Raven Flight

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Naming Unknown Mysteries

I finally untied myself from the hard, splintery chair after much struggling about on the thorn-filled lawn. The rough twine-like string that they had used to bind me had bit into my wrists, and I rubbed at them thoughtfully, trying to wipe away the sting of discomfort. With a sigh and a roll of my eyes, I glanced down the road each way, then took off in one direction. Not knowing, or caring for that matter, where I was headed, I had started walking away from what I had been hoping to get out of for years. I had always spent most of my boring classes daydreaming of my escape, and how wonderful it would be when I finally worked up the nerve to leave, I just hadn't imagined ever escaping like this. I would never look back, never return, and never hope to return. This was one place I wouldn't ever miss, no matter how bad it got in the future.

A few miles down the road, I found a deserted park where there were no giggling children to annoy me. I slowly meandered into the park's dead garden, where I found a bench worn with age among the remains of the flowers and over-taken by weeds. It was littered with the droppings of birds, and the forgotten signs of termites and mold, making me wonder how long it had been since anyone had showed any love or care to it. The bench looked utterly depressed and alone, but I decided to stop to sit anyway, if only to make use of the sitting area when no one else was. As I sat, the facts started hitting me, and I realized just what had happened. I was free! I was free to make my own life-threatening choices for once, and there I was sitting on an old bench, how exciting. I should have been celebrating, or at least have been happy about being away from the orphanage, maybe I should have even been running farther still, since there would never be too much space separating me from the orphanage. Yet, I wasn't doing anything but sitting on an old bench waiting for the fates to make up their mind about when my life would be tossed in the dumpster again. For some reason that I just didn't know, I didn't care, I had been left with a cause I didn't know how to defend, and abilities I didn't understand, no wonder everything was more confusing than it had looked at first. So, sitting there without any direction to go in my confusion, I decided it was the world's move, and I'd sit by and wait to see what that move would be.

Luckily, I didn't have to wait as long as I had thought it would be. All of a sudden, I heard a deep grumbling mixed with heavy footsteps coming down the path. It seemed that someone did visit the sad bench after all, and I was glad that it wasn't as overly lonely as I had suspected. After a long moment, an older man stepped into the clearing, shuffling his way through the layer of decomposing leaves that was building up on the trail. His one overgrown eyebrow kitted into an angry bunch above his sunken in eyes. Baggy overalls hung off his small, hunched-over frame. I couldn't count the number of wrinkles his face alone owned, and a large nose protruded off his face. Though he had plenty of skin to fold, it seemed that was all he was, skin and bones, all falling in on itself and wrapped up as an old grumpy man who seemed to be alone in the world. I almost felt sorry for him, but what I had seen in his eyes wasn't loneliness. As I was peering at him and his unusual physical features, his clompy shoes had marched over and with an angry stomp of his foot, he sprayed an angry demand all over me.

“Get out of my chair!” He shouted, excess saliva pooling in the spots of his missing teeth. With a roll of my eyes at how I had possibly almost felt sorry for him, I stood and moved out of his way as his command, but it seemed that he wasn't anywhere near finished with me. “You know what you are? A Crow! You're just an annoying crow. You may even be a buzzard!” He cackled at his own rebuke, but I wasn't sure where the spontaneous outburst had come from, or what he had meant by it. I did realize, however, that he might as well have been a childish bully, but he got to me whether he had meant it or not. I found my arms crossing, and I lifted my nose at this foolishness, trying to seem as if I didn't care.