Raven's Tears

Chapter 3

Megan and I finally got back to my house and once again the old woman Ms. Angie was there with all her pearly whites showing.  She seems to be around more and more as if she had nothing else better to do but to sit in and spy on our family.  It was starting to be a bit annoying, but some of the times she could share an encouraging word or two, or maybe bring by something from her kitchen, lord knows my mother could learn a few tips from her.  I was getting tired of anything involving pasta, put some fried chicken on my plate please.

    But there was someone else there as well.  This time it was a boy.  I could see my mother pointing out a few things to him around the house, he must be some kind of handyman, but he looked so young in the face.  I looked at Megan who shrugged her shoulders and sat on the couch burying her face back into her book.  She was clearly over the afternoon as well.  But I was always the curious cat.  I saw Ms. Angie taking plates out of the cabinet and placing them on the table.  I thought it was kind of weird she was trying to completely migrate herself into our family, but my mother was cool with that as always.

    "Well, hello there sunshine," said Ms. Angie, "How was the audition?  Great I hope."

    "It was fine, I might not make it if it's solely up to prissy Blanchet."

    "Oh, so you've met the town sweetheart that's good."

    "Yeah, I guess who is he?" i watched as my mother took him to the garden.

    "Oh, that's Lawrence, he works with his father as the town handyman sometimes when his father has a lot on his plate.  I believe he's in the same grade as you and Megan."

    "I find myself running into a lot of people in my grade this afternoon.  They must try to stay busy in this boring ass town."

    "Language please...and who else did you run into?"

    "This guy named Damien.  He's handsome but his attitude sucks."

    "You ran into Damien this afternoon?" she almost looked uncomfortable at the mere thought of the two of us meeting.  That was another one of her strange reactions I keep catching onto lately.

    "What's wrong with him?  I mean he does seem a bit much but, you seem almost terrified that we met."

    "Do I dearie?  I'm sorry, any of the troublemakers in this town I would be worried about you meeting.  I just don't want you to be attracted to the wrong crowd."

    "I think I could handle my own."  I was finally to get a good glimpse of Lawrence.  He was tall and stocky probably from all the work he does.  He was wearing a fitted hat low over his eyes, but I could tell they were a deep brown like mines.  His skin reminded me of melted chocolate on a hot summer’s day.  His didn't really say much, just nodded his head and made small gestures.  He looked my way and gave a small smile in my direction; my stomach did a flip. One thing is certain was that the guys in this town wasn't doing bad on looks.  I found myself becoming even more insecure.

    "I hope the two of you are ready for the first day of school tomorrow," the table was already set, and I figured I was lost in my daydreams again.  Ms. Angie sure knew how to make a house feel like a home.  I wonder if she was close with her children.  Or how many of them did she even have.  I guess that would be a story for another day, "Megan will meet you tomorrow morning and she will ride you to school.  She finally has a reason to get behind the wheels."

    "Please Grand."

    "I'm ok Ms. Ange...I'd rather walk.  It helps me get all of my daydreams out for the day," Ms. Angie giggled at the joke.  My mother finished up with her work order and finally decided to sit down with us.  She seemed to be in better sprits today than before.  Which is one reason why Ms. Angie being there was beneficial.  She talked my mother out of therapy and encouraged her on self-help and painting again.  But knowing my mother she will find a reason to do things her way.  On another note, I had completely forgot that tomorrow school started, and I was not ready to great the rest of the world, not yet.

*

    I awoke to something or someone calling my name.  I look around my room and I could smell the fresh wood from outside, someone had opened my window.  I looked at the balcony and I could see what looked like a small girl laughing and pointing at my dance Barre.  She started to move in the moonlight and the more I looked the more I could see that her ears were larger than a normal human being.  Her features were so defined that she didn't look human at all.  Then it dawned on me that she looked like one of the creatures along my walls.  She was calling me over to her as she danced in the moonlight on the balcony and I wanted to join as she playfully pulled on my curtains. 

    "Come on," she whispered, and I found myself getting up and moving towards her.  She jumped with glee and took my hand so willingly and twirled around.  I found her rhythm and we both danced together with a huge smile on both of our faces.  Somewhere in the distance I thought I heard laughter, somewhere among the trees I thought we had an audience and I decided to put on a show.  Dancing for this girl and the hidden people of the forest.  My hair swayed within the cool breeze. I danced so hard I could feel the joints in my feet starting to ache, but still, I didn't stop.

