The following is about a killer being shadowed by a white raven.

On the evening of 26th January 1975 fourteen year old Mortland Arbuckle is out riding his brand new Schwinn bicycle that he got for Christmas along the bank of a river on his way home from school.

He could be considered good looking if not for his greasy blond hair and an unpleasant demeaner that comes with being a spoilt rich kid.

The Arbuckle family is well known in the oil and gas industry across the globe so young Mortland takes it as a given that the family name will protect him from any consequences due to his actions.

Mortland has a secret and he hopes that the river has hidden all evidence of his misdoings because he fears that even his daddies money won’t save him this time.

Yesterday was bright and sunny and Mortland was in a good mood because after weeks of asking the most popular girl in his class, Erica Ellis, a happy sweet girl from a loving family agreed and so after school the pair went to a secluded spot on the banks of the river.

Mortland was anxious but hopeful of finally losing his virginity and after necking and fooling around a bit the pair finally got down to it but Mortland’s inexperience frustrated the hell out of Erica ‘What are you doing? a ten year old boy would be a better fuck than you, now get off me before I scream.’

Ashamed by his ability to perform or and Erica’s harsh words Mortland in a fit of fury places his hands around her throat and squeezed down until Erica’s face turned purple and one of her eyeballs popped from its socket and hung down her cheek.

Panting heavily Mortland looks around in a panic but luckily for him no one is around so he quickly filled Erica’s coat pocket with pebbles and began to drag her towards the raging river but hearing voices approaching he covered the corpse with pine needles and went home.

Now as he approaches the spot Mortland half expects to see that animals have uncovered the body but luckily for him they haven’t so he scraps the pine needles away and notices a gold bracelet on her left wrist that will be a good souvenir but while he fumbles with the clasp he is interrupted by a loud CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW.

Up in a nearby tree a white raven stares down at Mortland with menacing yellow eyes causing him to stumble and fall in fright but he is an Arbuckle after all so he works up the courage and drags the body down to the edge of the water.

Looking back to see that the raven wasn’t about to attack Mortland bent down and rolls the body into the swirling water where it sank to the bottom.

After the deed was done Mortland rode his Schwinn as fast as he could without looking back even though he could sense the white raven following him than just as he entered his street the raven swooped down biting off a piece of Mortland’s right ear before flying away.

White ravens are rarely seen in Massachusetts and according to folklore the raven will ‘Fly to the end of the earth to avenge a wrongdoing and that the bird will never forget the face of the wrongdoer’

As he opens the front door Mortland is hoping to avoid his mother Patricia but no such luck ‘Mortland Arbuckle the third where have you been and why is you face covered in blood?’

‘Come here Morty and let me take a look.’

‘I have told you a thousand times Mother that my name is Mortland not Morty ‘but upon seeing that his mother is genuinely distressed he softens. ;Sorry for being late momma but I had a fall from my bike and luckily I only have a few scrapes.’

‘I don’t know why you ride that horrible contraption when we have a chauffeur who can drive you to and from school in the Rolls Royce.’

Mortland loves his mother dearly but she can be a bit of a diva ‘Momma if you didn’t want me to ride a bike why did you buy a bike for Christmas? but just to make you happy I will let James drive me to school for the rest of the semester.’

Thank you son now go take a shower and I will have chef prepare you a meal.’

After showering and eating a mushroom Souffle Mortland goes up to his room on the third level to play video games and watch TV but he can’t concentrate so after a few minutes he lies down on his bed to relive his first kill.

Lowering his pants Mortland begins to stroke himself with Erica’s gold chain draped over his throbbing penis and as he strokes himself faster and faster he fantasizes about the killing knowing that the police will be powerless if they do arrest him.

He is one happy camper on the verge of exploding when a series of tapping coming from outside his bedroom window causing his cock to shrink into obscurity.

Seeing that his bedroom is on the third level Mortland knows that it can’t be someone playing around so he creeps over to the window and pulls back the curtains and is horrified to see a lock of blond hair and a human eyeball glistening on the sill.

Mortland knows that his ghastly items could only belong to Erica who he saw with his own eyes sink to the bottom of the river so how in the fuck have they turned up on his window outside his bedroom?

Mortland opens the window and grabs the ghoulish items the hides the hair under the bottom drawer of his dresser than he fills a glass of water from his ensuite and drops the eyeball into the glass.

