Corpse Crow by Aurora Kryan (the little red hen read aloud .TXT) 📕

            It sat before me and my brain still denied what it was seeing. It refused to let me believe what lay on the ground at my feet was real because it was so horrifying and bloody. A defense mechanism of the human body, I had read that somewhere. When something is so horrifying that it would cause us to break down or panic the brain puts up mental blockades to keep us from seeing what's really there.  I closed my eyes, rubbing the bridge of my nose to try and calm myself, to assure my brain that it was ok to let me have nightmares later.

            Shaking my head I slowly opened my eyes, stating at the disfigured body on my door step. Things started to slide into place, my mind finally giving in as the mass of fur and meat began to make sense. What I had thought to be just a carcass of a deer, which was a rather silly assumption given the texture of the remaining fur, left by some pissed off hunter was actually a wolf. A very dead, very skinned, very mangled, wolf. The trees surrounding my small cabin rustled, a light breeze kicking up the already revolting smell of rotting flesh and discharged bodily fluids.

            Bile rose at the back of my throat as the smell latched onto me, coating my esophagus and nose with its gut turning scent. I had to turn and run to the edge of my porch before I up chucked on the thing. Retching my lunch back up I wiped my mouth with the back of my sweater sleeve. Swallowing my pulse back down I made a face at the taste of regurgitated tuna fish sandwich. I wasn't sure which was worse, the smell or the taste of my own food come round a second time.

            My eyes flickered to the corpse. My stomach clenched, threatening to unleash its wrath upon me once more. I turned back to the railing, half leaning over it. The sight, the sight of the body was defiantly the worst of the two and it hadn't even been an option. Wiping at my mouth again I shuffled into my cabin, slamming the door as if that would help me keep whatever food remained in my stomach down and make the smell go away.

            "Police, I need to call the police." I muttered aloud to myself, dazed.

Bright red lights bathed the trees surrounding my small cabin. It felt like everything had been stained in blood. The thought made me shiver, brain a swirling mess of nothing mixed with trace memories of the wolf carcass. Blue washed the red away, making the night seem to be bathed in moonlight. My heart calmed, body stiff from not moving, from being frightened out of my mind over this whole strange affair. The blue was soon swept away by the red again. I watched the cycle repeat a dozen times or so before the sound of my name being called forced me to back to reality.

            "Jane, you in there, hey..."

            Slowly my eyelids lowered then rose. "E..than.." I muttered to the blonde man standing in front of me with a steaming cup of coffee.

            He frowned, the action making the corners of his mouth wrinkle. "You ok, Jane? Seriously you look like a freaking ghost." he said, sitting by me and offering the cup.

            Eyes dropping from his worried mix matched gaze to the cup I took it hesitantly. I hated coffee and I wasn't sure why he had given me some of the vile stuff until I actually looked at what was in my little ceramic reindeer mug. Three tiny marshmallows melting along the top of the hot, light, brown liquid caught my eye. It wasn't coffee, it was hot chocolate. Hot chocolate was one of my weaknesses, a secret indulgence that I rarely had. It let me know just how worried my childhood friend was about me because I knew there wasn't any of this small heaven in a cup in the cabin.

            "Thanks for the coco." I mumble, lifting it small gesture of thanks before taking a sip. Heat and flavor explode on my tongue, drawing a content sigh from my lips.

            "You sure you don't want to come to my place till you calm down?" Ethan asked, rubbing my shoulder comfortingly.

            I shake my head taking another sip of coco and huddling into his side, suddenly freezing even with my clean sweater on. "No. I'll get a motel over in Thompson Falls. I know Colt doesn't like me. I wouldn't want to impose."

            "Tch. Colt's just a little brat." Ethan grunts, shaking his messy blonde head. "He won't mind you staying a night or two, really."

            My lips curled up into a smile. "I'm fine Ethan. Really. I'll get a motel in town for a couple days, till the smell dies down, and then I'll come back. This isn't that bad. It's just a wolf, not a neighbor or anyone I know.  Animals die all the time." I says with a shaky voice, more as a way to convince myself than Ethan that I was ok.

            Ethan's gaze lifts from the ground. "Jane..." he says, hazel eye shimmering with worry as his emerald one glistened in the sunlight. "You don't know do you?"

            My smile quickly faded to a frown. "Know what?" I ask, starting to worry.

            Ethan looks away, running a hand thought his messy blonde hair that looked more brown then blonde at the moment. "You don't smell it?" he muttered, gaze flickering back to my cabin. He looked at me again, eyes gone dark, something primal in them now. Something beast like.

