THE RAVEN . | eric draven

s1 e7

we finally got out of that motel and we rented a car to go to eric and veronica's parents' house. veronica decided to drive since she figured me and eric were too mad from our little argument to drive. eric took his face makeup off so he wouldn't scare his parents.

their parents lived out in south haven , michigan , which was a small , peaceful beach town where a bunch of people spent their vacation. basically , it's a lot more pleasant than detroit.

the entire car ride there was pretty much silent until veronica finally said something. "hey , how about some music huh?" she turned on the radio and "big empty" by stone temple pilots started playing.

"i love this song." she said. she sang along to the lyrics. me and eric looked at each other and started singing along with her to join the fun. the car was a convertible so basically everyone on the highway could hear us singing but we didn't care.

our trip finally ended. eric seemed to not be as mad at me anymore. we arrived to their house. it was a beach house that i'd die to live in. we hopped out of the car and walked towards the front door.

before we could reach the door to knock on it , a woman who looked like she was in her early 50s came out of the house and yelled veronica's name with joy and reached her arms out for a hug.

veronica ran into her mother's arms. the woman then started crying. veronica patted her back. "it's okay , mom." they pulled away from the hug and the woman met eyes with eric and she started bawling even more.

"eric?! what are you doing here?! i thought you died!" eric didn't answer her but i could tell that she knew the answer from his eyes. "oh , right." she looked at me.

"and who are you , young lady?" she asked me softly with a smile. i held out my hand. "katrina. katrina herrington. but you can call me kat." she shook my hand. "nice to meet you , kat. my name is veronica as well but you can call me nicky."

she dusted off the apron she had on. "well , come in kids! all of you! i got some baked ziti in the oven! it's eric and nica's favorite." the twins both smiled almost in sync and they ran in.

"do you want any , kat?" she said as she turned to look at me after watching her children go inside. i nodded. "well , c'mon then!!" she put her arm around me to guide me inside.

all of us sat down at the dinner table , including the twins' younger brother , chris , who was picking at his food. but there was still one person missing.

"where's dad , mom?" veronica asked nicky. she sighed as she put her napkin in her lap. "he's at work. y'know how he is. always out doing something."

she looked over at chris who seemed out of it. "stop picking at your food honey. eat , please." she pushed his plate closer to him. he finally took a bite.

"you haven't said anything this whole time , dude." eric said to him. chris sighed and rolled his eyes. "nevermind. forget i said anything." eric continued eating.

chris looked like a corpse like me and eric but even more skinny and sickly. he put his fork down. "i'm going to my room." he said. nicky looked at him with a concerned look on her face.

"your not gonna eat , honey?" he walked to the stairs. "i had pizza at jason's. i'm fine." he went upstairs. "what's up with him , mom?" veronica whispered.

nicky shrugged. "i have no idea , sweetie. every time we have dinner , he takes one bite and then disappears into his room." all of us continued eating our baked ziti. i took a sip of my water.

the front door then opened and a man with a mustache walked into the house as if he was drunk. nicky sighed and got up from her chair to go help him.

"arthur , you can't keep coming home like this! the kids are here!" she helped him into the living room. eric looked behind him to see what was going on.

he then looked at veronica and whispered. "since when did dad become a drunk?" she shrugged. "the fuck do i know." eric groaned and got up from his chair to go into the living room.

me and veronica could hear everything they were saying. "dad , why did you come home drunk?" i heard arthur cough. "none of your god damn business , boy .." he said with his words slurred.

"tell me!" eric demanded him. arthur's voice got louder. "because i don't wanna worry about you kids .." i could hear eric sniffling as if he was about to cry.

"you had a chance to come back to life after the fire , dad , and now you're going to throw it away on alcohol just because you can't handle the fact that i died? pathetic."

i heard arthur stand up from his chair. "now listen here .." before he could even finish , eric interrupted him. "chris is fucking starving himself because of you!! you used to be the best dad in the world. what happened to you?!"

i heard arthur punch eric in the face and me and veronica ran into the living room to go help him. eric was on the ground and i bent down on the ground to help him up.

"what the fuck are you doing , dad?!" veronica said , tearing up. "oh shut up .." he raised his fist to hit her and eric immediately got in front of her. "DON'T FUCKING TOUCH HER!"

arthur sat back down in his chair. "god knows what you have put mom and chris through .." eric walked out of the room and went outside. i followed him out there.

"eric , just come back inside!" he turned around to look at me. "you don't understand , katrina .." i sighed. "i can understand if you just talk to me. why were you talking about a fire?"

eric ran his fingers through his hair. "our house burned down. my dad didn't survive but a crow revived him." i heard a crow cawing right when he said that.

"so , is this like a family thing or what?" eric shrugged. "i don't know .. i just don't know how things could get this bad .." i hugged him. "just come inside."