The flash from the phone cut across the darkness like lightning streaking across the sky.
Everyone got the feeling that something really bad was about to happen. Everything that happened next almost seemed to happen in slow motion. Like something out of a movie.
Pink screamed, an enraged shriek that made the ice crack. The bird jerked back as though struck by a bullet or something heavy. Its feathers moved up to cover its eyes like the flash was blinding. It raised its wings far up and they reflected in the moonlight.
Some people closed their eyes and the bird swooped down with the wing spread out like a fan and it sliced off the hand that held the phone.
Then the air split with another sound, a human cry this time: Sheldon's. It echoed raw and broken through the forest and snow.
"My hand!" He cried, stumbling backwards suddenly afraid of the creature. His phone which was still clutched in the hand of his mutilated arm lay on the crimson snow.
