The Falcon

Featuring an employee and a bird

Jun 11, 2026

coming up next…

Meredith was at work the first time she saw the falcon.

The rest of her coworkers had left by that point, but she remained, determined to finish a project she’d procrastinated for weeks. She sat at her desk in the dark, illuminated only by the faint white glow of her computer screen. Eventually she grew tired, and her perfect posture turned into a slump. She checked the time: 9:36 PM.

“Shit,” she said, and she promptly began packing up her things.

Meredith’s office was a maze of cubicle walls and fluorescent lights. With each turn, she found herself checking over her shoulder to make sure nobody was following her through the dimly-lit corridors. Her exit was an elevator: two stainless-steel doors at the opposite end of the hallway she was staring down.

Just before the elevator, however, there stood a peculiar silhouette obscuring her vision. From afar, it looked like a big-nosed man wearing a shadowy cloak. The figure was tall, slender, and angular—its head looked like a meaty fishhook with glimmering black eyes. At its base, jagged talons dug into the ground. Meredith immediately recognized the shape: the silhouette was that of a falcon, only humanoid in form and clothed in an oversized suit.

She doubled back and took the stairs out of the office.

Meredith wasn’t close with any of her coworkers. Sure, she made idle chit-chat with them at the water cooler and asked what they were having for lunch on occasion, but for the most part she took comfort in remaining invisible to her colleagues. So, Dale was understandably puzzled when she told him about the falcon after a team meeting.

“First of all, Meredith, I don’t think anyone here has worked overtime past 9 PM. Second, if there’s a falcon in the office, that seems like a problem you’d better mention to the building manager—not me.”

Meredith huffed. “It’s not just a falcon, Dale. It was like, human—it was wearing a suit.”

Dale sighed. “A falcon wearing a suit. Gotcha.”

“I know you don’t believe me. And yeah, it’s weird! I just thought you’d take it somewhat seriously if I confided in you.”

“I’m sorry Meredith, but I have a presentation due tomorrow—I just can’t entertain this right now. Don’t you have work to do too?” Before she could answer, Dale stood up and walked back to his desk.

That evening, Meredith waited until the last of her coworkers went home. Once all the lights were off, she rose from her cubicle and followed the same path she had the night before. She reached the final hallway before the elevator and, as she expected, the same anthropomorphic falcon stood guarding the metal doors, imposing and unmoving in an unchanged black suit. Meredith stifled her breath and approached the figure one step at a time. With each pace, the hallway felt longer, the fluorescent lights paler. Each step suddenly required conscious effort. One more step, she told herself, just one more step. From about five yards away, she saw the figure with new eyes.

Its talons were dark mahogany, curved delicately to grip the carpet beneath them. The legs and torso were hidden by a flowing black trench coat, its bold collar which she mistook for feathers. The head was not a falcon’s but a conspicuously-placed newsboy cap. The fishhook beak didn’t belong to an avian, either: it was merely the curved wooden arm of a coat rack.

Meredith looked around the otherwise empty room, expecting the real falcon-man to appear, but nothing came. Was her vision getting that bad? She didn’t think so, but maybe it could have declined after countless hours spent in front of her office computer. She waited at the end of the hallway for a few more moments, silently hoping for an answer, a revelation of some sort. Still nothing. She pressed the button to call up the elevator.

“So it was a coat rack…Got it,” Dale said, his eyes fixed on the water cooler.

“You’re not getting it,” Meredith continued. “Why would someone leave the same coat and hat on a coat rack two nights in a row—especially after everyone else had left by that point? And I’m telling you, it still looked like the same falcon. It’s uncanny.”

Dale backed away from the water cooler with his thermos in hand. “Listen, Meredith. I say this with respect for you as a person, but…you’re getting older…and at this age, sometimes the brain stops functioning the way it’s supposed t—”

“I don’t have dementia, Dale. I know what I saw. Yes, it’s weird. And you’re allowed to think it’s stupid. But that doesn’t mean I’m crazy.”

“Okay,” he relented, “I’m just trying to look out for you.” Then he walked away.

Meredith sat at her cubicle desk, feeling like a prisoner caught trying to escape their cell. Her computer search bar read, “anthropomorphic falcon wearing suit.” Of course, nothing of substance came up. Then, a tap on her shoulder.

“Meredith, can we chat in my office for a second?” It was her boss, Denise, standing tall above the cubicle walls in an authoritative burgundy pantsuit.

Meredith closed the tab on her computer and hesitated: “Uh—sure. Yeah.”

“Okay, follow me.”

Denise prowled through the cubicle maze like a lioness scouting its prey, Meredith a meerkat following in her wake. When they reached the private office, Denise shut the door, inviting nothing but silence.

“I assume you know why we’re having this chat,” Denise said. Meredith was unsure if she meant it as a question or a statement.

“The falcon?” Meredith said.

“The what?”

“Oh.” Meredith paused. “I thought Dale might’ve mentioned that I saw this man-falcon—this falcon-man—wearing a suit near the elevator. It might have just been a coat rack, but the coat and hat were placed so weirdly, and—”

“Let me stop you there, Meredith. I know you’re a good person. It would take a fool not to see that. But let’s back up for a minute.” Denise’s words were firm, like a scolding mother’s. “You had a big project due a couple weeks ago. I reminded you about the deadline a week before it came—something I never have to do with your other colleagues—and…the deadline came and went. We both know this isn’t the first time you’ve forgotten about a project like this. Remember the team-bonding exercise I put you in charge of?”

Meredith nodded.

“Right. So, I’ve already outsourced most of your work to Kathy and Peter. I would give you a second chance, but unfortunately my hands are tied after you’ve proven time and time again that you can’t handle simple work responsibilities.”

Meredith’s lip quivered. “What you’re saying is…you’re firing me?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Dreary lights flickered above Meredith as she walked down the familiar hallway with a box of her belongings. The coat rack was still there, its fake-falcon clothes placed in the same stupid spot. She pressed the elevator button to send her to the first floor, her box of things trembling in her arms as she reached for it. The doors started to close. Before they shut completely, however, Meredith spotted something—someone—at the other end of the corridor. A tall, feathered creature stood solemnly at the edge of her gaze; it had black marble eyes and wore a dignified black suit. A yellow-gray beak protruded from its sharp face. Like a marionette pulled by strings, the humanoid falcon raised its right wing and waved at Meredith, almost as if it was saying goodbye. She started sweating, nearly dropping her box of stuff. The elevator doors closed, and Meredith descended.