    "Come this way," said the little girl thing as she pulled me towards the railing of the balcony.  With hidden strength she pulled me up and I still danced with balance on the bar, "faster...faster Raven," the world started to spin uncontrollably and the next thing I knew I was falling, falling into complete darkness trying to reach up to grab a hold of something, anything but everything slipped my hand until I landed onto something soft.

    "What the hell are you doing," I heard someone with a deep voice yell, it shook me to the core, "she isn't ready!  No more tricks!"  And then everything in the world went pitch black.

*

    There was pounding on my door and I could hear my mother on the other side yelling, "Raven your alarm has been going off for the past twenty minutes! Come on Megan will be here any minute now!"

    I looked around me and everything still looked the same in my room.  The dream I had last night was still kin my head, but it also felt so real because my body aches.  I felt like I danced a marathon.  Or maybe I was dancing so hard yesterday at the audition I was feeling it today, I haven't danced like that in a long time and I also didn't stretch good before moving like that.  I was just hoping I could get on with the rest of the day being completely normal for a change since I been here.  I heard a knock at the front door and started to hurry up and put my clothes on finally.

*

    It was a nice walk from my house to school that morning.  I could see a lot of the teenagers in this town finally.  I was wondering if they all had disappeared somewhere.  Ashfield wasn't a large school at all, but it was enough to house whoever lived in the town.  It was about one hundred and thirty-two seniors in the school which made up most of the students in the high school branch.  Ashfield high was another school on the east coast that had a lot of prestigious students that went unrecognized and maybe that’s how they wanted it.  Megan walked in with me to the office and there I could see the one person I was trying to avoid seeing this early in the morning.  Damien looked over at me and gave me a large smile, how I hated the way my heart skipped a bet when he did that.

    "Looks like we can't seem to stop running into each other," he said brushing past Megan.  It annoyed me how quiet she would get sometimes.

    "Don't you see my friend standing there?  You could not be such an ass and say excuse me."

    "Who to Meg?  I honestly didn't see her standing there.  Maybe she should've said something.  Or maybe she didn't want to be seen did you ever think about that?"

    "Well apparently you do," he was really getting on my nerves and the last time I hit a boy I was in the seventh grade.  He called me a twig and said I had an eating disorder, "Look I don't have time to be dealing with you this early in the morning.  I haven't had coffee yet."

    Damien laughed at me and walked past me out of the office.  I looked at Megan who was trying not to make eye contact, "You really need to grow a backbone sis."  I started to take my anger out on her.  I didn't mean to, but I was kind of tired of being left to fend for myself against these locals, "I mean come on Meg."

    "I'm sorry," was all she could say then she to walked out of the office.  This was really beginning to be not the place for me.  I wanted to just crawl into a box and place a shipping label on it and be sent back to the city and it didn't matter where I ended up.  I looked at my schedule and for the first period was calculus.  Great I had to start the morning off thinking harder than I already do. 

*

    Lunchtime, the time I was dreading finally showed up.  The morning dragged and I was surprised at how many ap classes I had in the morning.  I shared calculus with Anya, of course she tried to make snide comments about me being too friendly with her boyfriend and I ignored her.  I didn't want my mom stressing over the fact that I broke someone’s teeth on the first day of school.  Megan was in most of my classes she was a big help making sure I had the right textbooks and whenever we had group work she would be my partner.  I had apologized to her about snapping on her in the office that morning, but she just shrugged it off and said it was okay.  But now I didn't see her anywhere during lunchtime.  I looked at the food and I didn't have much of an appetite. Instead, I found myself roaming the hallways of the school and came across the library.

    In the city, school libraries were nonexistent now, I figured the school district didn’t have the budget anymore.  But in Ashfield it seems they had plenty of money with the way this place was decked out.  It was like I was walking into a museum.  The ceiling was high, and each row of books was stacked to the top.  It was another world all on its own.  At the desk there was a short stubby man, he looked familiar.  Then I remembered he was one of the judges at the audition.  He kind of reminded me of Ms. Angie in a way.  He looked up and pressed the glasses he was wearing closer to his face, "Well, if it isn't the ballet genius herself."

    "I'm not a genius...I just love to dance."

    "Yes, I could tell...but don't let anyone else know that I like you."  He hopped down from his chair and wobbled over to the catalog section.  The library was ancient, I was amazed to see they still had paper catalogs, "So, you don't want lunch?"

