Into The Vale of Shadows // Max Mayfield

xiv. how can she forget?

chapter fourteen
how can she forget?

     A PLAN HAD came into Mike's mind that they were now taking into action. That being disguising the Byer's she'd and having Will interrogated in it. Raven now stood behind the shed, shirt now changed, tidied with no signs of an injury. It felt weird to be hearing no noise but the sound of tarp rubbing against itself, the crickets, and the sound of the dancing leaves from the tree line. Mike had told her to sit still and try to remember what it was that she saw, but she insisted on helping, thus having her here.

     Gorgon has long gone back inside of her, claiming that doing the little stunt earlier made it loose bits of its energy. That was also the last time that it had spoken to Raven, having been quiet for quite some time now. But the absence of noise made it somehow easier for Raven to think, to remember, though she still hasn't remember even a tad bit of it, she still tried.

     Her mind did some kind of rewind of what happened in that moment. Shoved to Max, passed to Lucas, passed to Will, passed to her, and a big blank in between that and dropping Dart. She kept on repeating those, thinking that it would answer itself, thinking that she might remember. But no matter how hard she tried, she still can't.

     It was when she heard Dustin talk just few meters away from her did the silence disappear, taking advantage of that time to apologize.

     "Hey," he called, "I'm . . . I'm sorry about Dart and all. I guess I just thought that he was my friend." She heard him scoff from the distance before speaking once more, "I was wrong. I broke the rule of law. So, if you want your girlfriend to take over my spot in the party, I understand."

     Lucas let off a laugh, "She's not my girlfriend," he said.

     "I saw you two holding hands in the bus, Lucas." She felt some kind of pang of pain inside of her chest, heart aching as it beats like there was some needle stuck to it, digging further into the center of her heart with every thump.

     "She was just scared."

     "Maybe. But I could feel it."

     "Feel what?"

     Before Dustin could utter out his next words, Raven emerged from behind the shed, pulling the tarp from underneath what looked to be an old washer, making clanking noise as she forced it out. With one big tug, she got the trap out from the middle of two old machines, the one from above falling, causing a loud thud to echo throughout the yard.

     Steve ran to her, Dustin and Lucas turning their heads in panic, only to see the unbothered face of Raven.

     "What happened?" asked Steve.

     She raised the white tarp that looked to be fit to cover one wall of the shed, showing it to Steve who still had worry written across his face. "Would this be enough to cover the whole shed?"

     "Jesus Christ," Steve mumbled, "I think one wall, yeah."

     "Alright, here." She handed the tarp to Steve, filling her hands with the flattened cardboards from inside the old washer, walking back to the house with it.

     "And just because you know the truth, it doesn't mean you're in our party. You do know that, right?" It was the first thing she heard when she entered the house.

     Raven tripped as she entered the room, dropping the cardboards that then cushioned her fall. "Way to hit two birds with one stone, Wheeler."

     Max chuckled at the muffled out voice of Raven who still had her face in the cardboards. The small smile soon falling from her face, returning her attention back to taping the cardboards together. "I know. I mean, Why would you want a stupid zoomed in your party anyway?"