Black On Black

Written for MLMM Monday Wordle;
the prompt words are shown below.
Here’s where the prompts took me.

crow ~ window ~ near ~ time ~ expect ~ flight
message ~ begin ~ stars ~ regret ~ smart ~ dark

No one thought to expect a crow at the window …. not at that time of night, when the stars were swallowed whole by something older than clouds.

It came without warning …. without flight, almost …. as though it had simply appeared there, black against the black, tapping the glass with the patience of a thing that does not begin so much as continue.

The message it carried was folded tight, sealed with wax, sanguine in color. The handwriting inside was smart, precise, and familiar in a way that made the stomach drop.

You were warned to stay near.

Nothing more, nothing less,

Outside, the dark pressed in from every direction. She stood very still, her breath a ghost against the cold pane, turning the note over and over, already feeling the slow bloom of regret for every door she’d opened, every secret she’d followed down into the earth like a root looking for water it would never find.

The crow had vanished. It always does.

NAR©2026
#MLMM
#Wordle

This is “Bones for the Crows” by Nickelback

MLMM Monday Wordle #480

^{Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.}