The Bleeding Straw: A Short Story

The Bleeding Straw, Written by Matt Allen & ChatGPT-4

The taste of entrails was bitter on the Scarecrow’s tongue, his sharp teeth easily tearing through the dead crow’s flesh. He had been living in this dark corner of Oz for too long, a place where the once-brilliant colors had faded to shades of gray. The sun never seemed to break through the thick, swirling clouds overhead, casting a constant gloom over the desolate landscape.

His brain lay in a lumpy, wet puddle of red beside him, but the Scarecrow couldn’t remember why. What was once the seat of his thoughts and dreams was now nothing more than a lifeless mass. He felt an intense longing for a new brain, a hunger that gnawed at him like the crows he feasted upon.

As he trudged through the barren fields, the Scarecrow encountered other twisted creatures, their forms distorted by the darkness that had swallowed this forgotten corner of Oz. Trees loomed overhead, their gnarled branches casting eerie shadows on the ground, and the wind whispered menacing secrets through the tall, withered grass.

He stumbled upon the remains of a once-thriving village, now reduced to rubble and decay. The Scarecrow could feel the despair that clung to the place like a disease, and he knew that somewhere within this desolation, the key to his new brain awaited.