“God damn it.”
I stand in front of my field, sighing, looking ahead at my crops. The corn, wheat, and vegetables I had been harvesting and growing the day before had been eaten, destroyed by birds. My wife, Jane, walks out of the house and gets next to me, tightening her robe.
“What happened, honey?” She says to me as I continue looking into the field. I look back at her.
“Damn birds must’ve eaten the crops last night,” I respond, mildly irritated. “I thought we put the scarecrow up for a reason, so our crops wouldn’t go to waste to these stupid birds,” I look at the scarecrow, which was near the middle of the field.
Jane puts a hand on my shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. We can just regrow them,” she pats my shoulder as I let out a deep breath to control my frustration.
“You’re right. I’m just…” I stay silent momentarily as I glance at Jane. “…Tired.” I kiss her on the forehead, beginning to walk into the field toward the scarecrow.
I walked into the field, moving the tall crops around, taking steady steps as I got closer. I take a few more steps before getting in front of the scarecrow, looking up at it. I shook my head as I gazed at its arms stretched to its side, its cut-in eye holes with no life in them.
“Well then,” I say up to the scarecrow as if I was going to get a response back. “You didn’t do your job, you straw bastard,”
I watched as the wind started blowing its hat forward, the old clothes it was wearing moving with it, flapping in the wind. I shook my head as I moved my hands up at it, readjusting it higher on its pole. It looked like it had slid down a bit. I was wondering if the birds could even see it, even if the crops weren’t that tall. I searched the area to see if any birds were flying by but I didn’t.
I stuck the scarecrow at the top of the pole, making sure it stayed in place before I walked out of the field and back into the house. I snatched my car keys from the counter and walked back outside to my truck, preparing to go to the store to pick up more seeds since I was running out.
What did confuse me was the fact that nearly overnight, my crops had grown, and that just isn’t possible. I use a good fertilizer but it doesn’t speed up the process. It struck me as extremely out of the ordinary but I never thought much of it and considered it more of a blessing, though I should’ve been more weary about it.
If you couldn’t tell already, me and my wife Jane lived on a farm. I’m fairly young, but I grew up on a farm with my father. He passed away 2 years ago, and it continues to pain me to this day. Before, we lived in a suburban neighborhood, but we decided to buy a house on a farm after his death so we could carry on his lifestyle, and live a quieter life.
I made it to our local store, which is about a mile from our house. I really didn’t want to harvest crops, but unfortunately, the scarecrow was a piece of shit, so I had to. I got out of my car, putting my keys in my pocket as I walked through the doors.
Upon walking into the store, I saw what seemed like a homeless man shaking, moving around in circles near the baskets, mumbling something. It looked like he was on something, but I wasn’t sure what. It unsettled me for a second, but I grabbed a basket and attempted to walk past the man. I wasn’t able to, though.
As I walked past him, going towards the aisle where the seeds were, I felt the homeless man tap me on the shoulder. I was about to simply ignore him and keep walking, but I didn’t feel like being rude, so I turned around and faced him. His face was greasy and muddy, and his beard was scruffy, almost completely tangled. He had nearly no hair on his head, and the little hair he had looked like they had been electrocuted. He was wearing a torn leather jacket. He continued shaking as he looked at me.
“Can I help you?” I ask him, getting impatient. He doesn’t respond for a moment, just continues shaking, looking around anxiously. He starts rubbing his body as if he was cold. This man definitely wasn’t okay.
“What are you doing here?” He eventually says in a shaky, almost childlike voice, putting me on edge. I look around nervously, seeing people walk by, giving the homeless man disgusted looks.
“Uh… I’m just here to buy some seeds, man. I’m trying to harvest crops,” I hesitate before responding back. The homeless man trembles as he nods his head in silence, continuing to shake.
“Why’s that?” He says in the same shaky voice. I start getting more impatient.
“Because some birds must’ve come into the field last night and ate most of the crops I grew yesterday. I have a scarecrow, but…” I stopped mid-sentence as I rubbed my forehead, resting my pinkie finger on my right cheekbone. I couldn’t believe I was telling this to a homeless guy who clearly had mental issues. I turned around to walk away before the man said something else.
“Oh, I don’t trust scarecrows. Not at all,” his voice gets less shaky. This time, his voice was calmer and more controlled. I turn back around after he says that, chuckling.
