The crow cawed. What do you want from me? Jonathan screamed at it. The crow continued to stare down at him from the branch of a withered and dead tree. Caw! The crow called again. Its dismal cry echoed through the dark void of Jonathan's unconsciousness. Stay away! Jonathan shouted. But the crow did nothing. It only sat and stared with black, beady eyes.

Then Jonathan Fatum awoke, covered in cold sweat. For the past few nights he had been having the same exact dream. He was always started alone in a green field with a single tree. Then a single crow lands on a branch on the tree and everything would become lifeless. Then it would just perch there, staring at Jonathan and caw. Soon after, Jonathan would awaken. The dream was starting to disturb him, but he did not know why it was plaguing him. He shook it out of his head. He would have to go to work in a few minutes.

The whole drive there Jonathan seemed to be troubled. It got worse when he arrived at his office. He could get nothing done, the thoughts of his strange dream madly buzzing inside of his head. He had never had this much trouble focusing before, even though he had been having these dreams since last week. But today, nothing would get through to him.

It seemed to get even worse after work. He was so distracted that he did not notice he was out of gas. It stopped halfway to home and he had to walk the rest of the way. He grumbled out loud, the weight of his briefcase heavy in his hands. The thoughts of the dream once again clouded his mind. What was it trying to tell him?

His thoughts were interrupted by a ball that bounced into the streets. At that point everything seemed to slow down for Jonathan. The ball rolled at a snail's pace. A little boy walked from his front yard into the streets to retrieve it. Screeching noises. A red sports car. It throttled down the street, but the boy did not see.

"Look out!" Jonathan yelled at the boy. Without thinking he dropped his briefcase and ran into the streets. The car was still speeding down the street like bat out of hell. As the boy saw it his face contorted into a look of pure terror. But Jonathan got there in time. He grabbed the boy out of the way of danger. The car went careening down the road and screeched around the corner. It disappeared as if it was never there. Both Jonathan and the boy were panting from the near death experience. No one was around to witness what Jonathan had done. He was thankful for that as he did not want a large crowd asking him questions or praising him. He wasn't very social and did not want to waste any time.

"Thanks mister. I would have died if it weren't for you." The boy said after a little while.

"Yeah, just be sure not to play ball in the streets anymore kid." He hurried out of the way. He really didn't want to stick around if reporters or police came by. He just wanted to get home and ponder the dream.

On his way back he heard a car round the corner at high speed. He looked back and saw the same sports car coming for him. It actually jumped the curb and almost hit him, but Jonathan was able to avoid it.

"What are you, blind?" He yelled to the car. But it was already gone again. What's going on?

When he finally got home it was already pretty dark. He would have to ponder his dream later. He felt tired and wanted to take a shower. He went to his bathroom and disrobed before turning on the water. In the warmness of the stall he was able to clear his head and concentrate on the dream. What did it mean? Am I going crazy or is there something more lying underneath the dream? He did not know why he was so worried about it. Something about it just made him want to know more. But it could wait. He opened the shower curtains and reached out for his towel, not noticing that he had knocked over a bottle of shampoo by accident. He stepped out of the stall and nearly cracked his head on the bathroom tiles when he stepped on the soap. Luckily, he was able to grab onto the shower curtains for support. He was panting when he got back on his feet. How many near death experiences do I need today?

He decided to skip dinner and go straight to bed. He was very tired from all the day's happenings and he just wanted the day to end. Maybe when the sun comes up in the morning his bad luck will disappear with it. He hung his coat up on his coat rack and plopped into his soft bed and fell fast asleep. But then it happened again.

The green field appeared again, as if on cue. The lone tree stood as tall as ever, leaves rustling in the calm, cool wind. Caw! The black crow appears again. It perches on the branch like always. Everything dies, turning to black ash blown away by the winds. Why do you keep tormenting me? Jonathan shouts at it. This time, however, the crow does something new. Swooping down from the branch it starts to claw at Jonathan, scratching him in a million places. The pain was unbearably real. He swats at the crow, but to no avail. It dives again, the sharp talons heading straight for his head.

And Jonathan awakens. Nothing like this had ever happened before in his dreams before. He stared blankly into the darkness of his room and felt a liquid trickle from his cheek. Suddenly he realized how close he had come to death again. His coat rack had fallen from its place, the sharp hooks almost plunging into his head, barely cutting his cheek. He quickly sat up in bed. For the rest of the night he spent huddled into himself, afraid; of what he did not know. He was just afraid.

