Flash of Light

Chapter Two

   Rita and I were waiting for Corvus by our neighborhood entrance. He showed up only a few minutes later with a look of surprise in his eyes.

   "Was it a coincidence you're here or were you waiting for me?" he asked when he got into hearing range. We joined him in walking to school, one of us on each side.

   "Rita thought it'd be nice since we are going to the same place anyway," I responded.

   "I also wanted to get to know you better. We haven't got to learn a lot about each other," Rita whined. I let out a sigh as Corvus gave us an amused look from behind his bangs. "Disappointed Dad back at it again," she uttered before her eyes lit up. "Let's exchange numbers!"

   "Sure," Corvus said as Rita handed him her phone. He typed in his number quickly and handed it back to her.

   "Okay! Question time! What's your favorite color?"

   "That's it?" Corvus and I asked at the same time, although Corvus probably didn't mean for his to be said out loud.

   "We don't know anything, so it's a perfectly acceptable question!"

   "I guess it would be dark purple? I don't really know."

   "Mine would be pink or teal, both are really pretty," Rita replied. She then turned to me for my answer.

   "I think I like light blue best. Do you have any siblings? I don't have any, but Rita has three."

   "I have an older sister named Jay who just started college," he responded with a small smile. "What do guys use for fun?"

   "I bake a lot and volunteered at an animal shelter," I said with a small blush in embarrassment.

   "I'm a gardener, and I sew. I really like flowers," Rita laughed as we reached the gates. As we walked up, a girl with short curly hair black hair and light brown eyes ran up to us.

   "Yo, yo, yo! Did Mr. Shy Guy himself make friends without being forced to? What did you do to my friend you demon!" the girl shouted before turning her attention to Rita and me.

   "You're both new aren't you?"

   Rita and the girl who introduced herself as Irene hit it off instantly. I followed the two girls with Corvus. Irene led us to one of the benches in the courtyard partially hidden by some plants. A handful of people were already there hanging out.

   "Who did you steal this time, 'Rene?" asked a guy with brown hair and dark blue eyes.

   "Corvus made friends!" Irene explained. All five of the people there whipped there heads to face said boy standing beside me. He slightly shifted behind me to get away from the sudden attention. It was quiet for a minute before a girl started crying.

   "Our little birb finally grew up and flew away to find new friends!" she exclaimed through tears. Corvus' face turned red as the other started to laugh at the blonde. The guy with brown hair stood up and walked over to Corvus and me. The girls had gone over to introduce Rita to everyone.

   "You're Richard, right? I'm Hayden. We have the same math class." Hayden had a bright smile on his face as he wrapped an arm my shoulder. "Let me introduce you to our crew." He first pointed at a guy with blonde hair and grey eyes. "That's Ellijah. He's one of group's mom friends." Said guy gave me a wave before Hayden pointed to someone else. This time it was the crying girl. "She's our resident stupid, Amber." Amber looked over to us and stuck out her tongue.

   "I'm book smart stupid. I'm just not anything else smart, so shut your face," Amber said before turning back to Rita who was easily hitting it off with her.

   Ignoring her, he pointed to a girl with dark brown hair talking to a girl with auburn hair. "Those are Megan and Eveline. They are some of the smartest kids in school, but somehow they've stuck around with us for some reason. Miles, Eric, and Veronica aren't here right now. Eric and Veronica should come at lunch, and I'm pretty sure Miles is sick. You can eat with us if you don't have any other plans."

   I gave him a smile, committing the names to memory. "Thanks for the offer."

   "Anytime. How did you meet Mr. Gloom? He doesn't really talk to anyone on his own."

   "Rita and I just moved here over break. We were both put next to Corvus in homeroom. Rita decided to talk to him, and we found out we lived near each other. Rita likes making friends so here we are," I responded.

   "Neat! Most people avoid him after finding out where he lives and such."

   "Why would people judge him for something he can't control? That isn't right."

   "People are weird. Anyway, the bell is going to ring soon, so we should head out to get to class on time." He grabbed his backpack and lunch box from the table. The others also stated heading to the school.

   As I started following him, I realized I hadn't seen Corvus leave. Quickly looking around, I saw him staring into space from his spot against a tree. I walked over to him and gently shook his arm. I felt his arm tense underneath my hand as he turned to me.

   "Sorry for startling you. Just wanted you to know we were heading inside."

   "Thanks," he mumbled before picking up his bag and walking over to Hayden who was waiting for us.

   What was strange though was that throughout the day, I kept thinking back to Corvus. It's normal to be frightened by a person if you aren't paying attention to your surroundings, but that doesn't explain why he was so cold. Maybe it was because it was January, but he was way too cold for it to be just that. I'm probably over-thinking things. It was most likely just his clothes or something but something deep down told me otherwise.

- - -

   The stars were shining bright that night. A child's laughter echoed through the forest clearing. A young boy with icy green eyes was playing with fireflies. He turned to the black haired boy sitting next to him.

  'Look! It's your constellation!'

  'Mhm...'

 'Are you okay -'

   It burned. Everything burned. Make it stop! God make it stop! They're wrong! He isn't a witch! Leave him alone! Get away from him goddamnit! Don't smile at me idiot! Don't... please... you can't

don't leave me alone