The Vulture

An Edgar Allan Poe type short story.

                Many years ago, a plague fell upon a small town. When the last of her friends and family became victim to it, a woman who feared death chose to move away to evade the sickness.

                It followed her.

                Town after town she ran, hoping she could find sanctuary here and there. But though she was never overcome by the fatal illness, every town she fled to drowned in it.

                At long last the woman grew tired of running. She was weary of not having a home to call her own. So she settled in the mountains and built her own house out of logs and the land. She heard no more about the plague, happily cut off from the rest of the world.

                As the years went on, the woman grew stronger learning to fend for herself. She was vain, and loved her body. She was the picture of fitness. Nevertheless, after so long of living in solitude, she became lonely.

                Company came to her in the form of a bird. When the woman spotted it perched on a log, staring unblinkingly at her, it refused to move. She feared the vulture and its omen for death.

                For the next few days the woman tried to frighten the vulture into flying away. It seemed unmoved by her attempts, and day after day it remained in her sight�"watching, waiting. It never ate, and it never, ever left.

                While the woman got old, the vulture did not. The woman did not know how long vultures lived, but she was certain their lifespan was shorter than that of a human.

                The day came when the woman was frail from her old age. She was no longer the fit woman she had made herself to be, but she was just as vain. While she knew she was weak, it mattered not to her. She had outrun the plague, she had escaped Death itself!

                Unlocking her door one morning, the woman walked out into the dense forest she had come to know. And there, sitting diligently on its log, was the vulture. It gazed at her with malevolent eyes�"watching, waiting.

                “Shoo, vulture,” the woman began in her feeble voice. “I am not re�"”

                With a startled gasp, the woman cut herself off. She clutched her chest with wide eyes as pain gripped her features. Not nearly as tightly, however, as Death had her in its grasp.

                No longer able to run, the woman collapsed onto the ground she had made into her sanctuary.

                Upon her last breath the vulture flew to the empty shell of a body and began to eat, stripping the flesh from her bones. After years of fighting a lost battle, Death had come out the victor.

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed this short piece. Any comments, questions, and suggestions are much appreciated!

Reviews

[Drowning with Stars]

Good and chilling write