by A. M. Miller
“I’m not afraid. It is you who should be afraid. You may have burned my castle but madness will set this world on fire and you will all burn.” Raven glanced out around the crowd. “Each and every one of you.”
“Tainted. Do not listen to her words. They are as foul and wicked as she,” the voice said.
Raven still didn’t understand what was going on. Despite her earlier words, she was very much afraid. She didn’t want to die here. No one here knew her. No one would mourn her passing. She thought of Tiffany and Dion. Were they looking for her now? She pictured her photo posted on a board with the word “Missing” written in bold above it. Raven thought of her mother wasting away in the hospital. Would her father even tell her mother she was gone? Probably not.
One of the men pushed her down. A piece of wood locked into place around her neck. There was no escape.
“May your soul forever wonder the darkness,” the voice said.
There was a sharp pain in the back of Raven’s neck before everything went dark.
“Ms. More,” A concerned voice called. “Ms. More, wake up.”
A hand shook Raven’s arm. Raven’s eyes snapped open. She stared into a pair of brown eyes. It took her a moment to realize that they belonged to Mr. Smith. She took a quick look around the room. The desks were empty but at least she was back in a familiar place.
“Are you okay, Ms. More?” Mr. Smith asked.
Raven looked back at her teacher. “What happened?”
“You fell asleep in class again. I was fixing to toss a marker at you when you started screaming. Several students tried to wake you but you just kept on screaming. I dismissed the class and sent Ms. Martin to go get help.”
Raven played the scene over in her head. She pictured herself bursting into screams with the rest of the class watching. As if they didn’t already have enough reasons to call her crazy. Rumors of it would travel like wildfire. Raven didn’t even want to think of what might happen if Principle Alcester heard.
“I’m sorry for interrupting class.”
“I’m not concerned about that. I’m worried about you, Raven,” Mr. Smith said.
He put a hand on Raven’s shoulder. She knew it was meant to be comforting but didn’t like the way it felt. Her skin prickled under his touch. Raven stood up causing his hand to fall away.
Not wanting him to be offended she smiled. “I’m fine, sir. It was just a bad dream.” Raven glanced over at the clock to see the time. “I should get going. Lunch is starting soon.”
“Ms. More, wait,” Mr. Smith called.
Raven stopped and turned back toward her teacher. He sat on top of her desk looking at her.
“Ms. More I’m a little concerned about you. I know that things aren’t easy for you at home, but if you don’t make an effort to pull up your grades, you might not graduate. I’m not trying to be the bad guy by telling you this. I just want you to know we’re all here to help.”
Mr. Smith was one of the younger teachers. He wore big square glasses and his button-down un-tucked. Charming, he was supposed to be the more easygoing teacher students felt comfortable talking with.
Raven smiled. She would have preferred a detention. “Thank you, Mr. Smith.”
“No problem, and if you have anything else you want to talk about, whether it’s academic or personal, don’t be afraid to come to me, okay?”
Raven nodded. She hated how they all acted like they knew what was going on. They’d all heard the stories. With the visible scars left on Raven, rumors were bound to spread, but none of them knew the truth. None of them could ever understand.
“Thank you, Mr. Smith. I appreciate that. Can I go now?” Raven asked.
Mr. Smith sighed, clearly disappointed that she’d decided not to divulge all her secrets to him, and nodded. Raven left the room without looking back.
Another scene to get everyone talking, Raven shook her head. She just needed to survive the end of the quarter but even that seemed impossible.
17
The bell rung as Raven walked down the hall. Her fellow students flooded out of their classrooms. A group of girls giggled as Raven walked past. She didn’t bother looking their way. Her focus was on making it to the lunchroom. The fact that most of the students rushed to get away from her, made walking the crowded hallways easier.
“Raven.”
The voice calling her didn’t sound familiar. She ignored it and continued down the hall. The lunchroom was only a few more doors away. Once there, she’d convince Tiffany and Dion to sneak out with her for lunch. They’d go somewhere away from people and she’d have time to think.
