"How was your first night here?" Aunt Mel asked as she entered the kitchen, where Raven was busy pouring herself some tea.
"I slept well," she answered, lifting her cup to her lips and sipping her chamomile-mint tea.
"It is much more peaceful here than in the city. It is so quiet," her aunt said as she grabbed a cup from the cabinet and poured herself some coffee. Blinking up from her cup,
"I am heading out; you should stop by the diner later; we will have the best burgers in town," her aunt said as she put on her coat, pulling Raven from her thoughts. She gently placed her cup in the dishwasher after she took the last sip.
Raven was fumbling with her thumbs nervously.
"I will," Raven told her aunt as she headed out of the kitchen, not before placing a small kiss on her aunt's cheek before heading up the stairs to her room.
"Be safe, okay?" her aunt called out.
"I will," she called over her shoulder as she entered her room, grabbing her sling handbag and scarf since the weather of late, even though it was winter, had been acting strangely, much colder, and even more lugubrious than usual.
***A while later***
Studying herself in the mirror, her right eye was still red, with dark circles under her eyes and stitches. After what happened on the pier and hitting her head, the doctors told her she had a vitreous hemorrhage and stitches on the side of her face where her head had collided with the pier. With her hand hovering over the wounds that seemed to not want to go away, she dropped her hand. The reminder is still there, believing that once the evidence of that night is gone, she will feel better.
She was lying to herself, but it was a lie she was willing to believe.
"When it is gone, you will feel better." She told herself, grabbing her house keys from the nightstand before she left the house and trudging down the steps, heading straight for the trail through the woods as a shortcut.
The song of rustling leaves played in her ears as she walked along the trail, offering a smile to the hikers.
Raven walked to the stream she had seen the previous day, the current strong as she stepped onto the rocks, checking if they were stable; her head turned up at the sound of a low rumble. Stopping in her tracks, Raven slowly lifted her head, meeting those brown eyes staring back at her with no sign of emotion in them. Her heart picked up. There was quite some distance between them, taking a step back as the wolf took one step closer, two more approaching. Raven slowly stepped back till she was back on land; the wolves stood on the other side watching her as if they were warning her that she was not allowed there. The wolf bared its teeth at her. Raven quickly left the woods, cars passing as she got in her car and drove to the diner.
The waves are breaking against the beach, and people are here and there.
Walking through the town, people stared at her as she passed them, some introducing themselves. At least they were nice.
A headache pierced through her head. With a breath, she closed her eyes, digging her thumbs into her pointer fingers. Blinking her eyes open, she landed on the rushing ocean water. The sound was therapeutic as the headache subsided. It was calm on a pier, like the one at home, right in front of her.
As she blinks, a flash appears.
***Flash***
"Aunt Mel!" Raven cried out as she held her tightly.
"I am here; I am here," Aunt Mel repeated.
While they lowered the girl's mother to the ground, she held her niece.
"What is going to happen now?"
"I talked to a lawyer, and I am handling everything. You are coming with me now," Aunt Mel told her.
"I can't just leave them here," Raven sniffled, staring at her parents' graves.
"You are not leaving them; you will come to visit, but you have never been to my town; it is where your mom and dad met; your mom grew up in the town; you will find pieces of them there; and any time you want to see them, we will come down; you say when, and we will go, okay."
"Okay,"
***Flash over***
Releasing a breath, Raven took a step onto the bridge, leaning on the side as she took in the scenery, the woods looming on the side.
Raven could not express how thankful she was for her aunt, especially over the last two weeks. Her life had changed so much, but her aunt had done everything to make sure she was okay.
"It is not every day you run into your kind, especially not here," a woman said from behind her, causing Raven to turn around and face the woman. "My kind?" Raven questioned, confused. The woman narrowed her eyes at her, studying her from top to bottom. "Have we met before? You seem familiar?" the woman questioned her. But nothing about the woman in front of her seemed familiar.
"I am sorry. I don't think we've met before. I am Raven," she introduced herself. The woman smiled at her as she lifted her hand out to shake hers.
"I am Ophelia. You must be new here. So what do you think about our town, where you wake up only to find it rainy and depressing every day?" Ophelia finished.
"The weather here seems very gloomy, very unpredictable," Raven finished with a small smile.
"Here everything is unpredictable," Ophelia said as her eyes landed on the necklaces, her eyes big as she looked at Raven.
