A Visit to Shitty Pillar
From The Birdhouse
"Do you wanna visit Shitty Pillar?"
Owl bounces on their heels as they smile hopefully at Finch, who is still gazing up at the Tomb of Grock. He contemplates for a moment, hands in his pockets, and then shrugs.
"Yeah. Sure."
"Really!?" Owl gasps, smiling growing even wider. They flap their hands and spin around to face the giant pillar of dirt in the distance. "Yay! Let's go!"
They start to walk, but the bubbling buildup of energy from Finch's entire visit is too much to hold and they hop every few steps, fluttering their fingers as they go.
Halfway there, they remember something. Back when Shitty Pillar was at Spawn, looming over Finch's birdhouse— he wasn't very happy about it. Said she was an eyesore. A nuisance.
Owl stops and turns to Finch, a few strides behind. They open their mouth to apologize, but nothing comes out. Anxiety sucks all the happiness away, and they rip their gaze from Finch's raised eyebrow.
Shitty Pillar's existence was mostly their fault, after all, they came up with the idea. Finch probably thinks they're annoying, too. But saying that out loud would ruin the fun, and he already doesn't look like he's having very much fun.
Why did they bring up Shitty Pillar? Should've just let Finch go, but they were so desperate for more time with him that they brought up the one thing in Hill Valley that he probably hates the most. They're so stupid. Why'd they even bother calling him back to finish the tour, he said he was busy, and they're ruining it for real now, the way he's staring at them—
"Um," they say, voice stilted as they struggle to come up with the words that'd save this whole situation. "Shitty Pillar says she's sorry. For, um. When she was at Spawn. If she was bothering you."
Finch is silent for a few moments, expression unreadable. Finally, he says, "I don't understand how that pillar of dirt is communicating to you."
They didn't think very far ahead on that one.
"Me neither," they blurt, and whip back around to continue the journey.
"Okay?" Finch mutters, following reluctantly along.
The pair reach Shitty Pillar, in all her beautiful dirt glory. Owl gestures proudly at the structure, warmth filling their heart at the sight of their gorgeous friend.
"Isn't she pretty?" they ask. "And... and she's so tall! All the way up 'til you can't build anymore!"
Finch takes out his spyglass and cranes his neck to look up at her, far above the clouds. The storm from earlier has faded, leaving a dull blue sky. Sunlight absorbs readily into the dirt and gives her a warm, healthy glow.
"Yeah, I guess so," he says.
He pockets the spyglass and when he looks back to Owl, a little stab of something shoots through their heart. His eyes are so... dark, and wide, and the circles underneath are deeper than they ever thought possible. It's not fear, exactly, that they're feeling. It's something else. They can't quite put a name to it.
Finch says, "It's longer than you think."
A beat of silence passes between them. The feeling dissipates as quickly as it came. Owl tilts their head.
"Taller than you think?" they correct, confused.
He sighs. "Yeah. Taller than you think." He looks around, shoulders tense. "If that's all you have to show me...?"
Owl fidgets with their fingers. They don't want him to leave, but, "Um. Yeah."
"Okay. Then I'll—"
Their head turns a touch to the right. Just enough to let them see the hill in the distance, and the eye carved into its side. The same shape as the one that they'd noticed on their roof earlier. The same shape as the ones watching from the backs of their signs. They gasp, fear spiking up their throat. Instinctively, they reach out to grab Finch's shoulders and pull him closer. But they stop right before making contact, hovering over the stormy blue-gray threads of his coat.
They pull back their hands to a raptor position at their chest, grateful that he was already facing the other direction and didn't seem to notice. Shakily, they say, "I dunno how long that's been there, 'cause I've been busy with Hill Valley and haven't visited Shitty Pillar in a while and um... that's scary. It's watching her."
He stares at the eye some more. It's hard to read the look on his face when the mask covers half of it, covered in black residue. "Yeah, that's, uh. That's weird."
Finch looks around again. As his eyes pass over Owl's leg, they narrow and grow ever so slightly darker. Owl doesn't notice. Not that it would help anything if they did.
"I'm gonna go," says Finch, sounding very much like he wishes he was already gone.
"Oh, okay," they mumble. They steel themself, put on a grin, and say, "Bye, god. I had lots of—"
He disappears in a puff of smoke.
They're left alone with Shitty Pillar, whose shadow is a little less comforting than it was before. The eye watches, cold and oppressing. Suddenly they don't want to be here either.
"...fun."
When they return to their apartment, they sit down at their desk and open their journal to write about what happened. So many emotions! Most of them happy, some of them sad. Lots of things they don't want to forget.
There are two words scrawled on the page, in handwriting that's not their own.
im sorry.