“Raven,” the voice called again.
This time it sounded closer. Raven jumped when a hand touched her shoulder. She spun on her heels.
Drake smiled down at her “Hi.”
“Bye.” Raven turned back around to continue walking.
“Wait.”
Drake reached out to grab Raven’s arm. She turned back around, glare hot enough to melt flesh.
Drake pulled back his hand. “Sorry.”
“What do you want? You suddenly remember who I am and now you just want to stop and say hi? Why don’t you and your kind leave me the hell alone.”
“I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean to offend you but I’m really bad at names.”
“I’m not offended. I actually would prefer if you leave my name out of your mouth.”
“Raven, I’m really not trying to start anything. I heard about what happened in class and I just wanted to see if you were okay.”
Raven’s brow arched and arms crossed. “Why do you care?”
“The other day you looked like you were going to pass out and now this. I’m worried.”
“Don’t be. You don’t know me, so even if something was going on, it’s none of your concern.“
Drake frowned. “What’s with all the hostility? I’m just trying to be nice.”
“Nice?”
“Yeah, nice. You ever heard of it?”
“Oh I have, I just don’t believe you. You want something. I don’t know what, but I have no intention of sticking around to find out.”
Raven turned away from him and continued to push her way through the crowd. Drake followed close behind. “Okay, so maybe I do want to know something,” Drake said.
“Of course you do.” Raven shook her head without looking back.
“I just have a few questions. I promise it won’t take you long.”
“Go ask Google. That’s what the Internet is for.”
“I want to hear it from you.”
Raven did her best to ignore him. Whatever game he was playing at, she wasn’t falling for it. He was already causing problems by attracting more attention to them. Raven kept her eyes focused on the hallway ahead.
“Your mom is at the Corvix hospital, right?” Drake asked.
Raven stopped and spun back around. “Fuck all the way off. You keep following me- you keep talking to me and I’m gonna punch you in the fucking throat.”
She turned away from him. Raven put her headphones in and blasted her music. Drake tried to talk to her again but she couldn’t hear him over the noise. Eventually, he gave up and left her alone.
Her music was still playing when she entered the lunchroom. They were serving hamburgers and the whole cafeteria smelled like a greasy food truck. Raven noticed her friends sitting at one of the tables in the back. She ignored the stares she received as she made her way to her friends. Tiffany held Dion in a headlock. Neither of them noticed Raven as she approached.
“Hey,” Raven said.
Both her friends looked up. Tiffany still held her grip on Dion.
“Sup girl,” Tiffany said.
“Hey Rae,” Dion said.
“Wanna get out of here?” Raven pointed toward the door.
Tiffany nodded, releasing her grip on Dion. They grabbed their bags and headed towards the door. Once back into the hallway they made their way for the exit. Tiffany s
miled when they reached the security guard. There was only one stationed at the west entrance.
Tiffany walked up to him. Raven watched their conversation. Tiffany’s hand ran up the length of the guard's arm. She giggled at something he said. The guard turned towards Raven and Dion. His eyes narrowed. Raven stared back at him with a frown. Tiffany touched his arm again and he turned his attention back towards her. The guard nodded. Tiffany motioned them over.
Once they were outside, Raven let out a long exhale. The air was always too thick inside of the building. They walked towards the playground. Rufus High School use to be Matilda Middle School seven years ago. Due to budget cuts and relocations they’d converted the building to a high school, but they kept the playground. It wasn’t far from the school, but the tall trees that grew around it made it feel more isolated. A newer playground had been built a block down from the old one.
Tiffany, Dion, and Raven were the only people who still visited the rusty old park.
“So what made you want to go out and eat in this cold weather?” Tiffany sat down on the picnic bench. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her and her legs bounced, trying to warm up.
“Got anything to do with your little nap in class?” Dion asked.