"Raven, you wouldn't be Raven Drew by any chance?"
"Yes," she answered skeptically.
"You look just like your father."
"You knew my father?" Raven questioned Ophelia, interested.
"Yes," Ophelia said curtly, "I am sorry I have to go, but Raven," she said, pulling the girl closer to her and grabbing hold of the scarf covering Raven's necklace. "Don't trust everyone here. Okay, people like to take advantage of something beautiful and unique," she whispered to Raven before she pulled away and headed off somewhere in a rush, not waiting for a response.
Raven stood on the bridge, confused about the interaction she had just had.
'I think I have had enough exploring for one day,' Raven thought as she headed to the diner.
Upon entering, she instantly spotted her aunt behind the counter, talking to some customers, when the TV screen caught her attention.
"Last night, a couple met a brutal death on their hike. We are informing everyone to stay safe." The TV screen suddenly went black. Turning her gaze back to her aunt, she saw her aunt with the TV remote in her hand.
"Are you ready to eat the world's best burgers?" she asked excitedly, not saying anything about the news.
"Of course," she said, plopping down in the chair at the bar.
"Now tell me, is it the word 'greatest' burger?"
Taking a bite of her burger, she nods her head at her aunt.
"The best," Raven smiled at her aunt.
***
Raven stepped from the cabin after lunch; she headed back to the cabin, making sure to steer clear of the stream for a few days. She had placed some of the things from her home inside candles, books, and other plants, continuing to make it feel as if she were at home.
***
CHIME
CHIME
The coin soared into the sky before descending back into the man's hand, then ascended once more as he stood in the distance, observing the girl who left a man and a woman in her wake as she stepped up onto the stairs leading to the front door.
CHIME
CHIME
He observed the girl as she removed her necklace, from which a key dangled. She inserted the key into the keyhole, unlocking the cabin doors that had remained unopened for nearly two decades. He straightened up, anticipating the girl's next move. She paused at the threshold, casting a glance over her shoulder as though aware of his presence. Then she stepped into the cabin, the door closing behind her.
CHIME
He caught the coin mid-flight. The girl had provided the answer he had been waiting for. With a smile unfolding across his face, he slowly turned and walked away.
***
As the sun dipped below the horizon, she decided it was time to head home. With a firm snap, she closed her book and carefully tucked it into her bag. She shut the cabin window to prevent animals from entering or passersby from assuming it was abandoned. After locking up, Raven started her walk home, pausing as her eyes caught sight of flowers encircling the cabin.
'These weren't here yesterday,' Raven thought she would have definitely seen them, but maybe it was tiredness. She reached down to touch the delicate white blooms.
"Lily of the Valley," she murmured, moving to the next.
"Foxglove."
"Deadly nightshade."
"Henbane."
"Monk's hood."
"Oleander."
"And angels' trumpets."
It was odd how these plants formed a ring around the cabin as if to guard it or perhaps to ward off intruders. They all had something in common: they were all deadly. Raven's eyes lingered.
CRACK
Startled by a sudden noise, she spun around, but there was no one there; it must have been an animal or something. Birds flew away, making her feel more nervous that there was something there.
"Time to go," Raven muttered, turning and leaving the way she had come.
Only a few lights were on in the house, remnants of the morning, signaling that her aunt was still out. Tossing her keys onto the kitchen counter, she switched on the small TV to break the silence. As she prepared some chamomile tea, she sat at the counter, sipping slowly. Yawning, she stretched her arms and closed her eyes for a few minutes.
Melissant entered the house, the sound from the TV indicating Raven was still awake. Finding the living room empty, she turned to the kitchen and found her niece asleep at the counter, a cartoon flickering on the screen.
"Never gets old," she murmured, spotting SpongeBob on the TV.
After shedding her coat and setting down her belongings, she approached her niece and gently nudged her awake.
"Raven," she attempted to wake her.
"Raven, you should go to bed," her aunt's voice reached her. Hearing this, Raven sat up. "You need to sleep," her aunt insisted. Groggily, Raven rose, her steps faltering, but her aunt was there to steady her, guiding the exhausted girl up the stairs to her bedroom. As Raven lay down, she felt the comfort of a blanket being drawn over her, her aunt's kiss on her forehead, and then the room darkened as the light was switched off.
"Goodnight, Little Raven," her aunt whispered, closing the door as Raven drifted off to sleep.