Carnival of Birds
She stops at a gas station for gas before driving into town.
The gas attendant tells her about the old bath house
That turned into a dance hall, then turned into a carnival.
Years went by.
The carnival is abandoned now.
​
A seagull hits the back of a man's head who is pumping gas.
He collapses. Gasoline spills from the hose,
trickles down toward a parked car.
A man gets out the car.
He strikes a match for his cigar.
Melanie yells at him through the window.
He looks at Melanie, the match burns him and drops it.
A row of three cars goes up in flames.
The sky if filled with seagulls.
​​
The abandoned carnival is just a place.
The place is nothing more than it appears to be.
Still, what attraction could be out there?
It would be easy to step around the barrier.
​​
A crow flutters down and sits on top of the jungle gym.
Four more crows arrive,
then five more.
Melanie puffs away at her cigarette, looks at the sky.
100, maybe 200 crows settle on the jungle gym.
​
The old carnival could have the answers.
You won't like the answers.
Leave now!
Wait, wait!
You can hear me!
Can you hear me?
​
Her hair blows in the wind
She has a smile on her face.
A bird strikes the back of her head.
Drops of blood stream down her temple.
"It deliberately came down at you --
You're bleeding..."
​
She didn't hear him. She saw him.
Men can hide in every corner of a big enough house.
Her imagination keeps haunting her,
Appearing everywhere she goes,
and causing terror when it finds her.
​
The door is slightly ajar, spilling artificial light into the hallway.
The lampshade dangles while the light is still burning.
Shattered picture frame and window glass cover the floor.
Two stuffed birds perch crookley on
the dresser, their stuffing ripped out.
feathers scattered on the floor,
a single bedroom slipper,
a pair of legs
his face
bloodied, eyeless.
A blood-curdling scream.
​
She can't hear anything.
No one can hear her.
She doesn't belong in the world. Something is blocking her escape.
He is preventing her from living.
He wants to take her back somewhere.
The real is no less real,
but she cannot directly experience it,
be known in it,
or be real.
​
Melanie climbs the steps to the attic.
She turns her flashlight to the ceiling.
An owl flies at her, knocking her over, causing the door to slam shut.
Now, a murder of crows.
Mitch knocks down the door and
drags her out,
Melanie's pale green blouse and skirt are
bloodstained and shredded.
Wisps of her once-clipped blonde hair
cling to the blood dripping down her face.
​
Mary's eyes appear to be bloodshot as if
She has been sleepless for days.
She peers out the window at the carnival,
separated from it only by a glass barrier and
will to live.
​
The birds Melanie sees are watching her every move,
reflecting her inner turmoil.
The only thing that separates her from them is
a thin glass barrier.
​
As they struggle to break free from the invisible forces
that hold them back, both feel as though they are being
dragged back to a dark place
where they don't belong.
It feels like they are dancing on the
edge of death,
with no escape from the
horrors fluttering around them.
​
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