            "Smell what, Ethan? You're scaring me, stop it."

            He blinked, that darkness fading from his miss matched orbs. "Sorry. It's just... You really can't smell it?"

            "All I smell, Ethan, is death. Smelly, icky, disgusting, death." I half snapped, head spinning as that smell began to creep over to where we had taken refugee by Ethan's jeep.

            Maybe it was just my imagination. We had been sitting here for a few hours and I hadn't smelled anything till he brought it up. I was probably paranoid. But I swore I could smell that thing. I swore that thick heavy scent of butchered meat was starting to stick to the back of my throat again.

            I swallowed, probably the worst thing I could have done. The smell slid down my throat, thick and heavy like a piece of meat being swallowed. I gagged, dropping my precious reindeer mug and rolling onto my hands and knees, retching. Hands glided through my hair, pulling it from my face.

            "Jane?!" Ethan half yelled, sounding startled.

            I wanted to answer him, to wave him off and say I was alright, but I was too busy experiencing the joys of hot chocolate the second time around. Ethan stayed, holding my hair back as I dry heaved long after my stomach was emptied. Slowly my body quieted until I was simply hovering over a pool of regurgitated liquid. Wiping my mouth with a sleeve I sat back on my butt, breathing a little labored from how violent the vomiting had been. Ethan gives me a sad look.   

            "Better?" he asked.

            I just nodded, throat to raw to answer.

            He muttered an apology. "Sorry.  I didn't realize you were that messed up over it."

             "No, it's just..." I felt myself frown.

            How did I tell my best friend that I felt the urge to run over there and shove my face in the wolf and start eating it? How did you explain that the smell of meat, so bloody and fresh, made you want to munch on a dead animal? Rubbing my face I felt horror grip me. I was seriously losing my mind.

            Ethan sighs, messing with his hair again. "You want to eat it don't you." he mutters.

            My shoulders jerk, eyes staring at him as I gaped like a moron. "How?" I whispered.

            He gives a smile that's none to friendly as he looks at the forest. "Because I want to do it too."

            "You..." I stop and shake my head. "What's wrong with me?" I whined, holding my head as the disgusting thoughts started to creep their way into my brain again.

            "Nothing's wrong with you Jane. It's normal." Ethan assures.

            "How is that normal?!" I scream. "I want to eat that fucking thing! What sane human thinks like that, Ethan. Tell me!"

            Ethan jumps, looking back at the house where the police and rangers are huddled around talking. "Jane we're not human, remember. For us, this is normal." he whispers like he's worried someone will hear.

            Again I shake my head. "No. This isn't normal. Not for me." Standing I sway, only Ethan's hand on my arm keeping me upright.

            "Take it easy, Jane. Just calm down." Ethan whispers, trying to be soothing. He was just upsetting me more. "I know its gross but if you accept it, it won't be as bad."

            My face crumpled. "Accept what, how much of a disgusting monster I am?"

            Ethan flinches. "You're not a monster, Jane. Not anymore then I am, or Sé was."

            "Sé? Whose Sé?"

            Ethan blinks, a look of astonishment on his face. "Jane. The dead wolf... the dead werewolf is our Delta."

            Ice crept into my veins. I wasn't sure what that meant, Delta, but somehow my body did. And the fact that a Delta, whatever that was, was dead on my door step suddenly seemed so much more terrifying. A lump formed in my throat making it hard to swallow down the tears I could feel beginning to sting my eyes. Something spicy drifted to me on the wind, burning my nose with its over powering smell.

            It was some kind of cologne, rich with musk, that I hadn't smelled before. The scent caught me off guard. Everything had been so tainted by death that I hadn't noticed the overpowering smell before, which was shocking considering I had been sitting outside for the past three hours. Ethan wiped at my eyes, frowning worriedly at me, a tangy aroma drifting off his skin.

            He smelled like the other scent, almost. The taste of musk was thick on my tongue now from that mystery scent and Ethan's own personal one. It almost smelled like wet dog, which was gross in my mouth might I add. But then there was more to it than just wet dog. Earthen smells of soil, rain, and foliage were compressed into it making it unique.

            It was a nice over powering smell that swept away the rot and decay. I felt myself inhale, trying to take in more of its orangey heaven. Vaguely I wondered when Ethan had become so intoxicating as my brain filled with the image of a brown wolf. No, not brown but blonde. A muddy mix of brown and yellow fur, it's eyes a bright