Account 12: Eye of the Storm

Background information

• Name: Unknown
• Pronouns: Unknown
  
• Date: April 30, 2020
• Occupation: Former café owner, current restaurant worker
  
• City of residence: Atkins, Michigan
• Date(s) of account: 2019-current
  
• Subject of account: An employee's unusual behavior
  

Account
It all started when the weather turned stormy in September 2019. I remember finding it weird because that was around the time of year that it usually starts getting snowy out, but it was raining and thundering almost constantly. That, and there were birds out all the time, even the kinds I'm pretty sure are supposed to fly south for the winter. It was minor at first, a pigeon here, a robin there, but eventually it got to the point where every power line seemed to be covered in crows, and they all seemed to stare at you as you walked by. I actually got attacked by crows at one point, although I ended up okay.

That was around the time one of my employees started acting strangely. He'd always been a pretty reclusive sort whenever there weren't customers around, although I'm not sure if he noticed how aware I was of this fact, but this was when he went from shy to really paranoid. I mean, he was just constantly looking around with this panicked look on his face, like he thought someone was following him or something. At one point, I asked him what was wrong, and he stared at me like a deer in the headlights. He said he felt sick and had to go, and the guy just bolted right out the door.

It was the morning of November 30 when everything went wrong. As I drove to my restaurant, I saw smoke rising in the distance. I became more and more worried the closer I got. My suspicions were confirmed when I came within view of the restaurant and saw police officers standing around the ruined husk of my restaurant.

It was explained to me that my restaurant had been struck by lightning the night before, that it was just an unfortunate accident but that my insurance probably covered it. That was all I really caught, because partway through, my attention shifted to my employee. He was standing there, staring really intensely at the restaurant, with his hands in his coat pockets. His eyes, which were usually brown, were this pale blue color. It made his gaze even more striking. I thought maybe he'd gotten colored contacts. It seemed like the kind of thing he'd do. Still, it was a little unsettling.

I noticed something out of the corner of my eye and turned to see a flock of crows flying out of the restaurant as it burned, though they seemed perfectly fine. When I turned back to my employee, I saw that he was looking up at the crows too. He looked freaked-out and shook his head a little, like he was trying to convince himself he wasn't seeing what he was seeing. He turned his back to the restaurant and started to walk away, though he turned back a few times as though to check nothing had changed since his last glimpse at the restaurant.

Everything proceeded normally after that, or at least as normally as it could have. I ended up working at my friend Barry's place- which felt like a bit of a step down from owning my own restaurant, but whatever- and using the insurance money from the restaurant burning down to save up a bit to hopefully reopen it. It just really opened my eyes to how much of your life can be destroyed in one fell swoop, one bolt of lightning, you know?

But even that hasn't lasted.

I think my employee's started stalking me. I mean, whenever it storms out, I'll look and he'll just be standing outside my window, or sitting at a table in Barry's, even if he hadn't been there a moment before the weather turned bad. It's really messing me up. Every time it starts getting stormy, he'll just show up out of nowhere. He never seems to get wet from rain, or cold from snow, or scared by lightning. And there are crows surrounding him constantly, too, which is really weird- I mean, it's not like the guy ever liked crows. They've always seemed to freak him out too much for him to feed them. But ever since the day the two of us saw the burned-out restaurant, they're always there, staring at me just as intently as he is.

I've called the police, but nothing's ever come of it. It seems like he can just kind of disappear and reappear whenever he wants. That's why I'm talking to you about all this- people aren't really supposed to be able to do that, after all. Point is, each time I think I can almost get the police to show up in time for him, he'll just vanish. It makes me feel so helpless.

I don't know what he's planning to do. Maybe he doesn't have any plans, just wants to creep me out. Well, if that's the case, it's working.

I keep having nightmares about being carried away by thousands of birds, seeing the ground so far below as it's raining and thundering, bolts of lightning arcing from their wings.

They are so many, and I am so small.

Analysis
For once, we have an anonymous account that I can actually verify. However, to protect my source's privacy, I don't plan on explaining the specifics of my verification process. Suffice it to say that everything Alex and I could find confirms this account as far as mundane details go, although obviously no newspapers have published anything about a man surrounded by crows and able to teleport.

Unfortunately, I don't think Alex and I could really do much to help here, given the nature of this particular account. For now, it would probably be best for us to focus on our own issues, namely Harold Miller- or what's left of him, anyways.