The Arcobaleno

Chapter 4 - Fitting In

"Man, that was awesome!" Her brother cheered as he flopped down onto her bed.

Anastasia grinned wryly at him as she unpacked her clothes. "I'm glad someone found it entertaining."

Her brother grinned brightly at her from his spot on her bed, "Well, what do you expect me to say!? You kicked their butts!" 

"And here I as hoping that I could go through school without being noticed." The girl sighed sadly.

"Pfft, you're kidding right? I thought that you would know by now that it would never happen."

Anastasia huffed, "Well, I could hope."

"People aren't that nice." Her brother stated, voice uncharacteristically serious. "They could say that they're there for you, or that you could trust them. Maybe even that they're your friend, but one way or another they'll hurt you."

Anastasia smiled sadly at him, she had learnt the hard way; over and over again, just how true those words were. 

Gently, she ruffled his dark hair. "When did you get so mature?" 

Her brother smiled softly at her, "Well, someone needs to look out for you. The same way you looked out for me."

In the stillness of that room, the two simply laid next to each other. A hand clasped together as if afraid that the other would vanish. For now everything in the world was fine.

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Anastasia clutched her book towards her chest, trying to ignore the looks and whispers aimed at her. Tears threatened to spill out, but she would not give them the satisfaction. This wasn't something she was unfamiliar with, the cold looks and apathetic gazes were simply a part of her now. She had long learned on how to ignore them, but on some days it really hit hard how unlikeable she apparently was.

She simply hoped that her brother would never go through what she did. Would never feel the feeling of being alone amongst a crowd or lay on his bed late at night and wonder what went wrong.

Lost in her memories the girl was unaware that she had managed to wander her way towards the academy's gardens. Relieved at the lack of human presence, she simply settled down on top of a stone bench. A sharp 'caw' brought her attention to a black crow who stood perched upon the bench.

Blinking her grey eyes in surprise, Anastasia carefully reached a hand towards the rather large bird. It's black eyes stared at her, judging and assessing before it finally nuzzled itself against her palm. Smiling softly at the bird Anastasia carefully held it before placing it on her lap.

"Now, how did you get here?" She whispered softly as she stroked it's soft feathers. The crow gave a small caw in reply as it relaxed in her hold.

"Where are your friends? Or are you alone like me too?" She questioned, despite the fact that she knew it could not respond. "Well, that mustn't be it. Because you are absolutely gorgeous." 

Anastasia giggled slightly at how the bird seemed to preen at her comment. Fluffing it's inky feathers, and cocking it's head proudly.

"Sometimes I wish that people weren't so mean, that I could care less what they think or say about me. Sadly life doesn't work that way." She muttered towards the raven as she continued to pet it.  

The soft ringing of a far away bell, snapped her out of her melancholy. Carefully she settled the large bird back down on the stone bench, stroking it a final time.

"Bye-bye little bird, I hope you get home soon. Thank you for listening to my ramblings." Anastasia spoke softly as she left a small handful of nuts for it.