Tommy woke from a deep slumber. The room was quiet as he looked around. He looked out the window to the field and noted the crows. They all sat in trees outside the field. They seemed to be staring at something across the field. He slowly got out of his bed to peer out the window. The crows had been acting strangely these past few days. Yesterday, Tommy noticed them staring at the field, as if watching something walking around. He and his friends had stopped to look, amused. The farmer had put out new scarecrows; the crows had stayed away. Tommy and his friends secretly walked onto the property to get a closer look at the scarecrows that were keeping the birds away. To their disappointment, the scarecrows looked completely ordinary. Nothing looked weird or different from them. They planned to return the following day to prank the farmer.
After peering out the window for a brief moment, Tommy went back to bed. The next morning, after he had finished eating breakfast, Tommy eagerly rushed to school. His friends were waiting, the same excitement mirroring on their faces. They huddled together in hushed voices.
“I can’t wait to go over to that old man’s yard and mess up his scarecrows!” One of his friends said.
“I can’t wait to see the look on his face,” another retorted. They turned to Tommy.
“Did you bring the stuff?”
Tommy grinned madly as he presented the backpack to them.
“I’ve got all of it and more,” he said. Just as they were about to go through it, the bell rang.
The boys collected themselves and ran off towards their classes.
Classes seemed to go on forever. Tommy tapped his foot impatiently. Finally, three o’clock came, and Tommy was let out of his class. He’d taken care to ensure the backpack was safe from the teachers. He met his other friends outside the classroom, where they whispered in a huddle. They agreed to go later that night, and leave a surprise for the farmer in the morning.
Tommy returned to his house and pretended everything was normal. His mother didn’t suspect a thing, and after dinner that night, she went to bed. Tommy waited until near midnight, and then sprang the plan into action. He slowly crept downstairs with the backpack on, carefully walking towards the front door. He picked up the key sitting on the kitchen table, and walked out the door. Tommy locked it as he left, quickly running to join his friends. He shivered a bit; it was cold outside. He straightened his jacket and pulled it closer to his body. Then he dashed to the farmer’s property. His friends were there already, waiting and anxiously pacing. As soon as Tommy arrived, they set their plan into action.
One by one, they scaled the big, heavy black gate and jumped into the field. It was pitch black. The only sound was the crickets chirping in the night. The clouds covered the stars. Tommy flicked on his flashlight and carefully walked up to one of the scarecrows. His other friends did the same. Then he put a glitter bomb inside, tucking it in neatly. After that, Tommy sewed it up and stepped backwards. His friends did too after they had finished.
Right as they finished, however, they heard something. A door opened, and someone stepped out. The boys rushed into the bushes to hide, as they heard footsteps. A few minutes later, a small poof went off. A pair of footsteps started running around the field.
“Stupid kids! I’m going to shoot you!” The farmer shouted. He walked back inside his house and roughly slammed the door. Meanwhile, Tommy and his friends just laughed to themselves while trying to keep quiet. As they laughed, suddenly one of his friends stopped laughing. After a minute, the others noticed.
“Why did you stop laughing?” Tommy asked. The other boy pointed into the darkness.
“Did you all hear that?” The boys looked out into the dark. Tommy flicked on his flashlight and moved it around. He saw nothing.
“It’s probably nothing, Kyle. Just your imagination.” As they started to get up to leave, Mark shushed them. A sound came from the garden. A rustling sound.
“Oh, it’s just the crows, Mark,” Tommy said. “It’s not a big deal.”
They all peeled out and began making their way back to the fence. Something rustled behind them, again. Tommy shrugged and started climbing the fence. Something brushed against his leg, but he kept going up.
When he reached the top, he called for his friends. They didn’t answer. So, Tommy shone a flashlight down the fence. It was empty.
Worried, Tommy crawled back down to go find them. It was much quieter than before. The crickets had strangely stopped. The air had become still. Tommy walked around, shining his flashlight, but only saw the garden and the-.
Tommy paused. He slowly turned around to where the scarecrows were. Or where he thought they were, just a few moments ago.
There was nothing there. Just glitter scattered where the scarecrows once were. He saw a crow perched on the fence, staring at him. Tommy backed up slowly towards the fence, the hairs on the back of his neck sticking up. His breaths grew ragged as he made his way towards the fence. As soon as he found it, he scaled up as fast as he could. Once he jumped down, Tommy ran home as fast as possible. He got in through his window, heart pounding. He took a minute to catch his breath before looking outside again.
There were the scarecrows again, back to how they were before. And the crows perched. They stared at him from across the garden. Watching.
