NeverMore

NeverMore

by Gavin Holloway

Dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe

Whose poem “The Raven” inspired me to write this story

Maple Leaf Writing Project

Brattleboro VT

2019

Part 1: Asleep but Aware

Corvus heard footsteps behind him as he looked up from his desk. He saw a tall looming shadow that spoke in a low voice “Corvus, get up. You’re going to the principal’s office.” It was his teacher, Mr.Douglas. He got up, went to the office and slowly walked in and sat down.

Corvus went to a small school in Downey, Indiana. He was an ignorant child who was hated by most teachers. He had a strange appearance with a beak-like nose and different colored eyes. He also had a sleeping disability that got him in trouble a lot. He would pass out and the teacher would always think he fell asleep.

Two hours later, as he walked home from school he thought about the meeting with the principal. He knew he would not be in any trouble the next day because he made sure the principal would be silent.

The next day he ate breakfast with his sister Remy, a small child who was two years younger than him. She was a very smart student that every teacher adored. She was friends with almost everyone in town, unlike Corvus who was friends with only one kid from his class. “Mother, may I go up to my room?,” asked Corvus.

“No you may not. Finish up your eggs,” answered his mother. Which was not an answer Corvus liked to hear. But he couldn’t do anything about it because he passed out and landed on the floor.

He woke up and heard sirens. Lights were dancing around the room. He was at first very confused and then he smiled to himself. As the police were searching the house for where his mother and sister went, he couldn’t help but to say to himself “I wonder where my mother and sister went?” in such a nonchalant way that the police started to question him. They asked things like “Where was your mother last?” and “Are you sure they were in the garage when you last saw them?” All which he answered appropriately.

Over the next few weeks three other people went missing not including the principal or Corvus’s family. One of them lived in the next town over and went missing five days after Corvus’s mom and sister went missing. He was sixteen years old and was also a high school football player. Another kid went to the same school as Corvus and was the smartest kid in the school. He was thirteen years old when he went missing only nine days after Corvus’s family disappeared. When the third kid disappeared twelve days after Corvus’s family’s disappearance, it really caught people’s attention because he was the child of a famous actor and was only eight years of age.

Corvus learned all about this in the paper that he was reading in backyard of the orphanage where he now lived. He smiled most of the time while he read the newspaper until he passed out and fell on a hard rock.

The next day as Corvus went to school. When he walked down the hallway he heard kids talking about the disappearances. Then he saw his friend George on the other side of the hallway. “Hey George, you hear about the missing kids!” Corvus shouted from across the hallway.

“Y-yeah, what of em?” answered George as he ran towards Corvus. George was a plump light skinned boy who was very, very out of shape and was the same age as Corvus and his only friend.

“You want to search for some evidence?” questioned Corvus as George was catching his breath from running across the hallway.

“N-no that’s a very bad idea,” said George still breathing heavy. “W-why would we do that?”

“Because we could become famous,” answered Corvus. “For saving Downey, Indiana from the beast.”

“W-what beast?” said George.

“You know. The one taking the kids,” replied Corvus.

“O-oh I always thought it was a person taking them away. Or th-the kids just running away,” said George starting to get intrigued but still frightened.

“No George, it’s a monster. Okay now, are you ready to find what’s taking the kids?” Corvus said confidently.

“U-um okay. Yeah, sure when?” replied George slightly confused from all the information.

“After school. Meet me in the alley beside the bakery, ” said Corvus.

After his conversation with George he went to see the nurse about hitting his head on the rock. His head started to hurt early that morning so he wanted to see what it was.

“It looks black, though it could just be infected. I will call the orphanage fo you,” said the nurse looking puzzled. After saying this she got some tweezers and pulled out a black feather. “So… strange.”

Part 2: The Nest

After classes that day Corvus started to walk towards the bakery. But on his way there he heard a rustling in the forest and he started to hear a cawing noise getting louder and louder. The noise started to overwhelmed him as a cloud of pitch black ravens flew out of the tree. They swarmed around him and the gust of their wings blew him around. They all landed on him at once, their claws digging into his shoulders drawing blood. The warm blood started to roll down his arm and the ravens started to fly him up into the air and once they were way above the clouds, they dropped him. He plummeted towards the ground.

Right when he was about to land he woke up. George was looming over him. “H-hey I heard you screaming. Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Now let's get to the bakery.” said Corvus. As he and George walked towards the bakery Corvus talked about his dream to George. George thought the dream might have something to do with the monster so, “W-we should look in the forest first” was the first comment he made on the dream.

When they got to the bakery Corvus showed George what was in his backpack. In it he had beef jerky, Gatorade, a pocket knife and a flashlight. It was getting dark out when they started into the forest. When they first got in the forest they were aimlessly walking. Then they found a trail of pitch black feathers. Once they saw this they started to get scared. As they started to follow the feathers they kept hearing cawing noises and every once and a while a growl. It was 7pm when they found piles of small animal bones. As they trekked along the trail George started to question Corvus “H-hey Corvus why are we going into the forest?”

