Rosa Massey
Mrs. Carpenter
2nd period ELA
December 9, 2014
Mysterious Bird

It was winter when I, Delilah Jones was getting off of work late and discovered a

beautiful bird, one you would keep as a pet. I made the choice to follow it by turning the flash on my phone on and letting the pretty creature lead me down the hill behind the work building, where the employees park their cars. I’ve never gone down this hill because it was pretty steep, so I never did see this lake until now. The lake gave me an eerie feeling. One that I couldn’t shake off. I remember during work someone was telling why her day had started off so terribly
“My brief case slipped down that hill like it was on ice!” I flashed my phone around the lake, trying to get a good glimpse of it. I suddenly shouted I wasn’t sure what I just saw, but I know I saw it. It was a man lying dead next to the lake. I ran up the hill trying not to scream in fear of the murderer still being there.

The next day I called the police still scarred from what I had seen yesterday.

“Hello, what is your emergency?” I was silent for a moment, trying to make the decision if I should tell them or not. I hung up. I had the urge to figure it out on my own, this sounds like a bad idea. But that’s because it is.

I put my coat on and ran out the door racing off to my car, hoping that no one had gone down that hill to discover what I had saw. I have always lived in this little run down city ever since my mother left me. Everything here was built in 60s through the 90s, all rusty and falling into themselves. I believe that the population may be around twelve­thousand. Once getting there
I ran down that hill as fast as I could. The body was gone. But there were no police cars, nothing.
Like somebody had just come over and took it. Maybe the murderer left it because he suspected no one would be going down there while it was so dark out. And picked it up once the sun started rising. Or maybe I’m seeing things? I couldn’t have just been seeing that, making that up, no. I did see it. I look around to make sure it wasn’t hidden anywhere, then walk down to the exact spot where I saw it.

I drive down to the police station. “Hi, have you had anything reported like maybe

someone found a dead body?” I said to the officer
“Umm, no ma’am, is that what you’re here for?”
“Actually no I was just curious to what has been happening around town. I must’ve just heard a rumor, thanks.” I let out big sigh while walking out of the station. Maybe I should give up, once again it was a stupid idea anyway.

The next day was a Sunday. The day I sleep in and clean around the house. After getting

dressed I walk out to the driveway to retrieve the paper. To my left, I see the same bird that I had

seen the other night. Very strange­ I thought. This time instead of following it for its beauty, I followed it out of curiosity. “What would it lead me to this time?” I whispered to myself. It was doing this half jumping and half waddling movement down the street.

After about two miles of walking around, it flew into the woods. I could still see it every

once in a while floating above the trees. It landed on top of the cabin that’s surrounded by the little village of abandoned cabins, the little thing has been there forever. But why would it lead me here, could the body be in here, or did I just waste time and energy following a bird. I took out my phone and looked at the address on it along with the name of the place “Cabin Village.”
The results said that a man once lived there who passed away of natural causes in the late 80s.
That’s the only history of people living there.

I knocked on the door a few times­ there was no answer, I knock again just in case there

were any homeless living in there. This time the door creaks open. I put my hand in my pocket, pretending that I have some device of self­defense. The man has a blank stare on his face. I sharply back up in fear.

“ What do you want!?” the man shouts. “I’m very sorry, do you live here?”

“ No, I don’t. I, well I umm rent this space and use as a kind of office.” I could tell he’s lying, plus nobody owns these things anymore so there is no way to rent them. I look behind him and notice there are polaroid’s taped on the wall behind him but couldn’t make out what they were

of. He pulled my arm and I screamed. “What are you? Some kind of detective!” He shouted right in my face “No, no I’m not!”

He has now pulled me into the cabin and closed the door. I can see the Polaroid’s now

they are of the man that was next to the lake. He pulled one off the wall “Is this what you’re looking for, missy?” he says as he pushes me down and kicks me. I don’t say anything and I can’t. I plead him to stop, and that only makes it worse. “Do you wanna end up like him?!” he points to the dead body lying in the corner of the room. It is here, I knew it!

