Paper Bird

(A collaboration story with Meraaj Hussain)

As darkness crept through the cottage and light scattered the house, the boy silently squirmed outside to the back garden; carrying on his daily routine of persecuting insects. Grabbing a large spider, he crushed it in his fists then ripped its limbs apart. He did this several times to a varying amount of creatures to satisfy his blood-thirsty intentions.

He noticed his dad’s paper birds lying around the kitchen (his dad loved origami to the extent that he even made it in his sleep!). Afraid of his parents reprimanding him, he lurched silently to his bedroom and in a matter of seconds, he fell fast asleep.

The next day, he acted upon his evil schemes and was not hesitant to carry on killing the fragile creatures. The boy’s mum called him in only to hear ‘OK, I’m coming’. After several attempts, he finally came in. Hands all muddy, he dug into his chips and beef burger. When his parents told him to go sleep, he unsuspectedly rushed to his bedroom.

About two hours later, at midnight, he once again continued his gruesome actions. But this time there was something in the house which followed him outside to the garden and he died the same death all the other creatures he killed died. Limbs RIPPED apart…

That morning, his mum was shouting his name awaiting his response. When she looked outside the garden, her face went pale staring in horror at her dead son. Only to see a Paper Bird on his ripped and bloody back…