Love Me to Death

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Maryn closed the store, not having any customers since Cain. She thought he was weird. How do you not know the name of the book you are looking for, and how did he know her name? Maybe he knew her from school, but she thought she would have noticed him before. He was really hot, with a face you wouldn’t forget. She knew she had never met him.

Walking down the sidewalk, she looked at the tall buildings lining the street. She liked living in Brooklyn, the city life made her feel alive. Her life hadn’t been easy since her parents died three years ago, forcing her sister to become her guardian and sharing a small studio apartment with her. Maryn had to work to help out with the bills, but she didn’t mind.

A loud cawing grabbed Maryn’s attention as she walked by a small park, making her look up into a barren tree. Perched on a low branch was a huge raven, his black feathers gleaming in the sunlight. It had its head cocked to the side and seemed to have its eye trained on Maryn. She turned a corner, paying no more attention.

Arriving at her apartment she pushed the key into the lock and turned it, listening for the telltale click. Just before entering the stairwell leading up to the apartment she heard another loud cawing and looked up to see a raven perched on a flag pole on the building next to hers. It had its head cocked to the side and was peering down at her. It couldn’t be the same bird could it?

“What are you looking at?” she mumbled.

The raven let out a loud screech and flew off.

Maryn laughed, shaking her head and climbed the stairs. She hoped her sister was home, they didn’t seem to see much of each other lately with Maryn at school and working and her sister’s full time job at the New York Daily News as a journalist.

“Hello,” she called, setting her bag and purse down by the door.

“Back here!” Her sister called from behind one of the many screens they had set up to divide up the apartment.

Making her way back to the makeshift office, she found her sister sitting at her desk looking through a stack of papers.

“Hey kiddo, how was school and work?” her sister asked, not looking up.

“Fine.” Maryn sank down on a chair opposite her sister.

“Do you want me to make dinner?” Maryn asked.

“Could you please?” her sister replied, still not bothering to look up.

Maryn sighed and got up heading to the kitchen, which took up one whole wall of the apartment. Dana’s job kept her busy and Maryn was beginning to feel a little lonely. Sure she had friends, but Dana was the only family Maryn had left and she missed the time they used to spend together before their parents had died, leaving Dana to act as a parent and not a sister.

Maryn walked past one of the many windows in the apartment and stopped short when she heard a tapping on the glass. She turned to see a raven perched on the ledge of the window and pecking the glass with its beak. Maryn rushed over and pushed up the window and flapped her hands out the window.

“Shoo,” she said loudly.

The raven flew away with a loud screech. Maryn slammed the window down, afraid it might come back and try to come inside. Was it the same raven following her? She shook her head.

“Nah, it couldn’t be. It must be a coincidence.”

After dinner her sister left to go back to the office, which seemed to be the case lately leaving Maryn to her own devices.

Suddenly Maryn’s phone chimed in her bag by the door, telling her she had a text. Going over she rifled through her bag till she pulled out her cell phone.

‘You ready to party?’ the message read.

‘Almost’ she typed back.

Her phone chimed again.

‘I’ll be there in ten’

Rushing to her ‘room’ which consisted of a screen and a single bed with a dresser against the wall she changed out of her school clothes and into skinny jeans, a shirt that hung off one shoulder and her favorite black pumps. Grabbing the brush off her dresser she ran it through her long golden hair, trying to get the waves to go how she liked instead of frizzing up into a giant mess.

She touched up her make-up and applied some fresh tinted lip gloss and studied the outcome in the mirror. Everyone always told Maryn she looked older than she really was. It had to do with the fact that her facial features had thinned out early, making her lose the baby look in her face that some teenagers still possessed. Her eyes were a startling blue and she always got comments on them. She had her dad’s eyes. Her sister on the other hand had her mom’s brown eyes and every time Maryn looked at her sister she was reminded of her mother. It was bittersweet.

The doorbell buzzed and Maryn rushed to the door to go down, grabbing her purse on the way out the door. She didn’t bother leaving her sister a note, knowing she would probably make it back before Dana anyways. Once she got to the office she hardly left it.

She rushed down the stairs to find Tessa waiting outside. Tessa looked amazing. Her auburn hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and her green eyes were accented perfectly with eye shadow and thick black liner. Tessa was dressed to kill. She had on a silver mini dress that just brushed her thighs and red pumps. If she wasn’t careful she might attract the wrong kind of attention, Maryn thought to herself but knew that Tessa could take care of herself. She grew up in New York after all.

“Hey Mare, you look smokin’ tonight,” Tessa said with a low whistle.

Maryn did a little turn on the sidewalk.

“Nothing compared to you Tess,” she replied.

Tessa linked arms with Maryn.

“Come on, let’s show those bitches how to par-tay,” she yelled, holding out her hand to hail a cab.