battlefield bludhaven senior high

I Just Know

        A few weeks had passed and Raven still wasn't entirely settled into her new school. It just felt so awkward being around all these people at once. There was also seemingly no place where there wasn't a person, even during class when she asked to go to the bathroom, there were always at least five people wandering the halls. Sometimes she wondered if they were thinking the same thing as her, she can't read minds after all, just emotions.

        Still though, school was generally good and she certainly appreciated going to it. It was a safe place away from home and it did her good to stretch her legs every once in a while. Raven found out very early that when you're new somewhere, you have to constantly introduce yourself to teachers and staff but most of the time, students don't talk to you. Not in high school anyways.

        There was a brief time in which she had hidden on Earth when Trigon invaded Azarath looking for her. About two weeks at most during elementary school. She didn't actually attend classes there, but she did go to the school's daycare and because of that, some kids just assumed she was a student. In daycare it's more acceptable to talk to other students because it gives you someone to play with or sit next to on the bus home. Other kids did talk to her and she made a few friends that she didn't get to keep contact with when she transcended into another dimension. Inter-dimensional phone calls are not only very expensive, but there's a good chance you won't even get through to the other line.

        That said, Raven didn't really mind people not talking to her in high school. She got a lot of her homework done, there was plenty of time to draw or read and it kept her focused. At lunch, Raven would sit at an empty table and drink some thermos-held tea while she just watched everyone. It was so surreal to be right there in the middle of everything happening and yet, completely displaced from it as well, like being in a dream or watching a movie.

        When Raven got home though, there were serious responsibilities. After getting off the bus, she walked a short block home and began to clean up the kitchen of their little house before setting the alarm for when to pick up her brother, Kid Devil or Eddie, as he was better known. During the weekdays he spent time with her mother's friend Spectre who taught him how to behave and speak in human languages. Once Eddie got home, he was Raven's responsibility. 

        "Wydda Raven, waq qoz uail kou?" Eddie only really spoke in the forbidden language, Rhefugi. After all, he was a demon. 

        "Es qoz odlerws," she replied, taking his hand and beginning to walk towards their house. She lead him along as he told her about his day and he didn't ask her anymore about hers because he knew she wouldn't say much. Eddie did his usual things so he recited his schedule.

        "E qyfs sa Uncle Spector, qy sodnyk oxais qyolefr zwelsz olaifk witofz. E fyyk sa qyol es. Witofz kaf's deny fehhdyz." Raven gave a faint smirk while she ushered him up to the steps. Childlike innocence like that can be so enchanting sometimes. 

        "Afpy qy rys efzeky, zhyon English," she told him, opening the door and taking his backpack over her shoulder. He ran in, very excited, and immediately tried to watch television before Raven. She gave him a stern look. 

        "Potty time?" he asked sheepishly turning off the TV.

        "Potty time." 

        Arella, awoken from her slumber in the other room, groggily attempted to speak. She rubbed her eyes and straightened up before looking over her daughter. 

     "How do you always know when he has to go?" 

     "I just know," Raven replied, walking over with Eddie to the bathroom before collecting her school supplies.

        A few days later, after the weekend had passed, Raven returned to school. Before her second class, she decided to get a snack out of the vending machine. In her hoodie pocket, she had about $1 in quarters. She thought about what she could get before her fingertips went cold. At first, she thought that someone was near her and that she was picking up on the energy. She looked left and then right, not seeing anyone. Raven collected her quarters back into her pocket and left, squinting at the vending machine before returning to the halls upstairs. Her skin still felt cold for a moment before she returned to the room. 

        When Raven got ready to go to lunch, she had a brief thought about what she would have gotten out of the vending machine. She felt a little off about going near it now but she hadn't brought anything bagged for lunch. A flash of chill went over her spine and she turned around to face the machine. It shook, almost unnoticably but it couldn't have been her mind playing tricks on her. Maybe that's just how those older machines started up? 

        Just then, she caught movement from inside the glass. 

        A packet of Snyder's pretzels fell and landed in the release door. 

        Just what she had wanted to get earlier. 

        "How... How did that... How did it pick the one I was thinking about?" Raven asked herself whilst she got out the pretzels. 

        She could have sworn she heard a faint whispering, like a response in her head.

        It said, "I just know".