Between Heaven and Earth

Ravens Call

Chapter 4

Ravens Call

One of the key rules of living in the city, especially in the less cheer-filled neighbor hoods, keep your head down and your mouth shut. It was words Mary lived by and lived well. Or at least, as well as a college kid living from a tip jar could. Head down, mouth shut, that's what her neighbor had told her the day she moved into the old town house, and the day before he was fished out of the river.

If she had the money for it she would have lived somewhere. If she had the money for it she would have been going to medical school instead of majoring in paralegal studies at a community college. But one makes do with what one has, and Mary Merari was no exception. She made do with the hot uniforms and the cold water, made due with the low pay and the high mortality rate.

As she stared down at the broken lock on her door she knew she was going to have to make due with whatever damages there were to her property, and hope no one was still in there. Calling the police would have probably been a good idea, but she was pretty sure one of her neighbors cooked pot into everything he ate and she had no intention of drawing attention to herself as someone who would call the cops on something so small. No, that would certainly be bad.

Instead she reached for her lanyard, gripping the hand held taser there tightly as she pushed the door open with her foot. It slid open with an irritating creak that she made a mental note to have looked at later, when she brought this up with the building manager.

The taser, she found, was unnecessary. When she first walked in she'd been ready to run from the dark figure standing in front of the living room balcony. There was no mysterious person waiting to slice her open, no gun from behind the door to put a bullet in her back. Once she was sure that the living room was cleared she made her way to rip shower curtains away in the bathroom. The kitchen was next. Nothing under the table, no one hiding in the pantry.

Really, no one was there, but her TV and medicines were gone. Ibuprofen, Allergy medicine, Xanax, birth control, it was all gone. She was glad that she kept all of her jewelry locked up and out of sight.

Mary made her way to the bedroom and took a weary look around before pulling open the bottom drawer of the night stand. She checked inside the old shoe box there, counting rings, necklaces and bracelets. It was a miracle that no one had searched through it. Of course who ever had gone through the trouble of breaking into her home didn't seem to have taken anything but electronics and drugs. Even her more expensive clothes hung innocently in her closet. Mary continued her search of her more valued possessions, pausing when she noticed a pair of high heels she was sure hadn't been in the closet before. Not missing sellables and even gaining something from a break in?

"Curiouser and curiouser," she murmured, stepping back and shutting the shuttered doors.

The police certainly wouldn't be needed, but food definitely was. Sadly the head ache that was starting to develop would need to go untreated, Mary mourned, pulling open the refrigerator. There she paused, brows pinching together and then sighing heavily.

"Seriously? Leave the rings and take the bagels?" and the cream cheese. What kind of crack headed robber had she attracted?

Mentally cursing the irritation that this had brought on Mary searched her empty cupboards, realizing that she was actually cleaned out of almost all of her food. Gone were the multiple packs of instant ramen, the cans of soup and the discounted cereals. All that was left was the small, nearly empty carton of milk. And that was how she was forced to pay double the fee to order pizza to her broken door, ignoring the dirty looks the delivery boy sent her for making him come to that area of the city. The pie was even cold when it finally got to her, an hour and half after she'd placed the order for it. So cold pizza, as her microwave was also missing.