He offered Tiffany his jacket, before moving to sit down on the picnic table.
“So you heard about that, great. Saves me from having to explain.”
“I don’t see what the big deal is. Everyone has nightmares. I’m sure they’ll forget about it soon,” Tiffany said.
Raven sighed and unfolded her arms. “It’s just another reason for people to think I’m crazy.”
“Hey, if it makes you feel better I’ll pants Dion in the middle of the hallway. I’m sure they’d forget all about you as soon as they take a look at his superman briefs,” Tiffany said.
“First of all, are you ten? Secondly, I don’t own any superman briefs.” Dion looked disgusted by the thought.
“Oh yeah? Then how come I saw your mama buying them at Target? I doubt they were for your sister,” Tiffany said.
“I can’t control the fact the woman still thinks I’m twelve.”
Tiffany and Raven snorted a laugh. It was easy to forget the stupid people from school when Raven was alone with her friends. After reassuring Tiffany she didn’t need to pants Dion they ate.
Raven and Tiffany ate leftovers from breakfast. Dion offered them some of his lunch but they both declined. Raven remembered the first time she’d tried some of Dion’s mama’s home cooking. The devil's spit was probably mild in comparison.
“So what was the dream about?” Tiffany asked between bites.
“Angry villagers chopped my head off,” Raven said. Her tone was casual but she still felt unsettled by it. The back of her neck throbbed. She rubbed at it. Never had a dream felt so realistic. Her hand dropped, landing in her lap. She stared at her ring.
The two rubies shined so bright that they almost appeared to be glowing. She lifted her hand. Faint red lines trailed from her ring finger up her arm. Raven dropped her hand back down. The lines vanished. When she picked it back up they didn’t reappear.
“Raven?” Dion called.
Raven’s head snapped back up. Her two friends were staring at her.
“I’m sorry, what were you saying?” She asked.
“I was wondering if you scheduled for orientations yet,” Dion said.
Raven remembered the email she’d received from Cornwell University. Inside was a link to register for orientation that she’d opened but never completed. Something seemed to always hold her back.
Cornwell was the college they were all supposed to attend next fall. The ideal of leaving high school thrilled her, but that would also mean leaving her mother.
Raven wasn’t sure about her future at Cornwell. She’d spent so much time dealing with today’s problems she hadn’t planned for tomorrow. She didn’t even have a major. The only real reason she got accepted in was because of her friends. They were the ones who helped her with her grades and college applications. She couldn’t tell them that she was getting cold feet.
“Um, still working out my schedule,” Raven said, looking down at her food.
Dion nudged Tiffany with his elbow. “What about you, Tee?”
“Same.”
Raven stared at her friend. Tiffany’s voice lacked the usual enthusiasm that came whenever they talked about Cornwell. Raven wondered if there was something bothering her. Tiffany smiled and changed the conversation before Raven could ask her if something was wrong.
Lunch ended too soon. They were forced to make their way back to the school. Once inside, blending in with the hallway traffic was easy. Raven waved to her friends before entering her classroom.
Someone sat in her seat in the back of the class leaving the only open spots in front of the class. Raven tossed her notebook down and sat. She felt exposed sitting there, but she tried to ignore it.
Unlike calculus and physics, Raven actually enjoyed her world history class. The different civilizations fascinated her. She scribbled down notes and tried not to pay attention to the people sitting behind her.
Raven’s pen stopped. The ringing returned, annoying at first but grew into something menacing. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to fight off the pain of the headache.
“Ugh, I can’t believe they still let this psycho go here,” one of the students whispered.
“I wonder if she’s going to have another melt down and start screaming again,” said another.
Raven opened her eyes. Dots spotted her vision. She blinked several times before her vision cleared. Her grip on her pencil tightened. She kept writing. These were the kinds of comments she was use to hearing. These people just didn’t have the decency to whisper.
“Fucking crazy bitch,” another voice said.
