so sorry," said Mason- one of his brothers. "He was so good and kind- and annoying." He added. The siblings laughed, remembering the fun times they had had with their brother despite him being annoying sometimes like any sibling thinks.
      They open the coffin to lay the flowers and bury him, but Ben wasn't there. Only a trail of blood. Mason stared confused at the coffin. The body was meant to be there. They tracked the bloody trail, following it to the end as it looped round and then they turned around to see Ben, blood stained his eyes black, his stomach gone, and so were the brothers.