I watch from my perch as the human slowly opens the door and thrusts his head into the old man’s bedchamber. He opens the lantern and a single ray of light escapes and falls on the old man’s eye. I have seen the human repeat this ritual for the past seven nights just as the clock rings twelve. I am never seen for my feathers are as black as night. Although I have spent many years observing the townspeople from a birds eye view and have found their ways to be strange, I am still curious about the human’s motive for stalking the man in his sleep.

On the eighth night of seeing this strange behavior, the old man is awakened by the opening of the lantern. After waiting for hours in perfect silence, the human jumps completely into the room and pulls the old man to the floor and smothers him with the mattress. I watch as the human checks to see if his employer is dead. After concluding that he is indeed dead, he dismembers the body and carefully hides it under the floorboards. The human is interrupted by the police who search his home, and finding nothing, they proceed to make pointless conversation in the bedroom. The human finally caves and confesses to his crime. He is carried off by the police in a mad state. I do find being a silent observer most entertaining...