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Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: The middle of scenic nowhere in PA
Gender: Female
Posts: 20
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Wolf Chapter 2
I'm sure this needs work; I'll take any suggestions.
Wolf Ch. 2
Her alarm buzzed on at 8:30. It was Saturday and Raven wanted to get an early start on traffic. Sometime during the night, she had dragged herself into her bedroom and fallen asleep. Waking up, Raven realized she was hanging over the edge, her head an inch off of the carpet. She tried to get up but only rolled over the side on to the floor. Raven laid there, her head still spinning with the details from last night. The alarm rang again and she reached up and fumbled for the off button. After silencing the annoying contraption, Raven pulled herself to her feet and headed to the kitchen. Most of her food was in a cooler. She found a bagel and wolfed it down with some milk and sighed.
Since Darla couldn’t come to help, moving her stuff was going to take a while. Raven opened her apartment door and picked up her newspaper. Scanning the front page, her eyes came to rest on a short column near the bottom. It read Yong Man Found Dead In Alley, Two Blocks from Residence. Raven brought it inside and sat down on her sofa. Reading more of the article, she learned that the man was struck over the head twice and stabbed once in the ribs. Further along, Raven read the description of the man and stopped. Age 19, he was 5’11”, Caucasian, with blonde hair and red eyes. Raven’s blue-green eyes began to well up with tears. She swallowed and tried to calm herself.
“Everything will be fine. That couldn’t possibly be Helio; he would never have gotten killed. He was too strong of a fighter. I need to stop now and finish packing; I have to get on the road.”
Raven got to her feet and returned to the kitchen. She finished putting the remainder of her food into the cooler and pulled it out into the living room. Raven glanced briefly at the newspaper lying on the cushion but she ignored it. Not needing to bring dishes or appliances, Raven had less to deal with but she still had clothes and books etc. Two cardboard boxes sat next to the cooler filled with all her decorative knickknacks, DVDs, books, along with linens, towels, and her bath stuff. In her bedroom, three large suitcases were scattered on the floor with clothes spilling out of them. Raven stuffed the clothes back in and zipped each, dragging them one by one into the living room. Another glance landed on the newspaper, but Raven still refused to read any further. Returning to her bedroom, Raven gave it one final look over, grabbed her old stuffed rabbit and moved to the livingroom.
She set her bunny down on the sofa, keeping her eyes off the paper and turned to her stuff. Taking each box or suitcase one at a time would take forever but Raven couldn’t manage more than one at a time. Then an idea hit. On the left side of her apartment, there was a back alley where she parked her jeep. Raven rushed down to the ground floor, almost knocking a tenant down the stairs, and out to the alley. She unsnapped the plastic roof and rolled it back, revealing the trunk and back seat of her bright blue Wrangler. Looking up at her window, Raven figured her stuff would survive the fall; good thing she was only on the second floor. Raven darted back up to her apartment, almost knocking an elderly lady over the railing and pulled her stuff to the window.
Anything fragile was in a couple of smaller bags that she would just carry down herself. Checking that each box was taped shut, Raven pushed them one by one out of the window. They slid down the small section of roof and landed in the trunk of her jeep with their own distinct thud. Next, Raven dropped each of her suitcases through the window, making sure they landed in the back seat. Once that was all finished, she turned to the sofa where her rabbit was laying. Raven picked up the two bags of fragile items and bent down and scooped up her bunny. Glancing once more at the newspaper, she stood up, walked out of the room, and down to her car.
She set the bags and her rabbit in the front seat and opened her driver side door. Remembering she hadn’t returned her key to the newsstand owner, Raven ran back up. Entering her apartment, she found the paper staring back at her from the sofa. Taking a deep breath, Raven picked it up. She found where she had left off and continued. The man was identified by his mother, the name Helio Montoya. He was apparently walking back from a previous location on 9th Street when he was attacked. The funeral will be private, contact Mrs. Montoya for information.
