Chapter 5 :

The pulse knocked out everyone in the town in an instant   

You wake up with your face in the damp sand 

You feel a bit disorientated 

You get slowly to your feet and see everyone sitting up and brushing themselves down, rubbing their eyes, looking around to see what happened

You look over to the Raven 

He is laying on the beach beside you, still unconscious

Then the most extraordinary thing happens …

He begins to glow.

You look over at Babbington.

She has just got to her feet and steps forward to touch him - but she burns her hand and steps back. 

The skin of her hand is blistered.

The Raven glows brighter and brighter until his whole body is consumed by a blinding light – as if you were looking at the sun. 

You turn your face away for a few seconds

When you turn back you see that all that is left of the Raven is a thin layer of ash in the sand 

Suddenly 

All of the birds fly up into the sky, circle around and float back down to the ground as children.  

You cannot believe what is happening

Their parents run over to them, tears of relief pouring down their faces.  

They cry out their names

More and more birds fly up and then turn back into children - Dutch, Japanese, Syrian, Bangladishi and Swiss.

Percy Cluck walks down the beach towards you 

You’d better get that looked at 

He says to Babbington 

He kicks the ash into the sand  

And looks at you with sad eyes

Well done 606   he says   

Good job

The bird slaves have been freed.  

The local people take them into their homes.  

They phone the children’s parents 

They are overwhelmed by the tortured cries on the end of the phones.  

All of these children thought Lost and dead come back to life 

The children of the town share their rooms.  

Their clothes.  

Their things. 

With the poor lost children

They are wrapped in blankets. 

Because they have forgotten how to wear clothes 

They pick at breadcrumbs   

They nibble seeds.  

They have forgotten how to eat.  

They squark their words 

They have forgotten how to speak 

They stand and wait.   

They are too scared to make any decisions for themselves 

At the edge of the beach.  

Perching on a broken branch. 

The smallest and the saddest child stands alone

They look the most lost of all

You walk up to them very quietly   

and very gently take them by their tiny hand  

It feels very cold and frail in yours

You lead them in silence back to the waiting helicopter  

They come without question. 

“You are coming home with me” you say 

And you lift them up into the cabin, where Percy Cluck is preparing for take-off 

And Agent Babbington holds out both her hands and pulls you in.

You ask them to drop you off at the end of your street 

And then you walk, side by side, with the little bird child 

Down the rain-soaked pavement, 

Looking into the windows of the houses that you pass.

You see warm lights and TVs on, pots cooking and dogs.

When you reach your home, your family are at the front door, waiting

They move aside so you can lead the child straight into the kitchen.  

You feed them pasta and ice cream until they are sleepy. 

Then you tuck them up in your bed.  

And you sleep on the floor next to them in a blanket so they feel safe and not alone any more

While you sleep - plane loads of parents with bursting hearts travel faster than the speed of light to be with their children.

Drawn to their destination by the impatient force of their love

Like electromagnets pulling them back together again. 

When you wake up in the morning the bird child is still sleeping.  

They make bird noises in their sleep 

They dream of flying 

You hear strange voices coming from the kitchen

You stand quietly outside of your room and see your family holding up a tiny man overwhelmed by his feelings 

They help him walk towards you.   

You see his red eyes  

And shaking hands  

and your family look at you and their smile is grateful and full of concern 

You stay outside the room 

your family bring you to the kitchen and cook a wonderful breakfast feast

you cannot eat fast enough, you are so hungry. 

 All of your favourite foods for breakfast.  

Everything you love, you see in front of you. 

 And you eat and eat and eat 

And then you and your family start to talk about everything that has happened and you talk and talk and talk and talk   

As you tell your story, you hear gasps and laughter and Screams and questions.  

So many questions 

And suddenly there is silence.  

And you turn to see the tiny bird child perched on the shoulders of the broken man.  

And together they look 10 feet tall 

And the bird child looks at you and smiles the biggest wisest smile you have, and ever will, see

And you start to laugh.  

And everybody laughs until their sides hurt 

A week later you are standing at the centre of the place where you live with all of your friends 

An open topped bus pulls up next to you and you climb the steep steps to the top.  

At the top you look all around   

And as far as you can see are people. 

People from where you live.  

Waving flags and banners and every one has your name on it.  

You look around and read them all     

You start to wave and everyone waves back.  

Cheering.  

Throwing ticka tape and confetti 

Fireworks filling the sky with colour and smoke 

Everyone has come out to thank you 

You hold up your hands 

and slowly everyone hushes until there is no sound to be heard from the thousands of people crowded around you    

You speak into a microphone at the front of the bus so everyone can hear you 

Thankyou so much for coming     You say in a clear voice 

I hope you are all having a lovely party to celebrate your freedom from the mind control of the evil raven 

Everyone cheers 

But there is no need to thank me 

I was just doing the job I have trained for 

And you put down the microphone 

And you get down from the bus 

and you sneak out through the crowds 

and you go home to your room and you get into bed and you sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep - for the whole weekend because now you can - because the raven has gone. 

And the danger is over