Heart Giver

The Heart Giver

It was October of 2019, and another relationship had recently left Raven Marshaling once again broken and alone. Raven's life has not been the best, with breakups and being an outcast to the society around her. She had began to believe that she was destined to remain forever alone and to never find love. She had come very close to giving up, with thoughts pouring in of a closing gate to the afterlife. But, with every passing thought, that would soon change.

One night as Raven stepped out onto her back porch of stained oak, wind began to whirl as a whisper echoed from within. Raven peered around the backyard and into the darkened pines of the forest. But, was left confused and somewhat nervous as she did not see a single soul in sight. Moments later, Raven heard the whisper again as a dark shadow slowly crept across the ground as it came ever closer. She leapt backward as she watched the shadow rise from the ground to form the shape of a scarred skeleton wrapped in a black cloak with large dark wings.

The creature hovered just a few feet above the ground and slightly higher above Raven's height as it opened its mouth to let out a soft wheeze. Its voice lightly whistled as it held out its hand and asked Raven for her own. Raven, shocked and confused by this creature's presence and actions, hesitated and stepped back. The creature lowered its head a assured her that it meant no harm. Even though she still felt reluctant, Raven took a deep breath and held out her hand as she grasped the hand of the creature.

As the creature closed its hands over Raven's, it slowly began to rise even further and soared through the pines of the darkened forest. It rose through the air till it and Raven were aligned with the pale moonlight of the full moon. Hovering before Raven, the creature peered into her eyes and whispered with a wheeze as it asked for why she seemed to be so cloaked in sorrow. Raven began to tremble as she struggled to get the words out to explain to the creature of her past. She spoke of loneliness and about her troubled past.

The creature gave a slightly lighter wheeze as it asked Raven for if it could aid her in taking away the pain. Shaking, with her breath stuttering, Raven remained silent as the creature lowered her and itself back to the ground. The creature once again assured Raven that there was nothing to fear just before changing back into a shade and retreating into the darkness of the forest. As the creature slowly faded into the night, Raven turned and quickly raced back into her bedroom. After reaching her room, Raven leapt into her bed and quickly slipped beneath her blankets as she shook and shuddered.

The next morning Raven was awoken by her mother calling out her name. She opened her eyes to see her mother standing within her bedroom doorway, with a smile and a small box in hand. Raven's mother stepped toward her and handed her the box before turning to exit the room. The small gift box was black as coal with a ribbon of crimson red wrapped around it. On the ribbon was a note which read:

To: Mrs. Raven Marshaling

"In your darkest hours of falling apart, I return to you your stolen heart."

Curious to see what was within the box, and behind the meaning of the note, Raven opened it. As she peered inside, the box began to slowly move with a low thumping sound protruding from it. She then threw it to the floor as she noticed what the box concealed. The box crashed to the floor as an actual human heart came rolling out with the beating sound slowly coming to a stop. Seeing and smelling the heart, Raven gagged as she fell back onto the floor herself with her mouth covered by her hands.

After the heart had fully sieged its beating, it and the box quickly faded into a cloud of black dust. Shocked from what she had just witnessed, Raven quickly made her way to the bathroom to wash her face. She stood in front of the mirror questioning the idea of what she had recently witnessed with water draining down her face, before drying off and heading for the front door. As she headed to the door, Raven stopped by the living room as the news blared onto the television screen. The news reporter spoke of a young man in his late teens being murdered, cause of death was the removal of his heart with a hole torn through his chest.