How To Save a Life

Chapter 7

"Raven!" The familiar voice that haunted me for the longest time sounded behind me for the first time in over a year. The voice that kept me up for nights at a time. The voice from the guy who broke me more than anyone ever has or ever could. The guy who used to be my everything but broke me into millions of pieces that shattered into more. I froze and slowly turned around to come face to face with the guy who hurt me just over a year ago..Luke. I looked up at him. Wow he's grown a bit during the year. "Hey raven. Long time no see huh?" I nod slightly and look at the floor. Tears start to form in my eyes Damn tears! I scream internally. "Raven? Are you okay?" He breaks out silence. "Didn't expect to see you here" I say suddenly "I'm with my teammate Josh. He begged me to come with him and I'm kinda glad I did" I raise an eyebrow to this. Why me? Today was supposed to be a great day. Then he shows up! I open my mouth to speak again but star interrupts me "who are you? Wait! Is this....is this...no! This isn't..him..is it?? Oh HELL NO! You made a big mistake coming here!! Hey you're off your leash. Your ball clincher isn't under you right now. Your master is missing douche bag!" He freezes. "She's better off without you leading her on! You broke her and I swept her off the ground and picked up every little piece and glued it back together. You have no idea what the hell you did to her and you don't deserve to have this amazing human being in your life anymore. Come on Rae. Let's go!" She drags me out of the building with tears running down my cheeks faster than she was pulling me out. I start to hyperventilate a bit and start gripping my chest tightly. Star drives me home quickly before Luke can follow us. She helps me inside and sets me in the couch yelling for my grandma. She rushes to fetch me a warm rag to place on my head plus my inhaler. I haven't used this in a while. Someone knocks on the door. Star rolls her eyes and goes to answer it. "Hello you! Get off this property or-" "just let me talk to raven!" I hear the voice again. My heart pounds in my chest like I had just run 10 miles. "Star..I-it's fine...let me t-talk to him." I speak up "I deserve an explanation.." I slowly walk over to the door and step outside to meet him face to face once more. "Now explain! Why did you ghost me? Why did you just not talk to me for a whole year? Why did you break me like that? Why did you just break my heart knowing you had it in the palm of your hands? You fucking jerk!" I hit him in the chest and the tears start flooding like they did that day. That terrible day. He wraps his strong arms around me tightly hoping I'd calm down but I don't. "Why did you do this to me? You broke every part of me in ways I never knew was possible! I was in a hospital for part of this past year because of you!" Tears continue flowing as I was becoming louder and louder. He held me tighter than before (if possible). I pushed him off me. "Answer me! Don't try to comfort me now!" Luke sighs. He stares at the ground for a while before his eyes lock on me for a moment. He raises his head slightly looking at me. "A lot has happened. I broke up with Ava after she tried to kill me. There are reasons why that I can't tell you nor am I ready to tell you. And the day we stopped talking? I blacked out. Ava slipped something to me without me knowing I'm sorry!" "You still did it! You still broke my heart! You knew I loved you! You knew I've wanted to be with you for the longest of time!" Tears flow once again. I didn't even try to hold them back this time. "Wait..you wanted to be with me? I didn't know that! You should've told me soo-" I cut him off "you are an idiot!! I didn't even try to hide it after that night I stayed with you!" He shook his head slowly "I barely even remember that night Raven! Maybe you should remind me!" "WE HAD SEX LUKE! WE HAD FUCKING SEX! MAYBE IF YOU ACTUALLY CARED TO PAY ATTENTION YOU WOULD HAVE REALIZED HOW MUCH I LOVED YOU!" A gun shot is heard in the distance. Luke grabs the door and flings it open pushing me inside. He steps inside and locks the door. "Shut off all the lights and get in the closet" Luke whispers quietly. We all listen and go to a closet. "Luke what's going on?" "I wish I could tell you raven..but I can't. I want to but can't." We call keep quiet but suddenly someone bangs on the front door yelling inaudible words until they broke through the lock. "LUKEY!