“Why not?” I continued chuckling, looking at his face again. He wasn’t moving as much now. In fact, he was almost entirely still. He was looking up at me now, with what looked like fear in his eyes. I slowly stopped chuckling, starting to get a little freaked out.
“Because they can hurt you, they can hypnotize you, you can get trapped inside of them…” He says in a slow, monotone voice. I nervously took a step back, his eyes getting wild at this point.
“Yeah… I believe you, dude. Nice talking to you, though,” I say, turning around and walking towards the aisle where the seeds were. I looked behind me and saw the homeless guy was still standing there, watching me. He slowly goes back to what he was doing when I came in. Shaking and moving around in circles. I breathed a sigh of relief when I was away. I was surprised he wasn’t kicked out yet, since he seemed to be a bother to the customers.
I won’t bore anyone with the rest of that day, but most of it was spent harvesting the crops again and making sure the scarecrow was adjusted enough for the birds to see it. I didn’t want them to come through again and eat the crops for a second time. By the end of the day, I was exhausted.
That night when I got into bed, Jane was already in bed, reading something on her phone. I got in next to her, pulling the blanket over myself. I saw her draw her attention from her phone over to me.
“I could’ve helped you, you know,” She says to me. She had asked me earlier if I needed any help harvesting, and I declined. “You probably wouldn’t be so tired,”
“It was a lot of crops. I didn’t want to have you slave out there too,” I responded, getting on my side, facing her.
Jane puts her phone on her nightstand, plugging it into her charger, and turns off her lamp. She gets on her side, facing me as well. “I have a bad feeling about that scarecrow,” she says quietly to me. I raise my eyebrow.
“It’s just a scarecrow, Jane. It can’t do anything to you,” I spoke quietly as well. Jane rolls her eyes at me.
“It just doesn’t seem like a normal scarecrow, I don’t know,” she says again. I start snickering as I kiss her. I run my fingers through her hair, putting an arm around her.
“Babe, I know it’s a little freaky to look at, but I promise you it’s just a normal scarecrow. Nothing more,” I reassure her.
“I trust you, then,” She responds, letting out a little sigh. “Goodnight,” she says to me, smiling. I smile back.
“Goodnight,” I say back as I close my eyes, drifting off to sleep.
The next morning I woke up at around 8 AM. I looked to my side and saw that Jane was still fast asleep. I rubbed my eyes as the sun began shining through the curtains, lighting up the room. I slowly got up, stretching, as I walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs.
In the mornings, the first thing I do is check on the field, to make sure there wasn’t anybody in our yard and to see how the field was doing. I slipped my sandals on as I walked out of the door towards the field.
I started examining the field closely, my heart sinking as I saw the crops I had just grown yesterday were already grown and eaten by birds again.
I nearly started screaming in anger, but I controlled it as I sat down on the porch, sitting there for a while, staring into the field. It didn’t make sense. How were the birds eating our crops with the scarecrow? Was it not scaring them away?
In the middle of my thoughts, Jane shortly came out, leisurely sitting beside me. I noticed her sitting next to me, and I looked down, scrutinizing the pebbles under my feet.
“The birds get to the crops again?” She asks me, looking into the field. I nod my head, sighing in frustration.
“Yup,” I respond with no other words. I studied the scarecrow, staring at it from its distance, wondering what the hell was wrong with it, why it wasn’t scaring the birds away from the field. I stand up as I say; “I’m going to give that scarecrow one more chance tonight before I throw it out,”
I began walking into the field again, planning on seeing what about the scarecrow was having no effect on the birds. I wasn’t witnessing the birds come into the field firsthand, but it was the only explanation at the time because they’re the only things that eat the crops.
I walked into the field again, looking at the eaten crops in annoyance. The hard work and time I put into harvesting them yesterday were for nothing, but as I looked closer at the crops, slowing my movements, I started quavering in fear as a realization hit me.
It didn’t look like birds were eating the crops. It looked like a human, or something humanoid was eating them.
I think back to the other day, wondering if it also looked like a human was eating the crops, but I didn’t know. If this was true, this means someone has been going on our property and roaming through our field. I shivered as I walked out of the field.
