The Hazard Bird
My dad drove me and my little brother to the store and left us there while he went to get groceries. I was about twelve at the time, and my brother was about seven. We were both bored, playing I Spy in the parking lot and all, and my brother wanted to know what the hazard light on the car dashboard meant.
I told him that if he hit the hazard button, the Hazard Bird would come down from its roost and snatch him up and carry him away. I also told him that he could never bring this up to our father, because he’d lost a grandfather to the Hazard Bird, and was very sensitive to mentions of the Hazard Bird.
My brother acted very careful to never mention the Hazard Bird when our dad got back in the car. He even looked kind of haunted. My brother came to me last year and told me he’d figured out the whole Hazard Bird thing was a lie. He was sixteen. Story credit: Reddit / daisy_chain