A Few Days Later
Sweat trickled down her back, her one hand gripping the flowerpot tightly as her other hand played with the chain of her necklace. The sun burned into her skin as her eyes were glued to the grave, not once noticing the stares of those who came to say goodbye to her mother. Raven did not know any of these people here. She never realized her mother had so many friends. She watched blankly as they lowered her mother's coffin into the ground, slowly beginning to cover it. It was over; it was goodbye. Only a few days ago, her mother was still here, laughing and breathing, and now her mother was gone and she was alone.
"I am sorry for your loss, Raven," a woman offered from beside her, but she felt immobile, not once moving her eyes off her mother's coffin. "Thank you," Raven whispered as she felt the woman's presence slowly disappear, no longer beside her. People quickly left, and she did not fault them for that. Nobody liked funerals. The silence began settling in, the only sound coming from the gravedigger as he finished covering the grave. Her gaze drifted from the grave to the bare trees lining the cemetery. She could feel the eyes burning into her skin. While searching for the culprit, her eyes landed on it. In the distance, on one of the bare branches, sat a bird staring at her. Its dark eyes froze on her.
"Raven," her aunt said from beside her, but she could not find it in her to face her aunt, tears prickling her eyes. "It will get better. I am not going to lie to you, little Raven. It will always hurt. You are not alone. I am here for you," Aunt Mel told her. Reaching down, Raven gently placed the flower pot in front of the headstone. Straightening herself, she took a step back to face her aunt. "I know," she breathed.
"You are not alone," she said more firmly, knowing well that Raven was always the type to stay quiet about the pain she was in.
'But I am. I feel so alone.' Raven wanted to cry out, but she did not. She kept quiet. Holding back tears while her jaw clenched, keeping her from letting out a cry. She picked at her fingers, looking up at her aunt; the tears shone in Raven's eyes. "Oh, Raven," Aunt Mel said before engulfing her in a big hug. Her eye was still red, and the stitches surrounded by a big bruise were still on display on the side of her face, making her niece look so broken. "You will be okay, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day you will wake up feeling lighter. You will always have this unfilled hole, and it should remain unfilled because it is your parents' space, and nobody can ever replace them. You will learn to live with it. All you have to do is find them in your surroundings and your memory. There they are most alive," her aunt whispered to her as she gripped her tightly. A loud sob escaped Raven, no longer able to contain her pain and sadness.
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Raven's cries stopped abruptly, startled by the sound. Scanning their surroundings, Raven's bloodshot eyes landed on the blackbird sitting on a headstone a few feet away, watching them. "Well, that is not creepy at all," Aunt Mel said sarcastically, breaking the silence.
"It's a raven," she said as the bird suddenly jumped from the headstone, now closer than before. "Oh, that's cool, but still creepy."
Her aunt has never been much of an animal person. Well, that is not completely true. She liked dogs and occasionally cats, but they had to be other people's pets. Her aunt preferred animals from afar, unlike the bird that was slowly growing closer with each blink.
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Another raven appeared, plopping down next to its friend. "I think we should go if that is okay with you," she asked, clinging to her niece's arm. Both of their eyes were on the ravens.
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"Yes," Raven breathed, the sky turning darker and the sun disappearing in between the clouds. They quickly hurried through the headstones, the leaves from the bare trees crunching under their feet as they moved through the cemetery to the car. The once-blue sky was now covered with thick black clouds. They climbed into the vehicle, leaving the cemetery. As the distance grew, Raven stared out the passenger window at the place where her mother and father rested. The scenery was somehow different from a few seconds earlier.
'Something is different,' Raven thought. Raven turned slightly in her seat, brushing the tears from her cheeks while trying to spot the difference. Blinking once, she snapped her gaze back to the trees behind the cemetery that grew further away with each passing second, only to realize the once-bare trees appeared dark, lush, and full. A bird flew, merging with the trees. Terror filled her body; goosebumps erupted all over her body. Her aunt sat oblivious to what was going on as she turned on the radio, breaking the silence.
But Raven sat in shock, staring at the trees.
It was not leaves; the once-bare trees were covered with ravens.