It stared and stared from the window. The instance you tried staring at the bird, you would have found that the bird was already ready and staring back at you. That frightened people and made them look away. They knew the bird was always watching. It was always watching. Always.
It wasn't all bad When the man and his bird arrived: there were fewer rats and pigeons in the apartment complex, and the raccoons that made a lot of noise eating things in the garbage quickly learned to stay away, all because of the man's bird. And so, everybody began to think that the man's bird was a hunting bird. But things changed.
The man's bird didn't stop with rats or pigeons. Every now and then someone's pet cat appeared dead with its belly cut open and its heart missing from its chest. No one could prove that it had been the bird, but nothing like that had ever happened before, and so the man and his bird were suspected by the neighbors of doing awful things. Neither the man nor his bird cared to defend themselves from these accusations, and everyone thought they were all the more stranger for it.
One late afternoon, little Billy and his sister were playing in the parking lot of the apartment complex. The man's bird was staring, as usual, from the second story window into the parking lot. Little Billy noticed that the bird's window was open. Suddenly, a great shadow appeared. Little Billy's sister was gone! The man's bird was gone too! Then Little Billy heard his sister scream a bone-chilling scream. Little Billy was scared, but he followed the noise. As he hurried, he thought he saw some blood on the apartment's white stucco walls. Little Billy's parents and neighbors also ran out of the apartment building toward the noise. They found the strange bird perched on top of a dead man. His eyes had been clawed out and eaten, and his throat had been ripped out. They found his pants around his ankles and he had no underwear on. Between his legs was just a bloody hole. Billy's sister was shaking and crying, but she was otherwise unharmed. The bird had wasted no time.
The strange man appeared among the crowd and the strange bird flew from the dead man's body to perch on the strange man's shoulder. Then the strange man appeared to give the bird a small meaty treat that the bird gobbled immediately. The neighbors couldn't find anything to say, so they said nothing. The strange man nodded at the silence and went back up to his apartment. The police later came and cleaned up the mess.
The strange man and the strange bird continued to live as they had. Every now and then, mean and scary people from around the neighborhood appeared dead with their eyes clawed out and their throats ripped open, and every now and then, the police would come by and clean the mess. Nobody bothered the strange man nor his bird, but sometimes the neighbors left them food, for thanks. Because they knew that the bird was always watching. It was always watching. Always.