Work hours had come again and Jonathan hesitantly got up. He had forgotten to get any gas for his car, which was still parked halfway from his house to the office, so he had to ride the bike he kept in his garage to work. He really did not want to because a large hill would be in his path and Jonathan was not in the best of shape. It would be a difficult task for him. But somehow he managed to get to the top of the hill. He sighed and started to go downhill. But as he pressed his brakes to slow down they did not work. The hill was fairly steep and if Jonathan went too fast he might loose control and end up in the car-filled streets at the bottom of the hill. He did not want to be flattened so he dove off the bike and watched as it sped down and was smashed by a truck when it reached the bottom. Above, perched on a telephone line, a crow cawed.

"You look troubled young man." A woman's voice called out to Jonathan. He spun around and saw an old woman dressed in a dark purple dress.
"Of course I'm troubled!" He yelled. "I've been nearly killed so many times in the past few hours."

"Hmmm, this sounds unnatural." The woman pondered aloud. "Come in, and I shall see if any misfortune has befallen you." She beckoned and walked into her house. A sign above the doorway read: Madame Fate's Fortune Telling. On a normal day Jonathan would have scoffed at such things. But today was not a normal day.
Cautiously, Jonathan walked into the old house. There was a smell in the room, one of incense. He followed the old woman to a small round table covered with linen and a small glass globe in the middle. The woman sat down and Jonathan took the seat adjacent to her.

"Give me your hands," she commanded in a raspy voice. Jonathan did as he was told. She took his hands and placed them on the crystal ball and placed her hands on top of his. The ball started to glow a faint white. The old woman closed her eyes and spoke.

"I see that you saved a boy's life yesterday." She said as if in a trance.

"Yes." Jonathan replied, surprised that she had known of this.

"You have tampered with that person's destiny. I see and evil shroud surrounding you. The bad aura is strong. The death that was supposed to be the boy's has been passed to you."

"This is foolish!" Jonathan spoke. He was about to leave, but the old woman held his hands in place with surprising strength.

"Wait! If you continue to leave the destiny in its tampered state you will ultimately suffer!" She warned him. Under their hands the crystal ball cracked as if it was breaking from the misfortune. Jonathan was starting to get frightened. It was true that death seemed to be around every corner Jonathan was walking.

"How do I change it? How do I get death to stay away from me?" He desperately asked.

"You must fulfill the destiny you changed. You must kill the boy."

"What?" Jonathan threw his hands off the ball. The woman opened her eyes and looked at him sternly. "I will not kill the boy. This is all some stupid joke! I'm leaving this place."

"It is your choice young man. But remember, death is now at your heels. Beware!" Her voice followed Jonathan out of the house. He hurried to work. For the rest of the day he seemed to have no problems whatsoever. He was able to get to work on time, he was able to do his job without distractions, and no more accidents plagued him. The old woman was wrong. I just had a stroke of bad luck, that's all. Jonathan reassured himself. The bell sounded. His day was through. Jonathan sighed as he walked out the office doors, relieved that no more-

A blade fell to Jonathan's feet, missing him by mere centimeters. A letter opener. It must have fallen out of someone's window. But Jonathan didn't care. His fear returned and he was running home. From somewhere above a crow cawed. Cars sped by him in the parking lot, almost hitting him. The drivers fled as if nothing at all happened. Dogs growled at him in the streets and Jonathan ran for his life. Objects fell from seemingly nowhere, dangerous things appeared on the ground in front of him, accidents that wouldn't have had a one in a million chance of happening happened. It was like the whole world had turned against Jonathan and Jonathan was being driven mad. From someone's yellow lawn a crow cawed.

"Why does death stalk me? I saved a boy's life! Should I not be rewarded?" Jonathan shouted up into the air, clutching his head as if it would explode from his frustration.

Jonathan was at home, safe in a dark corner. He rocked himself back and forth, cold sweat running down his forehead. He did not dare to move, afraid that at any moment something would jump out at him to try and kill him. The whole ordeal would drive anyone insane. There was only one solution. Cautiously, Jonathan got up and reached into a drawer in his desk. He pulled out a small handgun, one that he had kept for self defense. He loaded one bullet into the chamber. He walked out into the streets, back to the place this nightmare began. If there was any place he wanted it to end, it would be here. Across the street he could see the house of the boy he had saved. But who was the bullet for?
Bang!

A black crow cawed and flew away.