As I walked out, Jane noticed that I looked more frightened than before as she jogs up to me quickly. She puts her arms on my shoulders. I was still trembling as she looked up at me with worry.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” She says to me, genuine worry in her voice. I look at her as I point behind me at the field, feeling myself gulp, tightening my jaw.
“The crops… I think a person has been eating them,” I manage to say, almost regretting telling Jane. I watch her eyes widen in fear as she passes her eyes at the field.
“W-What? Does that mean someone has been on our property?” Jane says, clenching onto me tighter. I shrug my shoulders.
“It seems so. I… I don’t know what the fuck it means,” I say as I start walking Jane to the house. As we get into the house and close the front door, Jane lets go of me, fear still remaining on her face. I talk again; “Hey, it’s going to be okay. I’ll harvest the crops again, and I’ll be more alert tonight. Trust me,”
I look at Janes’s face, seeing the fear start to disappear as she appears to be looking more comforted. “I think I’m okay now… That’s still just so… Odd,”
“I know. I need to get the seeds again, looks like I’m working all day again to fix all the crops,” I tell her, beginning to go to the garage. I heard Jane say something to herself, but I couldn’t tell what she was saying. I didn’t think too much of it as I got back to work for the majority of the day.
Harvesting the crops started becoming a nightmare. It was basically becoming an everyday thing now. Replacing them was even worse, as they were going to be perfectly fine and fresh. We were running low on food anyway, so we really needed the crops to stay intact, but with the last couple of nights, it’s certainly not only been annoying, but with what I figured out about someone or something eating the crops and not birds, it really made everything worst and more terrifying.
When it was 7, that was when I went up to bed and passed out. I had been working nearly that entire day, and I was already stressed enough. I was hoping the crops wouldn’t get eaten tonight, and I hoped no one would come into the field at night. That thought was getting into my dreams that night, making me helpless in my own mind.
I woke up later at midnight to the sound of movement in the field and the ruffling of the crops. I didn’t know what time it was. 12? 1? Maybe even 2? I didn’t know, and I didn’t bother to check. Once my ears started paying attention to the noise, my heart started dropping little by little as I realized that something was in the field.
I turned to my side to see if Jane was awake, to tell her that somebody was in the field, and to not panic.
Jane wasn’t in bed, though.
I looked at the empty spot in the bed as I started to get afraid. Had Jane woken up first and gone out to investigate the noises? That seemed like the only logical answer at first, and I started getting worried for her safety. I got up from my bed and ran out of the room, running down the stairs and quickly getting my sandals on.
I opened the front door and stepped out, feeling the cool air of the night hitting my body, chilling me. I surveyed the property from the porch. I didn’t see anyone, and as I stepped off the porch, I that there wasn’t any more noise coming from inside the field.
Even with the silence, there was still a possibility that there was someone in the field and that Jane was in it too. I went towards the field and walked in, paying attention to my surroundings.
As I walked into the field and looked at the crops, I noticed that some of them looked slightly eaten. I sighed looking at them. They had been eaten again, but by somebody yet again, so that confirmed to me that someone had to be in here.
As I continued moving through the field, I started calling Jane’s name. “Jane?” I yelled out, hearing my voice echo throughout the field. I listened for an answer. Nothing.
I took a few more steps forward, moving through crops, feeling them poke into my calves. “Jane?” I yell out again, this time a little louder. Once again, no response back, the words just reverberate with no outcome.
I quickly got more worried as the thought of her being gone, or even worse, dead, started flooding my mind. I still needed to see if there was an intruder in the field, because I knew for a fact there was.
It got so quiet in the field that you could hear a pin drop. I could barely hear the crickets chirping, as I pushed through the crops some more. I continued calling Jane’s name, every time to no response. I didn’t sense any potential intruder in the field, so I started figuring that they had left, but I still needed to find Jane, if she was even in the field.
I started getting more scared, as being in this field in the middle of the night was really getting on my nerves. I got to the scarecrow eventually, bumping into it by accident. I grabbed it to keep it from falling down, and went around, stopping to look at it. It looked the same. It was still adjusted the same way, in the same position, and the void in its eyes was still there.
As I admired the scarecrow, I suddenly heard what sounded like chewing coming from a few feet behind me. I whirled around to face the direction it was coming from, a looming fear falling over me. I didn’t think an intruder would still be here, but right now, there was still something eating my crops. I walked as quietly as I possibly could to the noise, and with every step I took closer, I started seeing a figure hunched over a crop, eating it.