After placing the glass on his bedside table Mortland goes to close the curtains but takes a step back when he notices a white shape in a nearby tree and when he presses his face against the glass a white raven comes into focus and Mortland knows that it has to be the same bird that he saw at the river who than followed him home and bit a chunk from his hair and now has left items from the burial site on his window sill.

He knows that this bird is now a mortal enemy but he can’t do much about in the middle of the night so he closes the curtains but as soon as he does CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW.

Mortland knows that he wont get much sleep tonight so after getting back into his bed he rolls over and stares at the floating orb and again his mind drifts back to when he squeezed the last breath from Erica’s lungs and as he relived the moment Mortland again began to fondle his penis and a few minutes later he climaxed into a wad of tissues and than drifted off to sleep and he slept all night seemingly without a care in the world.

Mortland is bored out of his mind as his science teacher Miss Fischer drones on and on about the periodic table or some shit but his classmate Samual Jenkins soon wakes him up ‘Hey Mortland have you heard about Erica Ellis’ getting no response the geeky black student continues ‘She has been missing but apparently the police found her body floating in the river and get this, she had been strangled and one of her eyeballs has been taken either by the killer or an animal.’

Mortland tries to stay calm at this latest development but he can’t stop his hands from shaking ‘Hey Morty are you Okay? I didn’t think that you and Erica were that close.’

‘I am good Sam but can you shut up for awhile I am getting a headache.’

Miss Fischer is still waffling on when the vice principal Mister Blackmore enters the room and after a quick word with Miss Fischer he takes charge ‘Sorry children but I have some bad news, as some of you might have known Erica Ellis didn’t arrive home from school yesterday and unfortunately the police located her body was found down by the river this morning.’

Most of the students begin to cry at the news while others sit dumbstruck.

‘Please everyone I know that the news is very distressing but you need to gather your belongings and make your way down to the cafeteria.’

‘The police are already there and I am sure they will have questions so please tell them everything you know about Erica’s movements after school yesterday”.

Mortland is tempted to try to make an escape down the back stairs but that route is blocked by a few burly cops so he has no choice but to follow the other kids down into the cafeteria.

The thirty bewildered school kids quickly settle down at a table pretending not the notice the twenty police officers stationed around the room.

The officer in charge, Det Corboudt, a grizzled middle aged man wearing a crumpled coat holds up a hand for silence ‘First of all I sorry for your loss, I have been told that Erica was a very popular girl withlots of friends and she will be missed by all of her fellow classmates and the entire facility.’

‘As you can imagine her family is devastated and I have told them that I will leave no stone unturned to catch the culprit responsible for their daughters murder.’

‘You will all be spoken to individually and after you have been interviewed you will be allowed to go home but please remain on the school grounds until a parent or guardian come to collect you.’

Twenty nine of the students are stunned at the news of their friends murder and some are visibly upset when Corboundt adds ‘Also a gold bracelet that Erica always wore is missing plus a piece of her remains is yet to be located.’

‘Now please remain seated until one of my officers pulls you aside to ask a few questions.’

For the next ten minutes Samuel talks non stop while his classmates are interviewed one by one and Mortland is tempted to wring his neck like he did to Erica but the white noise also helps him to concentrate on coming up with a lie when his turn comes.

The cafeteria is now half empty with only a dozen students still waiting to be interviewed and it is eerily quite when a commotion near the front entrance causing everyone to turn that way CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW.

The white raven flies into the cafeteria and begins to circle around and around getting lower with each pass.

Mortland knows that this has to be the same white raven that has been terrorizing him so he tries to shrink in his seat but deep down in his black soul he knows that the jig is almost up.

When the raven spreads its wing to land one of the students out ‘What in the fuck has it got in its mouth?’

Det Corboudt whispers ‘Sweet mother mercy it is a fucking eyeball.’

The raven lands on the table occupied by Mortland and Samuel and walks ten feet and stops directly in front of the child killer where it than deposits the eyeball front and center causing Samuel is scream in horror but Mortland doesn’t even move a muscle and still doesn’t when the bird suddenly attacks leaving deep bloody grooves down his face.

Then the white raven stares at the killer school boy before taking flight out from whence it came.

Det Corboudlt and five other officers immediately surround Mortland to prevent any attempt at escape than the detective with menace in his voice asks ‘Well son what do you have to say for yourself? Tell me what you know about the murder of Erica Ellis and than I will have your injuries attended to.’