    "No, it was too crowded in there," he peeked at me through his glasses.  This was the most I heard him speak.

    "Oh, darling things will turn around.  So, what brings you to the gatekeeper's world?  Want to read something exciting?  Did you want to dive deep into some history?  Or did you come to keep little old me some company?"

    "I just came to get some air."

    "I see...well have at it.  I don't mind you being here just as long as you clean up your mess when you're finished," He disappeared within the shelves.  I wanted to ask him more about the house I was staying at when he said something about history.  It slipped my mind.  But I wandered along the shelves and I could see the carvings on the wood were also the same type of creatures in my home.  This town was sure obsessed, "Hey mister uhm."

    "Credence," he popped out of nowhere and almost made me fall into some books.  I didn't even know he was so close.

    "Yes, mister Credence...what's with the fairy type stuff doing all around this town?  I mean it's literally everywhere.  Including all over my house."

    Credence looked up at the carvings and smiled, "history my dear is a great pastime.  This town is filled with legends of what they call the Fey, The Good neighbors, Fairy Folk for centuries.  Those very woods that you live near, well people would consider that their home.  Stories of dance and merriment for the humans of this town.  And not so good stories or war and k********g.  But again, they were only stories."

    "What about my house?  What's the deal with that place?  I mean you seem like you have lived here for a long time.  Have you heard of a*********s about there?"

    "I have heard of some.  But I think some things are better left in the dark.  Some legends shouldn't be spoken of, because the scariest thing about history and legends is that you could get lost on the truth and the lie."  And with that Credence disappeared once again among the shelves as the lunch bell rang for students to go back to class.  I turned to leave the library when I thought I saw that some little girl dart among the shelves.  I chased after what seemed like a ghost, a small laughter echoed off the wood and I could find the world was getting dizzy.  The next thing I knew everything went black again like last night.

*

    Waking up I could feel a cold compress on my forehead, I must've overheated.  Looking around I was in what looked like the nurses office and I wasn't alone, "I come in to look for a book and I found a princess lying on the floor," Damien was there in the corner.  I immediately jumped up and was about to bolt out of there when he pushed me back down, "Relax, nobody but me knows you're in here."

    "What happened?"  I looked at him accusingly.

    "Nothing happened I swear.  I didn't even sneak a peek," he laughed.

    "I'm not laughing."

    "I can see that.  Do you laugh at all?  I mean carrying through life scowling all the time must be draining."

    "Life isn't a game...you learn that quick from where I'm from."

    "I guess...but anyway you were lying there on the floor when I came in.  I thought you passed out from anxiety or something.  The I thought old man Credence poisoned you or something.  The I carried you here."

    It wasn't in me to say thank you to him just yet.  I wanted to know if he was going to use this as a way of making fun of me.  I reached up to touch my hair and realized it was down, I put it back into a ponytail.

    "Why put your hair up?  I like it down."

    "Why so my ugly face can be shielded from your eyes?"

    "What no?  I can see you don't know how to take a compliment.  But no, I see a lot of dancers with their hair up into some kind of bun.  I guess to show poise and dignified.  But I learned that if you let your hair down you move better.  Your body has one less restriction to move."  I didn't know what to say, instead I looked at the notepad he was holding.

    "What's that?  I saw you scribbling in it the first time I saw you."

    "Oh this?  It's my sketch pad."

    "Let me see," suddenly I became hot all over my body.  I wanted to know if he drew me while I was sleeping.

    "You want to see?  It's going to cost you."

    I didn't like how that came out, so I shook my head and forgot about it.  Damien shrugged his shoulders, "suit yourself.  But you do owe me for saving you."

    "Saving me?"

    "Yeah, a favor for a favor.  You're in my debt now."

    "I don't think your girlfriend is going to like that you take the time out to speak to me."

    "Who Anya?  She isn’t my girlfriend?"

    Once again, my face was all hot, I was sure if it was because of passing out of because I just felt embarrassed, "I thought that the two of you--"

    "Nope, we're not together.  I mean she likes to think that we are.  I play on the feelings from time to time, but we are certainly not official.   What gave you that idea?"

    "The way she is so territorial over you I figured she was."

    Damien looked me straight in the eye as if the conversation got serious, "A lot of people can become territorial over something they desire the most in this world.  Sometimes it could become an obsession."  I thought I saw his eyes flicker but the rays from the window were casting on his face which almost made him look gorgeously inhuman, "Now that we got that out of the way, should I walk you home or drive you?"

*