Abyss of the Button Eye

 “These crows won’t stop!” One of the bandits who kidnapped the farmers angrily tried to cut the crows with a dagger, but they were too fast and avoided the slashes, cawing all the while as if mocking him. Their horses ran off, and they were stuck on the road until their scout came back from town for new ones. All because of these stupid crows. Reynold was nearby, biting his thumb nervously. One of the masked bandits slapped the back of his head. “Calm down, Reynold. You’ll make a nice profit from this, and then you can go back to the gambling hall and drink that poison you seem to like so much.” he laughed as he walked towards one of the locked carriages and looked inside. “You should tell your friend here to lose the attitude as well.” From the darkness inside, Garn glared at the man. His tired eyes were focused on him. “The heavens will strike you down, fool.” The bandit scoffed in response. “Heavens? The heavens don’t take sides. If it did, humanity would be long gone by now.” Garn narrowed his eyes, about to say something in retort, but his eyes soon widened. The crows badgering the bandits suddenly flew off, and the bandit turned to see what got Garn’s attention.

Standing on a cobblestone bridge over the river with the moon behind him, Charlie stood looking at the fallen carriages and bandits. The bandit near Garn yelled, “What is that?!” as Charlie started walking forward. Charlie didn’t know why men were yelling at him, but he knew people feel at ease with a smile. And so Charlie’s stitched mouth turned into a smile for the men, and he raised his arms up for a hug. Humans do that to comfort each other, right? He doesn’t know why these people kidnapped his family, but maybe they just needed friends. Maybe their actions were brought about by sadness or anger. Why else would they do something so evil? He continued to walk forward, and one of the men yelled, “Kill it!”

Several of the men pulled out bows and arrows and began to fire at the scarecrow, but Charlie kept walking as arrows pierced his hay and wood body. The men tried to keep firing, and one of the arrows tore off Charlie’s left button eye, and Charlie stopped moving. He moved his head down and turned to look at the button on the ground. His head stayed lowered, and he felt a sense of sadness. That was a part of him, and the people of the farm always lovingly stitched back any part of him that became loose. But he never had a part of him be removed like that. He shifted back towards the bandits, who lowered their bows and stared at what they deemed a monster. When Charlie raised his head to look at the men again, his button eye had been left a gaping hole, and a void of pure darkness. Within that darkness was a red glowing orb as Charlie frowned at them.

The men felt fear. Nothing they did killed the monster, and that red glowing eye felt like a predator staring at its prey. Charlie couldn’t understand why they were being so violent. But he shouldn’t frown. He decided to smile again and continue walking towards the men. One of the bandits moved to the front to face Charlie. “You idiots! It’s made of wood and hay! You gotta burn it!” he yelled, holding up a wooden wand, which began to form fire at its tip and form a ball of fire before shooting towards Charlie. Charlie held up his wooden hand made of branches, and it caught on fire. The men seemed to smile in relief as the creature burned. Charlie looked at his burning hand with a frown. He didn’t feel pain, but he could see the fire inching towards his arm. He grabbed it with his other hand and ripped off his arm, which now stayed burning beside him. Hay and sticks poked out of the side of his body, and in its place, it began to grow. The men looked horrified as Charlie regrew his arm. Turning his frown into a smile once more, the man holding the wand let out a terrified scream and began to charge the wand again.

But he soon stopped as everyone’s eyes filled with dread as they looked at the sky. Behind the monster were thousands of crows covering the night sky. As Charlie lifted his arms again for a hug, the thousands of crows swooped down to attack the men, and screams filled the air. Everyone who could began running away, and Reynold fell backwards in fear, with keys falling out of his coat onto the floor next to him. Charlie approached Reynold and gave him a hug, but he screamed and yelled, “Get away from me!” he shouted before pushing Charlie away and getting up, following the bandits, but turned his head slightly, looking at the keys that dropped with a sad expression before running with his eyes shut with tears. The crows dispersed, and everything became silent. Charlie approached the carriage holding Garn and some of the other farmers. Everyone was frozen in fear. Everyone but Garn, who walked towards Charlie.

“Charlie? That’s you, right? Can you pick up the keys near there?” He pointed at the keys where Reynold had fallen. Charlie’s red eye looked at Garn, and then the keys. He walked towards them and picked them up gingerly, having the hook dangle from one of his branch fingers. Soon walking to Garn and handed him the keys. Garn nodded with a smile and grabbed the keys from Charlie’s wooden branch finger and unlocked himself and the others from the caged carriages. However, almost all the farmers stood back in fear. They knew Charlie as the smiling scarecrow in the field, not as whatever stood before them. Was he a monster now? Would his behavior change? Those lingering thoughts made them hesitant to warm up to Charlie.

Garn looked at them all with disappointment, but he understood that people were scared of things they didn’t understand. Even he felt some fear towards Charlie. But he was also old enough to know that just because something is unfamiliar doesn’t make it automatically dangerous. The fact that Charlie saved them still remains. But unfortunately, only those from the first settlement were close to Charlie. The others...

After initial silence, the farmers from the other settlements, not as familiar with Charlie, had confusion and fear turn into anger at the unknown threat. One man gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. “Get out, monster!” he yelled and picked up a rock and hurled it towards Charlie’s face. “Go away! Go away!” A little boy screamed, grabbing a broken piece of debris from the carriage and throwing it as well. More and more of the farmers from the other settlements began to throw pieces of the carriages at Charlie, who stood there confused. He came here to save them. He just wanted to see everyone’s smiling faces. Why were they angry? Why were they throwing things at him? Did he do something wrong? He didn’t want this. He just wanted everyone to be happy. “Everyone, stop!” Garn tried yelling, but his voice was drowned out by the other shouting. The farmers that took care of Charlie regularly kept silent, unsure of their own feelings. Charlie’s smile turned into a frown, and he turned away and began to walk back from where he had come. “Charlie!” Garn yelled. Charlie soon disappeared from view, and the yells faded behind him.

Now out of sight of the farmers, Charlie heard footsteps behind him. Garn panted heavily and walked up to Charlie, putting his hand on his shoulder. Charlie looked at him, and then at his other hand. Garn wasn’t wearing his brown gloves and was holding them instead. “I’m sorry, Charlie. Give me time to convince the others. I don’t know how long it’ll take, but I’ll convince them you’re good. They’re just scared right now. But for now.” he let out a final exhale and lifted Charlie’s hands. Charlie stood motionless, curious as to what Garn was doing, before he found himself wearing his gloves. Finally, Garn gently put Charlie’s button eye that had fallen earlier into his now-gloved hand. The color red was known to scare off predators. That was the decision behind Charlie’s eyes. Now he has a glowing eye that scares everyone it stares at. But Garn knows Charlie isn’t a monster. Not really. He nervously looked at Charlie’s large, gaping void where the glowing eye looked at him. His heart beat fast, but it slowly calmed down. As he stared longer, the red orb seemed to faintly flicker at the rate of a heartbeat. Garn slowed his breathing and focused on Charlie with a calmer disposition. “You can stay nearby, or see the world and come back. Whenever you do, I’m sure you’ll be accepted. I’ll make sure of it. Just stay safe, okay?”

Garn walked to the other side of the bridge, turning to face Charlie once more as they stood at opposite sides of the bridge. “You aren’t a monster, Charlie. I know it.” With his final words, he left to join the other farmers.

Charlie looked down at his button eye and closed his fist. Garn gave a supportive smile and turned around to head back to join the other farmers. Charlie frowned, staring at his button eye. The two brother crows came flying from the nearby forest, one perched on his shoulder, and the other on his hat. “What a bunch of jerks.” They said in unison.