I started getting terrified as I didn’t know who it was in the dark. My tranquil movement continued as I got closer and closer, and as I got closer to it, the figure started to get more familiar. It continued biting into the crop and as I took another step closer, I realized who it was.
It was Jane.
“Jane?” My voice quivers in disbelief. I watch as Jane rapidly snaps her head at me, letting go of the crop. Her eyes were devoid of anything, almost like buttons. She looked paler than she normally does, but everything else was the same. I was too afraid to move, I was stuck in place.
“There you are, baby,” she says, forming a crooked smile. She takes a step forward, twirling her hands around. “These crops are so good, you do a great job at harvesting them!”
I start stuttering as I try saying something else. “What’s wrong with you? What- What’s happening?” I sputter out. Jane continues smiling at me, almost menacingly. I swallow hard.
“Because, you just do such a good job on these crops, and, they’re just sooo good!” Janes’s skin gets paler, almost cracking, as the sky gets darker. I was still in shock, starting to get terrified of my own wife. “But I think I know what to do now. What a wonderful feeling and thought I had been getting for the past couple of days!”
I tried to say something, but I couldn’t form any words. I tried to move, but I was in too much shock and fear to do that either. All I could do was watch as Jane moved closer and closer to me. “I think the scarecrow was a good idea, honey…” She starts saying to me, and as she started putting her hands on me, I blacked out.
I woke up in darkness. I didn’t know where I was, and I didn’t even know how long I’d been unconscious. Hours? Days? I didn’t know. I tried to move, but I couldn’t. It was like I was restricted to something. I tried my best to move some more, but every time I did, I was held back.
I tried to move my arms, but I couldn’t move those either. As I got some feeling back in my body, I realized that my arms were stretched to their sides. I tried to move them down, but I couldn’t. I also soon comprehended that I was above the ground. I was still in darkness, I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t feel fear yet, but I was getting anxious.
I started feeling something poking into my arms and my back, something rough and almost sharp. It felt like straw. I soon felt my back up against something too, and my head was slightly tilted to the side.
As I continued trying to move, my eyes started to see sunshine from ahead of me, but only a minuscule amount of it. I blinked a couple of times to see if I could see better, and while I was still in darkness, I noticed it looked like there were 2 holes in front of me. 2 holes in the same place my eyes would be.
I looked out the holes and saw nothing but crops and the clouds in the sky. I tried to move my head, but could only moderately move it. I felt something covering my mouth, and it felt like a hat was on top of my head.
As I looked out the holes, staring at the crops, it all hit me, and I was horrified. I tried to scream, but no noise came out. It was as if my lips were stitched together.
I was trapped inside the scarecrow.
I tried swinging my legs, but my legs were restricted, it felt like they were nailed to the pole, the straws were poking into my skin the more I moved, almost cutting through my flesh, and the continuous screams I tried to let out never unleashed, as much as my throat tried to make noise, it just never came out.
After what seemed like hours, I finally stopped moving and accepted that I was trapped, stuck inside this scarecrow, my new body. I haven’t tried screaming since, and I just stayed there as a scarecrow should. I feel like I’m suffocating every second though. I feel like the walls are closing in on me. I can only look at the crops. They’re the only things I see. I barely see Jane. Just crops. The only thing I see.
Sometimes Jane lets me off the pole so I can move around and go into the house. She never says anything to me and she still looks pale. My limbs always feel tight and my bones feel held back. It does feel nice for my arms to not be stretched to the side for a while though.
I managed to crawl, basically limp up the stairs, and go into the bedroom, which is how I’m typing this out now; in an attempt to get help, so somebody here can help me escape this hell. I’m tired of only seeing crops, the only thing I see. The scarecrow is becoming a part of me, and it did something to Jane. I don’t know how much longer I have before I have to go back to my place. To watch over the field. Like a scarecrow should.
I’ve already tried ripping the scarecrow off of me, to get out of it with my now free arms but nothing works, I’m practically stuck in it. I don’t know how much longer I can live like this. It’s getting harder to breathe. The head is getting tighter now. Whenever I move, it’s like I’m experiencing growing pains with every step.
Please let me out, Jane. Please help me.