‘You know what I did motherfucker so enough with the questions but my name is Mortland Arbuckle you have probably fill your car with Arbuckle oil so stick that where the sun don’t shine Detective, now I have nothing else to say.’

Before he can be placed in handcuffs Mortland picks up the slippery eyeball and swallows it down whole ‘Um tasty, now Erica will be with again until tomorrow when I will shit her back out.’

Finally shackled Mortland grins as he is lead away but he can’t resist having a parting shot ‘My daddy will make sure that I will never spend a single day behind bars what do you think of those apples motherfucker.’

Three months later despite boasting that his families money and connections will keep him out of jail 15 year old Mortland Arbuckle was sentenced to serve three years in juvenile hall until he reaches the age of eighteen when he will be transferred to an adult facility for the rest of his life.

As soon as he arrived at juvenile hall Mortland made it his intention to become top dog and two months later after numerous fights and threats to the other delinquents he emerged victorious and he also learnt that father had come through for him and has bribed a few of the guards to look after his son and allow him all privileges.

Now knowing that he protected Mortland spends his days attacking the other boys and having the weaker ones perform sexual acts on his person.

Even after a guard tells him that they can’t out for him 24/7 so he better pull his head in or someone is likely to chop it off Mortland continues to abuse the system.

A year later Mortland is out in the exercise yard enjoying an hour of sunshine annoying the shit out of the three guards on duty when he is broadsided from behind and falls to the ground stunned which causes the guards to burst but they soon quieten down when Mortland gives them a dirty look.

The white raven responsible for the attack flies in circles around its target before swooping down and unleashing a fecal bomb onto the middle of Mortland’s raised forehead.

CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW .

Enraged he orders one of the guards to bring him a towel and after wiping the deposit Mortland smiles as he looks at the raven perched on a railing just out of reach ‘Alright little birdie so you like to play dirty do you? Well just remember two can play that game.

The white raven gives the killer a look of pure hatred before flying away.

CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW.

As he is led back to his cell Mortland puts on a brave front but inside he is shaken by the fact that somehow that bird broke into his room and stole the eyeball and brought it to the school cafeteria causing him to be arrested and now almost a year and a half later it appears out of nowhere causing him to lose face in front of the guards.

Mortland despite being top dog is now a little nervous so he decides to become a white raven in spirit.

The next morning as soon as his cell is unlocked Mortland ventures down the corridor into the cell of 16 year old from Boston named Lonesome Pete Peterson who despite being deeply disturbed has a reputation as who to go to if you want some ink work done.

Peterson who sort of looks like the blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd isn’t at all happy to see the top dog in his cell meekly asks ‘What can I do for You?’

Mortland who is in a good mood replies ‘I am looking to get a tattoo and I heard that you are the best.’

‘Okay let check my appoints for the day’ after a few seconds the psycho continues ‘Sorry but I am booked solid for the rest of the week, how about 9am next Tuesday?

Seeing that Mortland is in no mood for jokes Peterson quickly calms the water ‘Well what do you know looks like I am free after all so take a seat and lets get started.’

After perching himself on the edge of the toilet Mortland says that he wants a tattoo of a white raven on his upper left arm.

While he works Peterson whistles the Neil Young classic ‘Cortez The Killer’ which isn’t to Mortland’s liking so he decides to start a conversation ‘So tell me Peterson how did you end up with the nick name Lonesome?’

‘Well is a funny story but three years ago me and a few buddies were in my room at home playing Minecraft and the three of them thought that it would be a good idea to laugh at me as I struggled with the controls and so after a while I had had enough so I picked up my baseball bat and smashed the fuckers into a bloody pulp and when the cops kicked down my door I was there on my lonesome.’

‘Now shut the fuck up and let me concentrate on my craft or the needle might slip, by accident you understand.’

Mortland heard the implied threat and put it in the back of his brain for safe keeping and he walks out an hour later with a cool tattoo.

Over the next eight months Mortland to the surprise of everyone becomes a model prisoner spending his time visiting the library and adding to his tattoo collection.

Now he is covered from head to toe in white raven tattoo’s in varying sizes.

On the morning of his transfer to an adult jail Mortland is escorted to the wardens office by two guards ‘Take a seat Mister Arbuckle’ demands warden Mitchell who Mortland was hoping to kill before his time was up but alas ‘I must say that I have been mighty impressed with your attitude lately so I wish you well and who knows if you knuckle down and stay out of trouble you might get released in about fifty years time.’

