Ravenwings (Imaged + Completed) [1st in Trilogy]

Part II: Chapter 32

"That was Hunter?" I asked in the silence that followed the next part of his story.

"Y-yeah," Raven breathed, closing his eye and taking careful, strained breaths as he fought a flashback.

"Raven skip ahead. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to," I said.

Raven nodded slowly. He skipped over a lot of it. "I spent years preparing for escape. I was just a kid when I went in that basement, but when I came out, I was tall and muscled and scarred... I knew I'd get bigger, and I knew my body was capable of extraordinary things, so even when I was starving, I pushed myself and exerted myself in my spare moments until I could slowly see myself getting bigger and bigger, until one day...I was as big as them...and they couldn't push me around so easily anymore."

His lip curled as he said, "I could see it in Craig's eyes; that fear that I'd do to him everything he'd done to me. I know it because I put that fear there, and I gave him the nightmares, because I was the one screaming in his ear when he had the knife, telling him he'd always feel as trapped as me. And I was never near as big as Percy, but I started seeing him hesitate to beat me down in that last year, right before they nearly cut me off from food altogether, hoping I'd...wither, I guess."

He shook his head and looked away, but after a deep breath, he continued. "They liked to do most of it when they were drunk, and one day, after eight long years...they finally slipped up; they didn't lock it. I made a run for it, and he tried to chase me, but just kept stumbling everywhere. By the time he got out, I was already flying away. He pulled out his gun and shot me here, in the shoulder." He tapped the circular scar at the outer edge of his left collarbone.

"I didn't get very far, a mile at the most, before I crash-landed on my wings. I'd at least made it to a familiar spot from eight years before...but Woodman had laid out traps for me in case I ever got out, and I was really distracted, so...I wound up hanging from a tree in a net. I managed to free the net from the tree, but never got out...and I was there on the ground when you found me.

"Woodman was so drunk, he must've passed out before letting the dogs loose, and probably didn't even remember what had happened in the morning. Probably would wake up, continue with his life, see me gone, get upset and drunk again, and forget everything again. I expected him to show up within a day, and yet he never came...

"But I sat there waiting for it. A rainstorm saved me from dying of thirst, because I couldn't escape the net. Five days went by, and I could barely move. I'd wished I had hung myself while the net had still been hanging from the tree. I decided to give it one last push before I tried to strangle myself before Woodman could find me. No way was I going to be put through more years of him."

I gasped. "Raven, no, no, you..."

"Melody, I had nothing to live for. The world had just...always been cruel to me, I thought people like you only existed in stories," Raven muttered. "So...that's what I did. I gave it one last push, giving it all I had. But...I couldn't. I couldn't escape. I pushed the net away from me until I passed out. But...when I did open my eyes...there was...you."

He finally smiled a little. "You were the prettiest girl I'd ever seen. At first, um...since I'd only ever met nine people in my life, I'm sorry I freaked out."

"No, you don't have to apologize for that, christ...you were more than entitled to a freak-out."

"At first I panicked and worried you could be allied with Woodman, or a spy for Aves Noir, or in league with Coyote for that matter, who also probably wants me dead..." He worked his lips around and made brief eye contact, getting lost in thought for a moment.

"Meeting you was a really big moment. You were the first good in my life. I didn't even know there were good people in the world."

He began to sit up, and rubbed at my cheek. "You really did save my life, Melody. And I really love you." He reached out for me and pulled me in for a tight embrace. "You're the only one who hasn't tortured me. Instead you've been so kind...I didn't know someone like you was even real, I thought genuinely nice people were just fantasies..."

He rested his forehead against mine, and I consoled him, "I'm so sorry about everything that's happened to you...you're still such an amazing person, despite everything you've been through..."

He shook his head. "No, you don't know what goes on inside my head," he protested. "I'm massively fucked up, you get that, right?"

"Well, yeah, I've seen what it does to you."

"No, you don't get it, that's just the tip of the iceberg. I've received nothing but abuse for years. What do you think my thoughts and instincts towards you have been before I fought them? I've tried to emulate the good guy or the hero that you want, but...I've gotten way too close to..." He trailed off.

"What?"

He scoffed at the notion of telling me. "You don't want to know the sh*t that's gone through my head. Until I met you, I thought things like...I thought people in cages was common. Just by accident, I've choked you out multiple times. You were stupid to ever bring me home, you know. I could have killed you, or abused you like they did to me. And I'm some big, super-human guy, you're just...you never would have even stood a chance."

"But you're not like them," I insisted. "You're insanely smart, and have stayed true to yourself, and have tried to be good instead of just...reciprocating evil."

"But you didn't know that. You're not listening; all I'd experienced was hate until you. If I wasn't so quiet in the start of all this, you'd have been scarred for life. And damn it, you're lucky I wasn't driven insane, because the shit that could have happened to you..." He peered down at me, scanning me all over. "And mere weeks with you isn't enough to reprogram my brain. I can hardly sleep at night because I'm haunted by the twisted stuff that comes to mind."

I swallowed. "That's not your fault. You're still healing." Mentally, if not physically.

"Promise me you'll never be as trusting as you have with me with anyone else, ever again."

"I...alright, I promise."

He sighed, his eyes glistening in restrained tears. "You're too pure of a person for this world. You have no idea what's out there, what's even just miles away. And...I'm not even sure I can protect you anymore." He shook his head and lowered his voice, which wavered to say it, "I need to leave tonight, Melody. I'm sorry."