{"id":1321,"date":"2025-10-30T19:37:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T19:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/?p=1321"},"modified":"2025-10-30T19:37:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T19:37:26","slug":"2nd-place-winner-of-spooktacular-a-crow-and-its-killer-by-zoe-mayo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/2025\/10\/30\/2nd-place-winner-of-spooktacular-a-crow-and-its-killer-by-zoe-mayo\/","title":{"rendered":"2nd Place Winner of Spooktacular: A Crow and Its Killer by Zoe Mayo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cFrankly, I see it as quite the insult you waltzed into my<\/em> party and requested I hand my<\/em> case over to you.\u201d Detective Wingrove retorted, taking a step closer to her counterpart in the Vice Division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt really isn\u2019t like that,\u201d the last word caught on his lips, his hands twitching against the pockets that held them, \u201cthink about it. If we go about it this way you can still work with us and I won\u2019t go to our lieutenant. You know it\u2019s a vice case, just because some poor chap was shot at doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s a victim. He probably owes somebody money and, frankly<\/em>, I\u2019m your best bet at figuring out who and why.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomething making you nervous?\u201d A step forward closed whatever gap existed, placing them in a standoff within the dingy room that slowly shifted around the two detectives, \u201csee you at the station tomorrow. Make sure your head is on right before you grab your badge, Detective Marshall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Wingrove lifted her hand to touch the nape of her neck, making sure her jumpsuit’s clasp remained sealed, she lost her grasp. Nails caught on skin, tugging into pale flesh as she regained her senses enough to look downwards. Dark, tar-like crimson stained the room around her. It drippled from her fingers, soaked her palm, and smeared across her wrist. The bedroom, once filled with music from the event happening a story below, twisted into a room of stone and brick. A basement, buried beneath miles and miles of dirt and forest atop that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No soul \u2014 except those belonging to her and the crow she clutched in her other hand \u2014 had entered, especially not Detective Thomas Marshall\u2019s. The footsteps would have given it away, but she only saw hers embedded in the horrible red tile. The door, the same one she saw moments prior behind Marshall, now creaked with an iron lock. Wingrove felt its key around her neck, her eyes slipping between the heavy clasp and the jingling fixture attached to the door handle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am Detective Wingrove,\u201d she mumbled, pressing the crow into her chest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre you?\u201d It cawed back but remained still, its feathers coated with the same bloom as Wingrove\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes. I am Detective Nephele Wingrove and,\u201d her voice faltered, like a record player stopped mid-track, \u201cand I have to save him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSave who?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat man, the one who left.\u201d The floor came closer, faster than she had anticipated and harsher than she had remembered, \u201che left the station. We told him,\u201d her murmur became a whisper, \u201ctold him he would die. And now, now it will have been by my doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPerhaps that would not have been so if you refused Detective Marshall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m aware.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cFrankly, I see it as quite the insult you waltzed into my party and requested I hand my case over to you.\u201d Detective Wingrove retorted, taking a step closer to her counterpart in the Vice Division. \u201cIt really isn\u2019t like that,\u201d the last word caught on his lips, his hands twitching against the pockets that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":609,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/609"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1324,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321\/revisions\/1324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}