I struggle to get off the ground. He is nowhere in sight, until he comes around from the

corner with a duffle bag. I reach for the door, turn the knob. It’s locked. I look up at him flipping the key between his fingers. He drops the duffle bag and calmly says “Choose.” It’s full of weapons. I start crying, I have no game plan. This isn’t how I wanted to end, twenty­four years old, unmarried living in Martinsville, Virginia murdered in an abandoned cabin. There was a sudden knock on the door along with a sudden glimpse of hope. We both turn our heads towards the door. I yell for help. He comes over to me and covers my mouth. “Delilah are you in there?” I can’t recognize the voice, how do they know my name?

Clunk, clunk, clunk. Whoever it was they were trying to knock down the door. He drags

me into the bathroom along with the bag and locked the door. That glimpse of hope was gone. I hear the door fall to the ground and a call of my name. “Delilah!”
I scream for help, this time the door doesn’t require a key. I get a grasp on the lock but my hand

is smacked off. The anonymous person is moving the knob up and down. I hear a click and the door opens. The person behind the door was revealed to be one of my co­workers. I rushed out the door. She never came out though.

I wait behind a large tree to see if she gets out. A short moment later I hear a gunshot. I

truly fear for her, I have no idea if she was the one shot or she shot him. Fast movements are heard and I peek behind the tree. It’s the man, I cover my mouth with my hands so no accidental whimpering is heard. He is walking to his blue van with bags. I’m guessing in which hold the bodies, the Polaroid’s and weapons.

Tears are streaming down my cheek as I struggle to not make a noise. He throws the bags

into the back of the car and drives off. He got away with murder once again. Though I do see the license plate I repeat it in my head over and over again. I suddenly remember my phone. I checked both pockets….. I must have left it in the cabin. I get off the ground and walk to the cabin. I look around, the man is good at what he does for I didn’t see a trace of blood. But i did see my phone the screen was more than slightly cracked. But I managed to type in the license plate. I run home as fast as I can and lock all the doors. I am now determined to figure out who

the man is and where he is so I can stop him. I get in my car. What am I doing? ­ Is all I’m thinking now. Am I insane? Even if I figured this whole thing out what could I do? I’m not a detective, a police officer. But I have already gotten this far into it. Might as well try and figure it out. I start to plan out what I am going to do. First I equip myself. I pack a book bag with my

handgun, my wallet that holds about two­thousand dollars, my laptop, and a flashlight. I then call my work place and say that I have been in a tragic accident along with my co­worker, Elizabeth.
I will have to cover for her until It is solved. While driving, a thought pops into my mind. How did Elizabeth know I was in need of help? I look at the numbers of the last people I called and her name was on there but she always is. While I was rumbling around I must have accidentally dialed her. Or she was out taking her morning walk? Either way she lost her life trying to help me and I need to pay her back personally. I call my highschool friend, Mia who is now a detective.
“ Mia? This is Delilah here. I am asking you to help me with something important.”
“ What is it?”
“ I will have to explain the whole situation when you get over here.” When Mia arrives we both sit down and I talk the details and whatnot. Mia asks me why I don’t get the police involved and I reply with the same thing I said earlier.
“ She gave her life to save me so now I need to personally return it.” Mia still looks at me like I’m crazy but somehow understands and confirms that she will help me. I now have someone who professionally works in the detective area so what I am doing is not fully illegal.