The warden gives Mortland a smug look ‘Now get out of my sight before I can come up with a excuse to have you executed.’

‘Thanks for your kind words warden dickwad, I hope that you catch a deadly disease that slowly eats you alive, have a nice day now.’

The pair of guards drag the enraged prisoner out of the room and push him towards his cell ‘Why do you always push your luck you crazy bastard now go gather your belongings and no funny business you hear.’

‘Oh and by the way your father sends his regards and he told me to tell you that your time in jail will be brief and he has plans for your escape so hang tight.’

When they approach Peterson’s cell Mortland asks if it would be alright to say goodbye to his friend ‘Yes but back it quick and we will be right outside.’

‘Hello Mortland what brings you here this fine morning?’

I am being transferred this morning so I thought I would come by to say goodbye and thank you for all of the great body art.’

Peterson is a bit put off by Mortland’s friendliness but he stands up to shake hands and Mortland takes the opportunity to lean in close and whisper ‘Nobody disrespects me Peterson nobody.’

Before the terrified boy can pull free Mortland slips a sharp shank from his sleeve and drives it between two ribs killing him instantly.

‘Goodbye motherfucker sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite.’

Trucks and Haynes are both visibly shocked emerges holding a bloody shank ‘Hide this for me’ Mortland demands as he hands the weapon to the smallest guard a rat faced man named Warren Trucks.

Derek Haynes a huge black man who;s uniform threatens to burst at the seams grabs Mortland by the arm ‘You have just put me and Trucks in deep shit so tell your father that your little escapade will cost him an extra $500,000.’

‘Consider it done asshole, now get out of my face before I ring daddy and tell him that you two twerps have mistreated me because if I do the pair of you will disappear in the wind never to be seen again.’

Haynes and Trucks don’t say a word because they have both seen what the young offender is capable of so after handcuffing him to a seat in the back of the van that will take to the adult jail they go back to clean up the mess that Mortland left behind.

Fifteen minutes later after all of the official paperwork is completed the van leaves juvenile hall on its way to Bridgewater Penitentiary.

Ten miles into the journey the van is run off the road by a huge military style jeep and eight men jump out brandishing automatic weapons and after a brief shootout the driver and guard quickly surrender.

After the pair are restrained one of the men retrieves the key ring but it takes him a few minutes to find the right key and when the door finally opens he is confronted by an angry prisoner ‘What time you stupid fucker, now get these cuffs off me before I kick your teeth in and leave you for the buzzards to eat.’

The man shakes his head in disgust and quickly removes his balaclava ‘Daddy what are you doing here?’

‘I am here to rescue you, you ungrateful piece of shit.’

‘I wanted to leave you on jail but your mother insisted that you were worth saving so come along a helicopter will be here shortly.’

‘Good I can’t wait to get back home and give her a hug.’

‘Are you some kind of idiot? There is a price on your head so home is where the authorities will go first.’

The sound of an approaching helicopter drowns out any further conversation and after the copter lands father and son quickly board and strap themselves in.

‘Where are we going daddy?’

‘I am just along for the ride but you are going to Alaska and don’t even think about coming back to Massachusetts or anywhere on the mainland for that matter because if you do I will have you shot and buried in an unmarked grave.’

‘Mortland you have brought nothing but shame to the Arbuckle name and reputation and for that I banish you to a life in the wilderness but and again this is your mothers doing you will be given an annual allowance and a room in a motel rent free.’

‘Also when we land I will hand you $10,000 but remember if you ever come back I will have you hunted down.’

Mortland balls his fists in a fury, how dare the old fool talk to me like that but he manages to hold his contempt inside and two hours later they land in Alaska.

Mortland now 18 years old is now without a family and without hope but it is all his own doing not that he would ever admit anything.’

Arbuckle senior hands hi an envelope full of cash ‘Goodbye son may misery and sorrow be your constant companion through the remaining days of your life because that is all that you gave to me and your mother.’

As Mortland watches the helicopter he makes a vow to himself ‘One day old man I will return and when I do I will make you watch as I bring the Arbuckle business empire crashing down and when you are all penniless my final action will be to skin you alive while you scream for mercy.

High up in a tree a white raven looks down on his enemy, he to is seeking vengeance.

THE END.

Part Two coming soon.

I hope you enjoyed reading my story and if you did please leave a like or a comment and also if you have the means I really would appreciate it if you could leave a donation so I can finally become a fulltime writer, Thank You.