Red Blood Century

02 The Raven Bird

We kept following the old man for just 4 minutes but Emily was already tired.

She falls to the ground and started huffing.

"Anastasia I can't! I haven't walked this much in my life until now... I am tired so I am sitting here only."

"Emily stop being dramatic! You think the old man has a lot of free time to show us the place. He also has works to do, so you better get up otherwise I...."

Before I completed the sentence Emily started walking ahead of me. Maybe, because she don't want to get scolded.

Even though I hate to scold people younger than me but, threatening them always works. So why not do it?

I smiled and started to walk with them. I looked at the old man and initiated to do the small talk because things were getting very awkward with everyone being silent.

"Umm... Can you tell me about Isabelle Perkins? How did she become the Shaman of the west village?."

"Well, I thought you already knew about her as you came to meet her but looks like you don't."

He looked at me and continued speaking.

"Okay then let me tell you, Isabelle Perkins is a very well respected lady in our village. but she doesn't like to meet people unless they have an emergency. She has cured many people who had deadly illnesses. If the hospital couldn't find a cure for a disease then people would go to her for treatment."

Ohh, so my grandmother is kind of a doctor in the village. Even, I want to be a doctor that's why I decided to go to med school.

I am currently in my third year of the university.

After my exam, i would finally get my registration certificate and could work in any hospital i want.

So I hope grandma could teach me some of her healings methods. Maybe it could come handy in the future.

The old man abruptly stopped in the middle making me stunned.

I looked around the area and noticed that we were very far away from the village.

The place we were currently on, looked like a forest.

Why are we in this forest? Does grandma live in a place like this? This place was giving me very bad vibe. Like something bad has happened in this place.

That's why I asked him about it. The old man pointed his finger at the lake and said. "This is the Kelana lake you told me about."

"But where is the freaking house!?" From behind me, Emily was shouting. She was already tired and now her voice sounded irritated.

"If you want to go to shaman Isabelle's house then you need to go through the forest. But sorry, I can't accompany you kids there..." Said the old man.

"Why not? What if we got lost inside the forest?" I asked him.

It would be better if he would drop us till where the house is, but I don't want to stop him because he might have his reasons.

"Just go straight from here and turn left. Then you will see her house." He said while handing us a map.

"Many tourists visit here that's why I had an extra map. So you can take it." He handed it to me. "And yeah! Don't forget one thing, No matter what. Never enter the closed area of the forbidden forest." He looked quite serious while saying that.

"What do you mean by forbidden forest?" I asked with curiosity.

"It's actually..." While he was telling us about the forbidden forest. He suddenly stopped and started looking at something behind me.

The old man's eyes turned big and sweat started dripping from his forehead. "I can't say anything about that, just don't go there." I could sense the panic in his voice. But after saying that he just ran away like a mad man.

Me and Emily just kept looking at him like weirdos.

"Wasn't that old man weird?" Emily asked me with a weirded-out reaction. "But I don't understand Anastasia. When you were young, Have you ever been to a place like this?"

I shrugged. "Emily don't ask me about my childhood. Everything is so blurry. I can't remember anything. I was a kid back then, so how could I have memories about that time now?" I looked at her and saw that she was troubled. "Anyway let's just go inside the forest as the old man said."

I looked at the map and started heading straight as he said.

The forest was giving me mixed signals.

I don't know why but I felt like someone was staring at me and on the other hand, something was protecting me.

It was a weird thing to feel but it was making me uneasy.

"I told you anna. The old man was tripping. I don't know about meeting grandma but if we stayed here till night then we are going to meet death for sure."

"Shut up Emily! and help me find the way. The old man said we need to take left after going straight. But I don't understand which left. first left or second left?" The old man should have told everything clearly.

While I was getting furious there. Emily was doing her own thing.

"Anastasia! Come look what I saw." She was crouching and looking at something.

I couldn't see what it was from the far, that's why I went near to check what it was.

"Look the crow died." Emily's face turned sad.

From the far, it looked like a crow but if you look at it closely. it was a raven bird.

I hit Emily's head. "Don't tell me you don't know the difference between a raven and a crow."

Her face turned dumbfounded. "What!? Raven? you mean the bird who comes in every horror movie right?"

I laughed at her being so dumb. But still, I controlled my laughter because I didn't wanted her to be offended by it.

I looked at the raven and saw that the bird's eyes were still moving.

I don't know why but I felt a sudden urge to touch the raven and I did.

As I touch the bird. It's feather started shuddering and then the bird started flying again right past me. It was like he was not injured.

I felt like my heart was going to come out of my chest when I saw him flying.

Emily:- O_O

"What the hell just happened?" She asked with a blank expression.

"I don't know. I just touched a bird who was dead and then he started flying away." I started mumbling nervously.

Even I was confused about what just happened?

"Are you sure that the bird was dead?"

"Of course, I am sure. There was blood on his feather... Let's say even though he was alive but I am sure that his wings were broken. How did the raven bird started flying around when you touched it?"

I massaged my temples. "Listen, Emily, I think it's going to be dark soon so let's just go from here and not think about it again.

"You know in a movie I saw, they said that the raven bird represents death and if you found it dead in the ground then you should never touch it. Because if you did, then that means you are calling death upon yourself."

"See, I don't believe in the nonsense you are talking about. If you want to come with me then follow me otherwise you can stay here alone if you want." I said while being annoyed and left ahead.

"No. I am sorry, wait for me" Emily screamed and started following me while dragging her suitcase.