“Because the trail is still going,” answered Corvus

“I know b-but it’s getting dark out and it-it’s scary,” whined George

“George don’t get scared. Just wait here for one second,” replied Corvus

Once Corvus walked away George started to cry. He cried because he was scared, and he was alone in a dark forest with nowhere to go, and the only source of light was gone with his friend.

Then he heard a scream. The scream was very distant but was most definitely Corvus. George ran in the direction of the scream as fast as he could which was not very fast indeed.

Once he got there he understood why Corvus was scared. There in front of Corvus was a giant nest. It was 13 feet in diameter and looked like it was 4 tons. It was built mostly out of sticks but there were a few bones that made it up too. It was covered in black feathers. There was blood all over it and ripped-up pieces of clothing.

But the disturbing thing, and the thing that made Corvus scream, was that there were seven corpses with not all of their limbs on them. One of them was the school nurse and one was the school principal but the most disturbing was that two of them were Corvus’s mother and his sister Remy. They barely even looked the same. Their clothes were ripped up and they were covered in cuts and bruises. Remy was missing an arm and Corvus’s mother had no foot. Then after being shocked by the sight for several minutes, the boys ran away terrified.

Both ran as fast as they could. Even George ran the whole way without stopping because he was so scared. Once they were out of the forest and at the bakery Corvus said while breathing heavily, “ Now all we have to do is kill the monster.” To this George just stared at Corvus like he was mental. “Okay, tomorrow meet me here with your grandad’s sword at 6:30 pm. And by the way don’t tell anyone about this. Let this be our little secret,” said Corvus.

Corvus then ran back to the orphanage, while George slowly walked home still processing what just happened.

Part 3: The Demon

The next day they met up at 6:30 pm at the bakery like they arranged. George was a little late because he was not athletic as you well know. “George, do you have the sword!” Corvus shouted to George across the road.

“Yeah I do but it’s not in the best condition,” replied George running across the street to show Corvus the sword. The paint was scratched off and it was very chipped and broken. It looked like something from the 1700s. “It’s from World War Two,” said George. Corvus said it would work and smiled grimly.

“Okay now let's go and find the monster,” said Corvus as he was running towards the forest.

They got into the forest at about 7:30pm. When they first got into the forest everything was normal. There was a few animal bones, the trail of feathers and a bird here and there.

After a while they started to see more and more birds. The birds had shiny,dark purple feathers. The birds started cawing whenever the kids were near and would swoop down on them every once and awhile. Once they were into the forest the birds started to get more aggressive. They started to bite and claw George whenever he got near.

After a while they got back to the nest and it was slightly different. There was one new corpse that neither of the kids recognised. There was also a trail of giant footprints that went off into the distance. The kids started to follow the tracks which had a weird shape to them. The footprints were the size of Corvus’s chest. Each footprint had claws, three of which were in the front of the foot and one claw in the back.

Once George started looking at the tracks more carefully he noticed that they were covered in small scales. But once the tracks were near the other side of the forest they started to be inconsistent in the way they walked. From time to time the tracks would wander off to the side of the trail and come back again or they might just make a random circle. Then abruptly they stopped. Where they ended there was a huge mark in the ground, like something was thrashing around and then more footprints continued but these were footprints of a kid, about the same age as him. And Corvus.

George looked over his shoulder to see how Corvus would react. But when he turned around all he saw was Corvus smile and then pass out. George wasn’t scared at first because Corvus passed out alot. But when Corvus started to writhe around and float into the air George started to get scared. He shouted “C-Corvus are you okay?” Even though he obviously wasn’t.

Corvus started to go pale and feathers sprouted out of his body. He started to grow, his face got longer and turned into a beak. His feet broke out of his shoes and grew into the shape of the footprints. His neck grew longer and his arms turned into wings. Then he stopped floating and stood up to his full height which was about 3 times the size of George. The creature started to talk, it said “Hello George how do you like my new look?” in a gravelly voice.

“I-I-I really don’t like it Corvus,” replied George

“Don’t call me Corvus!” shrieked the demon, “I’m not Corvus anymore. This is me, not that weak human shell. Yo

u know every time I pass out I can change into this powerful form.”

Then the demon started to chase George. George ran as fast as he could. Then he remembered that he had the sword. He ran at the monster with his sword. He sliced at the monster’s legs but the monster tried to stab George with his beak. One time the demons beak sliced the skin right off his arm.

When George would hit the monster it would stop and shake its bird-like head and fly up onto a high branch before swooping down after him again. Then the demon started to fly and quickly caught up with George and with one of his claw like hands, picked George up. The demon’s breath smelled like death itself.

Then George said ”I’m sorry Corvus,” and stabbed the monster right between the eyes with the sword.

The monster let go of George and dropped to the ground dead. George kneeled next to the demon and did something. He cried.