Yours, Raven

Eight

Eight

• • •

Raven was passing by the village postman's house with her friends, early in the morning one Saturday, after the village's Youth Club's cleanliness drive. By the time they finished cleaning the village, the Sun had climbed high in the sky, flooding its warm slanted rays over their humble village to give life to the greenery. The stout postman called Raven from the gate, saying a letter from Nicholas had arrived.

While the postman went inside to get the letter, she waited at the gate with her friends, some of them lightly teasing her that her distant boyfriend had sent her love letters.

"Enough, enough. It's for his mom, okay," Raven dismissively answered with a sigh.

"Yeah," Aaron answered whilst wrapping an arm around Raven's shoulders, "It's for his mom. Raven's boyfriend is right here."

Every soul in the village was aware of the fact that Aaron Reo was head over heels for Raven, but nobody really took it seriously since he kept on blabbering about it too openly to everyone, almost like a joke.

"Here, Raven." The postman came back with a letter in white envelope.

Raven took it and flipped it over; something she always did for no particular reason but simply out of curiosity to see for whom the letter was. Nicholas always sent only one letter at a time and it would always be a reply to whoever wrote to him; his mother and her parents. Raven should've taken for granted by now that this letter, too, would be for his mother or either the three of them combined. But as habit had it, she flipped it over and there the scribble on the paper read. . . "Raves". She couldn't help but stare at it for a good one minute, holding her breath and blinking over it, a little lost.

Every one of her friends was quiet too, staring down at the letter together. In an action that was uncalled for, Aaron snatched the paper out of her hands.

"Aaron!" Raven shouted, "Give it back!"

Backing away from her as he examined the letter, he drawled vigilantly as though he had some claim over Raven, as though a certain Nicholas had crossed a dangerous line. "Who dares write letters to my future wife? I think this Nicholas wants to die."

"Yeah. Challenge him to a duel and we'll see who dies," Darrin replied and all the others laughed in response.

Aaron looked up from the letter and frowned at Darrin, "Just because he gets military training doesn't mean I can't beat him, alright. You never know. Do not underestimate me."

Darrin snorted and made a face.

"Give it to me, Aaron!" Raven demanded, trying to snatch the letter back from him, but Aaron held it high up above his head.

Short, little Raven grabbed his arm and jumped for the letter but she couldn't reach it. Aaron was 5'5 ft and Raven was only 5 ft, one of the shortest among her friends. She'd grown up about two inches since Nicholas left but that wasn't even tall enough. For every inch she grew, most of her friends seemed to grow two inches.

"Aaron! Get over it!"

Aaron dropped his hand and suddenly wrapped her up in his arms, hiding the letter around the small of her back.

"Aaron!" Raven snapped again.

He gave her a goofy grin and pressed a fond kiss on her left cheek. Raven embarrassedly wriggled out of his hold and shoved him on his chest, snatching the letter from his hand. Aaron chuckled. Even the postman chuckled. "You're sure to get a beating, Aaron."

There was something about Aaron that made people really care less. He was a funny one, and everyone in the village found him likable. Had it been some other boy, the postman probably would have lectured him for his behavior.