“I wonder if she worships the devil like her crazy ass mother.”
Raven dropped her pencil down. She looked toward the teacher but he acted as if he couldn’t hear their comments. No surprise there. The teachers here didn’t want to deal with the ‘crazy girl’. They only pretended to care.
The comments continued. Their voices seemed to be getting louder. Raven tried but she couldn’t block them out anymore. She jumped up. Her chair fell back as she turned to glare at her fellow classmates. Venoms words caught in the back of her throat like hot bile. Enough was enough. Just before she was about to unleash them, the teacher called her name.
“Ms. More, is there something wrong?”
Raven turned her head toward him.
“God spare me from having to deal with this girl's mental breakdown,” the teacher pleaded.
Raven’s eyes widened. She’d been watching him the whole time. Though his words were as clear as day, his mouth had not moved.
“Miss More, are you okay?” The teacher asked out loud.
I’m going to have to miss lunch to fill out a report all because little Ms. psycho wanted to have a nervous breakdown in the middle of my class, his voice whispered in her ear.
Raven’s hands shot up to her ears hoping to block out his voice. Several other voices began to shout in her head calling her “crazy”. The voices screamed, blocking out her thoughts. Her headache amplified. Each new voice was like a shard of glass being pushed into her brain. Her head felt ready to explode.
Raven doubled over in pain. She clenched her teeth. The voices were so loud; she feared her ears would bleed. She screamed. Her throat ached as the cry ripped out of her but her own voice was a whisper in comparison to the voices in her head.
“Ms. More?” the teacher had taken several steps closer to Raven, a look of uncertainty clear on his face.
Raven didn’t acknowledge him. Blood ran from her nose down to her mouth but she didn’t notice it. Her heart pounded in her chest. Only death could feel this awful, she was sure of it. She had to make it stop.
Raven pushed past her teacher. She ran out into the hall, leaving behind everything. Her feet stumbled, but sh
e forced herself to keep moving through the pain.
The voices followed Raven down the hallway. She rushed past the security guard. He yelled at her but she couldn’t hear him. Even the sound of her pounding heart was drowned out by the voices. She burst through the doors into the bright afternoon.
The voices started to fade the farther she got from the building. Raven kept moving. Unchaining her bike from the rack, she hopped on and began pedaling.
Raven wasn’t sure where she was going. Her bike zipped through the streets, missing the turning car by a few heartbeats, tires screeched and horns blared. The screaming voices had faded away long ago, but she couldn’t stop. All she knew was that she had to get away. Home wasn’t an option. If she went to any of her usual hideouts she ran the risk of being found. She just needed somewhere to clear her head. Somewhere where her rational mind could gain control again.
She rubbed the back of her hand against her mouth and nose. The blood smeared against her lips and she tasted copper. Her heart rate had not slowed. A hospital would be the logical next step, but that was the one place Raven refused to go.
Raven turned down another random street.
After a while, her legs refused to carry her any farther. She’d never really been the athletic type. Raven stopped, hands tight on the handlebars and chest heaving. Again she wiped at her face. Blood and sweat mixed. When she pulled her trembling hand back, she saw the brown skin stained red and blood caked between the diamonds of her ring.
18
The Heart Queensland
The bright rays of goddess glow glared down at Lu. She shielded her eyes. Squinting, she could see a group of soldiers huddled together in the distance. Domicin guided her towards them. The soldiers stood next to the carriage and horses, their backs facing Lu. They dressed in shining black armor and leathers. The number nine embroidered over their right breastplate and above their left hip. Their capes were a woolen black instead of the standard white.
A tall woman from the group was the first to notice Lu. Her hair was shaved and a ghastly scar cut from her left temple to her right jaw. For a moment Lu wasn’t so sure that the soldier was a woman. Her features were harder than any woman she’d ever seen before. Scarface stood and motioned to the others to do the same. They bowed when Lu reached them.