She pulls a license plate reader out of a bag and jokes with me. “ I don’t think a bird will be leading you on your way this time.”
“ I thought police were the only ones allowed to carry license plate readers.”
“ No they come in handy for detectives too.” Once she gets the information in the machine a little GPS screen pops up and shows a small dot on a path that represents his car. The car that holds a murderer along with his disturbing work. Mia and I begin our journey to finding him. He is now in Atlanta, Georgia. And it is shown that he is not currently driving. Who knows what he could be doing. The total amount of time it will take us to get there is five hours and forty­five minutes but that’s only depending on the route we take and how heavy work traffic will be. Five hours have passed and it looks like it will take another two hours to get there. He hasn’t moved much other than a little driving around the city. He must not be very street smart if he knows that I witnessed what he has done and has only driven three­hundred and seventy miles away from that location. If I had gotten the police involved he’d be in jail right now. We are currently in Atlanta now and only minutes away from him. I feel like I’m going to throw up. What if he’s taken more innocent lives?

 “ Are you ready?” Mia asked me, her eyes were gleaming and I could tell she’s cut out for this job. “ Yes and no” I say
“ The good thing about being a detective is that we don’t have vehicles labeled DETECTIVE like police do. That way they don’t get suspicious and drive off.”
“ Makes good sense.”
“ What we are going to do is park in the gas station parking lot (where he currently is) and if he is in the store we wait. You will need to put your head down incase he will recognize you, just act like you’re texting while I casually keep an eye out for him. But if he’s in the car I will knock on the door and hold him at gunpoint where if he pulls out a gun we will shoot in self defense.
The police will be on their way any minute but for now we are in charge. Got it?” “Yes.” When Mia pulls into the driveway I tremble as I identify the blue van as the one I’d seen on that haunting day.
“ Okay, I can see him in the van. I know you know how to shoot a gun, so if he happens to pull one out, would you like to do the honor of ending a wicked mans life?”
“Am I aloud?”
“Sure, I’ll take mine out too but you’ll be the one to shoot first.”
“ Sure.”
“Put this hat on, it will shadow your face.”

We get out of the car and my heart beats at a faster pace than the cars speeding down the wild street. My gun is in my back pocket and Mias is in her front. We walk over to the vehicle and Mia knocks on the door. He opens and she shouts “HANDS IN THE AIR!” He surprisingly obeys. The police show up and hold him down. Both Mia and I search the car. The bodies are in there. I also spot the duffle bag that holds evidence. We look through it and we find the blood covered weapons and polaroids. “Oh my gosh.” I say in a low tone looking at Elizabeths scrambled up body. Mia pulls me away from the scene noticing that it is too much for me to bare. I hear his crying and it is louder than anything I’ve heard before. He blurts out “He had always gotten it his way, he pushed me around my whole life and he needed to pay for my hurt. I could have been something, you know like he was. But he ruined my plans. I was a bright kid getting A’s and one day he decided to start an everyday tradition of putting me in a chokehold until I gave up my homework. Nobody cared for me, nobody cared about bullying in the 80s. In fact they would stare at me and laugh. He ruined my chance of getting into college and getting a job like I planned. I have had to live one the streets while he got a nice job with a nice family and a nice house all in the wonderful place of California. He was visiting from California to visit his family members that still live down here like he always does. And I decided it was time to end the beautiful life that I was supposed to have. I enjoyed the power of killing so much because I determined who lived and who died. I liked it so much that I did it three more times.

Three more times? I asked Mia how many bodies were back there she answered “four”
I couldn’t take anymore of this and passed out. The next day I woke up in my house, under blankets. Mia must have taken me home overnight. I walk into the kitchen dazed and confused where Mia stood.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, what happened?”
“He admitted to killing four people and you passed out, you were very overwhelmed with seeing gruesome images and such. By the way he has been sentenced to life in prison which in my opinion is better than him being killed. He can live miserably for the rest of his life with guilt always shadowing him.”
“I never really got justice for Elizabeth like I wanted to though…”
“No one knew about this until you told me, Delilah. You did get justice for her and the others.
The families thanked you because they were so worried about where they had been. They now know that they will not be returning but it’s better than never knowing.” And with that Mia left me and I swore to myself that I won’t follow innocence such as pretty bird for that it would lead into horror. But I will make the most of my life for Elizabeth and others whose lives were taken.