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!" I heard the voice of her..Ava. Suddenly she leaves yelling then we hear shots and a thud on the ground. Luke sighs in relief that she left but tension still filled the air. It was so thick you could cut through it with scissors. Luke quietly cracked the door to find Ava's lifeless body laying outside the door with a police standing over her. The police starts to search the house and sees the closet door cracked. He walks towards it slowly and opens it forcefully. All I could think of was I'm glad my siblings aren't home right now. They would be terrified. "Are you people okay?" The policeman asked helping us up out of the closet. He asked us a few questions before finally leaving an hour later. "Star, want me to drive you home?" I ask still shaking. She nods and gets in my car. The ride was silent until I broke the silence "hey star, stay safe today." She nods "I'll see you tomorrow right?" I nod attempting to smile. Finally we reach her house. "Raven I have to tell you something!" This shocked me. "What is it??" She sighed. "I don't know how you'll react..I hope you don't hate me but I want to be a boy. I don't like this body! I don't feel like myself and I want to be trans. My family would disown me and I don't want you to too.." tears stream down her face. I bring her into my embrace tightly and whisper "honey, I would never disown you. I love you Star. Your my rock. It would just take some adjusting but I can get used to it after a bit!" She smiles brightly and hugs me. She works up the courage and gets out the car and walks into her house. We wave goodbye and I drive back to my house. Ring ring "hello?" "Raven come home. I need your help with something. Don't speed though!" I was confused. Luke called me from an unknown number. Oh well. I drive home. Luke meets me at the door..well what used to be the door. He was trying to fix the door. I walked passed him and grabbed the door as he fixed the hinges that were broken. "Raven I'm sorry" Luke broke the awkward silence between us. I said nothing. "Come on raven. I want to be like we used to be" still silent. "Rae Rae?" I rolled my eyes. "Come on. I will use a name you love and I haven't used it since we were kids!" I look at him intrigued wondering what he could be talking about; I remember. "Come on little mama" I blushed a bright red. Whyyyyy?! "There's that beautiful blush!" This only caused me to blush even more "don't act like your interested just because I admitted my feelings" I blurt out through the blushiness "Rae, I've always loved you. It was never Ava" "Then why wouldn't you leave her? Huh?" "Her family threatened to hurt me. At first, I let it happen remember that huge gash you treated that day at my house? That was from her dad. I stopped talking to you because they threatened to hurt you. I wasn't going to stand for that. So I did what I knew I had to do." A tear forms in his eye but he wipes it away hoping I wouldn't notice. "You should've told me instead of just ghosting me like that!" I hug him tightly. I still love him surprisingly. I guess I buried my love for him deep down so I wouldn't remember them. They rekindled they moment I saw him, but at the same time, the sight of him broke me. I know he wanted to protect me but it's still no excuse for him just ghosting me and hurting me the next day. It will take time for us to be as close as we were, but either way, I still love him and now I know he feels the same way..or at least he did. I felt his arms wrap around me and hold me tightly. Electricity flowed through my body at his touch. I missed it. It seems crazy that I'm just letting him back into my life like this, but he is the love of my life, after all. The next day came slowly. The night crept by like a snail on a turtle. I can't sleep. What time is it? I check the time. "11:59 wow one more minute until I'm an adult" I chuckle to myself. I start counting down the seconds as they roll by. "..30, 29, 28" the closer 12:00 gets, the more nervous I become. ...10, 9, 8.. maybe I can finally move out and start my own life? I doubt it honestly. ...6, 5, 4.. this is it. The last few seconds of me being a minor goodbye "...3, 2, 1...happy birthday self. You're finally 18" I place my phone back down on my nightstand. My sister busts through my door "HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAE RAE!" I jump and land on the floor with a thud "owwwww" I yell. She runs over to help me back into my bed as we both die laughing "I'm sorry Rae! I wanted to be the first to tell you!" "It's fine sis. You were the first to tell me actually!" She smiles brightly then suddenly I hear more feet walking towards my room "RAE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" My twin brothers are always perfectly synced; it gets creepy. They're like those stereotypical twins. Finally they all tell me goodnight and head back to bed. I'm still glad they weren't here earlier today because it wasn't safe. We fixed the house like nothing happened so we wouldn't worry them. "Yes happy birthday Rae Rae." The brothers. Why were they bothering me? I'm happy! "What do you two want?" They laugh in unison "we can't just tell our host happy birthday? Rude" they continue laughing as one dashes towards me and pins me down to the bed while the other tries to use the gift. Usually I let them win, this time, I fight back. I bit one brothers arm and he yelped loudly letting me go for a second, but it wasn't enough. This time he had an even tighter grip on me I felt stinging on my arm. They had won once again. Why does this always happen? I don't want this anymore but they keep overpowering me no matter what I do! Im living in an utter hell in my own mind.