Black Raven | Wattys 2018

Chapter Two

Have you ever felt emotionless? Empty? It's horrible. It's like a big hollow inside you and nothing can fill it up. It sucks you dry from the inside out.

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Birds sang, and branches and trees danced with the breeze; it was a cold dawn. I shivered all the way down to Lena's house. I sat on the shower floor with my knees bent down and my head resting against them. Meanwhile, the freezing water fell down on me, washing off the makeup, dirt, blood, and shame. I still couldn't cry or shout; I kept staring at my feet and at that horrible pink nail polish. Now that I think about it, I should've buried that nail polish way down in the trash, 'cause it was hideous, I don't even know why I bought it; or was it a gift? I don't remember. You know? Never, ever paint your nails with ugly colors, or put on trashy clothes, 'cause you never know what might happen. Can you imagine being stuck in the afterlife wearing the worst thing you owned or looking like an alien-hobbit-zombie? Just kidding, you don't actually get stuck wearing the same old shit you had on the day you died. Or do you? Well, I certainly didn't. Thank God for that.

-Pounding on the door- "HEY!!!! You've been in there too long. There are still a lot of us who wish to bathe. Preferably sometime in the next minutes 'cause if not we're all gonna be late."-Scott, the oldest of my foster siblings yelled. Of all my siblings, he seemed to be the one to drive the girls crazy. His built body, cute dimples, messy, blond hair, and his bright, gray eyes made the girls fawn over him.

I stood in front of the mirror and looked at my pale face, broken lips, eye bags, and bruised body, still I felt nothing. I wrapped a towel around my body and walked to my room. The boys yelled at me when I got out of the bathroom because I took too long in the shower and we were all gonna be late.

"EMMA!!!! The bus is here; if you don't come down now, it's going to leave you."-Nick shouted from downstairs. I couldn't even move. My big, green eyes stared at my pale, freckled face in the mirror. I put on my sunglasses, tied my long, wavy, chocolate-colored hair in a ponytail, and then put on a baseball cap.

"COMING!!!!"-I shouted back.

I closed the door behind me and just as I was about to get on the bus I glanced back and saw a black raven on the porch. My brothers yelled something at me and I diverted my attention to them; when I looked back at the house the raven was gone.

I sat down next to Scott because I didn't want to hear Nick's rebukes. "Are you alright?" Scott asked.

"All good."-I responded without looking at him.

"You didn't sleep at home last night, did you?"

"No."

"Okay..."

And... that was my amazing conversation with Scott that morning. He knew not to push me. I talked when I wanted to; not when others wanted me to. After my parents died, I didn't talk for two whole months. When I got to Lena's, everyone, except Scott, bothered me and tried forcing me to talk. Scott was the same age as Nick and me; I think that's why among all the boys, I got along better with him.

I closed my eyes until we got to school. Horrible images from the night before haunted me. I couldn't block them out. I felt filthy, ashamed, and broken.

"Hey!!! We need to talk."-Nick told me when we got to school. Here came the speech I dreaded.

"Can it wait until we get to Lena's in the afternoon?"

"Will you be at Lena's in the afternoon? 'Cause lately you're never there." My brother asked annoyed. He was right. I was never there. Like I said before, I hated that house. Funny thing is, I lost my life there, but I also met the most important people of my life in that house.

"I'll be there."-I assured him. I turned away and started walking towards my classroom. That morning I felt like hell and looked like it too. My vision was still a little fuzzy and my whole body was in pain. Maybe you're thinking that I asked for it. After all, it was my decision to drink and do drugs; nothing good ever comes out of it. And maybe you're right; maybe I deserved it.

Around third period, my head started to hurt like crazy. I felt a heavy pounding in my head; it felt just like it was about to explode. The noises around me were too much. I couldn't stand the voice of the teacher, nor the kids talking next to me, nor the shouting outside in the hallway. I started getting dizzy and everything around me was spinning. I couldn't take it anymore, so I grabbed my things and stormed out of the classroom; meanwhile, the teacher shouted something at me, but the pain was too much and I couldn't quite hear her. I stumbled into everything and everyone while fast walking towards the nearest bathroom; students yelled at me and cursed when I unintentionally crashed into them.

Just before entering the bathroom, Ryan grabbed me and pulled me into the guys' bathroom. (Life just liked screwing with me.) I panicked and started to scream. He pushed me into a stall and put his hand over my mouth to shut me up. He was trying to say something, but between my headache and my panic attack, I couldn't hear him. I bit his hand, kicked him in the nuts, and ran away. Nick and Scott were just outside the bathroom, so when they saw me trembling, sweating, and scared, their hands formed into fists and they walked into the bathroom ready to kill someone. Brooke, Nick's girlfriend, was there too; she embraced me. Shouts could be heard outside; other guys went into the bathroom too. My headache was still killing me, so I walked away from there and went to the football field's bleachers. Laura and a bunch of other kids were under the bleachers smoking some stuff and drinking; it smelled like urine down there. I wanted my headache to stop; I wanted to forget everything that had happened in the last 24 hours; I wanted to stop hurting, so I joined them. After a bottle of beer and some pot, my headache went away. I skipped my next two periods and headed to Lena's. It looked like a storm was coming, so I tried to hurry up my pace.

Woosh, the wind sang,
And the doors banged.
The trees danced with the breeze
And the streets looked sad and bleak.
A dark gray painted the sky.
Up high, the clouds started to cry.
The sky rumbled and flickered a yellow light.
Daylight turned into a dark night.

There was no one in Lena's house; I was all alone. I felt filthy, so I bathed again. I was looking at my bruises in the mirror when I heard something. "Hello, who's there?" No response. Lights flickered and the room felt really cold. "Hello!!!"-I called out again. Still nothing. I walked down the stairs and called out, "Nick?? Scott?? Lena?? Ian?? Logan?? Somebody??" Still, there was no response.

I felt a swoosh rush passed me. My skin bristled. I felt chills run through my body. I heard something outside, so I opened the front door and stepped out. It was pouring and rumbling hard outside. There was broken glass all over the grass and I cut my right foot with some of it. When I bent down to pick up a piece of glass, I spotted a black raven reflected on it, but when I looked around I didn't see any bird. When I looked again at the glass, it was gone. The wind howled as the branches of the trees moved back and forth. I started to walk towards the door again, and just as I was about to enter I caught a glimpse of someone or something. I could swear I saw someone standing behind the crystal door staring back at me. My heart stopped for a moment, my palms were all sweaty, my eyes widened, as I stood frozen in front of the house, under the mad rain with just a towel wrapped around my body. From behind me, a cold hand touched my shoulder and I jumped in response.