Death's Daughter || Tom Riddle

Into the past (The Cemetery) | 13

The hallways leading up to her bedroom in the orphanage were dimly lit. She walked down the hallway in a white nightgown and every so often, tripped on the carpet since she couldn't see her footing in the dark. Her long black hair covered the side of her face making her appear like a ghost from the horror movies the caretakers tended to watch. They sometimes would invite the children to watch too to scare them in amusement.

She finally reached a dark wooden door with the number '13' engraved on it. It was her room. It didn't bother her though, it was just made-up myths about how the number thirteen would bring bad luck.

She didn't share a room with anybody since no one wanted to be in an unlucky number room but she mostly thought it was because of her. Everyone feared her. At a young age, she was able to do weird things such as making plants die on her will, making objects levitate on their own, or even commanding crows to fly above peoples' heads to scare them away.

She was feared by everyone.

She opened the door to her room and shut it quickly, making sure no noise could be made. She shouldn't have been awake at this hour in the first place. If the matrons caught her, she'd be given punishment. She sat on her tiny bed and stared at the open window opposite her. The window would let in some moonlight into the room every night, giving her a vision to see down below in the garden and a cemetery far away.

The caretakers would often say ghosts haunted the place making children afraid of setting foot in it or either making the boldest and stupidest ones break in to see if it was real. Only resulting in crying themselves in terror at the sound of the cold night's breeze.

Tonight, however, she was bored and couldn't sleep so she decided to slip out of her bedroom and explore the cemetery.

You would think 'She's so stupid and dumb to go to a graveyard late at night alone and small.' Well yes, the idea itself was stupid but she did not believe in ghosts.

To believe was to fear.

She put on a jacket, crept down the hallway, and slipped out of the orphanage through the back door. Luckily for her, she did not run into anyone.

The night's air was cold against her now flushed cheeks. She should come out and into the night more often, she thought. For some reason, she found peace within the dark sky and the dark silhouette of the trees.

She guessed she was worthy of the name Nyx then.

Whilst she made her way further from her 'home,' she recited a passage she found in one of the books back at the orphanage.

In Greek mythology, Nyx is considered as the goddess of night. She is a primordial deity, often portrayed as a powerful and mysterious figure associated with darkness and the night sky.

And then she remembered another passage she read which made her lips curl into a smirk.

Nyx, in Greek mythology, female personification of the night but also a great cosmogonical figure, feared even by Zeus, the king of the gods.

The idea of the mighty Zeus fearing Nyx made her feel powerful for some reason. She wasn't even the Nyx, she was just someone who was named after her, nevertheless, it gave her a sense of satisfaction.

May he bow down in the presence of a much more powerful figure. A woman, a goddess.

Finally, she reached the iron gates to the cemetery and pushed it open, followed by a loud creaking sound from all the rust that formed on the iron gates.

Here, the area felt colder and just like a movie, with fog everywhere. Now, it came to her senses that she didn't know the purpose of why she even came here in the first place. A part of her wished for her to turn back and return to the comfort of the thin bedsheets back at the orphanage but another part of her said 'screw that! It's not like I have anything to lose.' But oh she did have everything to lose, like her life.

However, she continued walking along the headstones and read each and every one of them.

"Mary Smith, Simon Smith, Maggie Smith, Masey Smith, so the whole family's here I think. Lying dead ten feet deep."

A raven cawed nearby which made her flinched in alarm.

It's just a bird, ghosts aren't real.

After she read almost half of the headstones, she could see a small black silhouette in the distance. Carefully edging her way towards it, she could finally see what it was. A raven was pinning a pigeon onto the ground with its sharp talons over its neck. The scene was brutal, not an appropriate sight for youngsters like her. However, she continued to watch as the raven used its talons to tear open the smaller bird's neck and pecked at its head furiously. The pigeon tried fighting back but because its neck was literally opened, it was taken away by Death all too soon.

The pigeon stood no chance against Death's cold hands.

The raven ate at it ravenously. She watched the scene unfold and watched it ongoing until the bird finished. They stared at each other for quite some time before she whispered out something. "Life is quite brutal, don't you think?" She didn't expect the raven to understand but surprisingly, it hopped towards her and dropped a piece of flesh, the remaining of the pigeons, into her outstretched hand.

She scrunched her nose in disgust upon the contact of flesh which the bird took notice of immediately and withdrew the piece of meat back and swallowed it down in one go.

Ravens are intelligent.

The sun was now rising, causing her to panic. The caretakers couldn't know she left the orphanage late at night.

"I better go now," she paused and thought about something before she said,

"Ravenous, see you again later maybe."

She tried patting the bird in a sort of goodbye gesture but it flapped its wings in a don't-touch-me manner so she waved her hand goodbye instead and quickly walked off.

When she got back, some of the caretakers were at the front door which resulted in her having to retreat to the back door. But this time, she wasn't so lucky. She ran into one of the caretakers just when she had twisted the door's doorknob open to her room.

She was immediately questioned about her whereabouts and since they already despised her so very much, the caretaker before her didn't even process her excuse, and gave her an unfair punishment. She was made to sweep the orphanage's floor, trim the trees and bushes in the garden, and also couldn't join them for dinner for a whole month as a punishment.

She nodded her head in defeat and watched as the evil grin of pleasure found its way onto the caretaker's lips.

There were moments when she would have lost control and knocked the elders and children off their feet when she was mad but that power did not come. Instead, to her astonishment, a large raven flew into the building, flying through from her bedroom's open window and flying out of the room. The bird started flying around the caretaker's head, causing her to flap her hands around her face in defense, which was a useless attempt. She shrieked and screamed and ran off quickly but not before shouting, "Okay! Okay! You don't have to do any of the punishments I gave you! Now make it stop!"

The raven suddenly halted its actions as if it was commanded to do so and quickly flew back over to her. It landed on the windowsill and looked at her with its black orb-like eyes. She smiled fondly at it and thanked the bird. Not long after, the loud chattering of kids erupted. The children seemed to have heard the commotion and emerged from their rooms. She quickly shut the door close and thanked the raven a few more times before she shooed the bird out, but not in a cruel manner. She then shut the window and opened the door, pretending to be a clueless child like the others, and poked her head out.

But this time, when she walked out of her room to join the others for their disgusting breakfast, a smile found its way onto her face which made the other kids quickly walk away from her.

She had someone looking out for her.

Someone who has got her back.

And oddly enough, it was a raven. Ravenous.

In case It wasn't clear by the title and the chapter's contents, this chapter is about Nyx's past. I'll be filling in on her past every now and then so we can understand her life and her decisions more.
(She's just turned ten in this chapter.)
-Luna