The newspaper slipped out of Raven’s hands and flittered to the floor. She sank down onto the sofa and stared blankly at nothing. Tears ran down her face, and Raven ran her hands through her chopped up blonde hair. A realization hit her and Raven wanted to put her head through the glass coffee table. If he hadn’t saved her and walked her home, Helio would still be alive. His death was her fault and Raven hadn’t realized it until now.
She jumped to her feet and rummaged around in a drawer for the phone book. Not finding the name, Raven turned to her laptop, hitting herself for nearly forgetting it. Typing in the name, she found an extended addition of the article with Mrs. Montoya’s phone number. Picking up her cell phone which she had also almost left, Raven punched the numbers with shaking fingers. A young girl answered the phone
“Hello?” she asked.
“Yes, hello, um is Mrs. Montoya there?”
"Sure I’ll get her.”
Raven heard the girl yell “mom!” in the background and steadied her breathing.
“Hello?” another voice answered.
“Yes, um you aren’t familiar with who I am but I had a question about your son’s funeral.”
“Oh, are you one of his friends?”
“Well sort of. I…think I was the last one to see him alive.”
The mother made no reply so Raven continued.
“You see I was getting mugged and he just sort of popped up and saved me. He then walked me home and not long after he…”
“That sounds like Helio” Mrs. Montoya cut her off. “Always helping people, anyway I take it you need directions for the funeral?”
“Oh uh yes I do.”
“Alright, we’re having it at our home. The address is 819 Cherokee Drive, Taylorsville, Maryland.”
“Oh!”
“Is something the matter dear?”
“No, no it’s nothing.”
“Alright, I’ll see you there then I suppose.”
“Yes ma’am, goodbye Mrs. Montoya.”
Raven hung up the phone and took a deep breath. Cherokee Drive wasn’t more than fifteen minutes from where Darla and soon to be Raven’s house was. She wiped her face on her sleeve, picked up her laptop and cell phone, and locked the door. Raven threw the apartment key to Mr. Karl, the newsstand owner, and dumped her load onto the front seat. She secured the plastic roof in its place and climbed into the driver’s seat. The engine roared to life and Raven made a hard right out into the road.
Almost clipping a parked BMW, Raven floored it through a light and weaving through traffic, made it out of the city in half an hour. After stopping for gas in Pennsylvania, Raven finished her long drive, arriving at her new home in Maryland another two hours later. She grabbed a suitcase at random, hoping there was something funeral appropriate inside and rushed into the house. Ten minutes later, Raven was driving down the street, clothed in black, toward Helio’s mother’s house.
When she arrived, she found a mansion with a line of cars parked in front. Raven parked along the shoulder and walked up to the front door. She rang the doorbell and a small girl, about eight, answered. The girl was fair haired like her brother, only her eyes were a sparkling green.
“Hello” she said, opening the door wider.
“Hello” Raven stammered.
The house was flourished on the inside with artifacts and patterns from all over the world. Raven’s heels clicked on the marble floor as the little girl led her through the house. A brown haired woman, about forty-five exited the parlor and the girl quickened her pace. The woman looked up, her eyes glistened like wet garnets; she was Helio’s mother. Mrs. Montoya wiped her eyes and stepped forward.
“Hello, you must have been the one who called this morning.”
“Oh yes, that was me. I know it was sudden but…”
“Don’t worry about it dear. I would like you to explain what you know about last night though.”
“Certainly.”
“April, this is one of your brother’s friends. Be polite dear.”
“Yes mom, I’m April”, the little girl said extending her small hand.
“I’m Raven Hawking, nice to meet you April.”
Raven clasped the little girl’s hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. April smiled lightly and then darted up the stairs into her bedroom.
“She was so close to Helio; he was more like a father than a brother.”
Raven turned back toward the mother.
“Her father died when she was only three. Helio watched over her, while I was at work. He would have been fourteen back then. He never complained about having to look after her either.”
Mrs. Montoya’s eyes began to water again and Raven rested a hand on her shoulder.
“He got accepted to NYIT and moved to New York City when he was eighteen.”
“He only lived there a year? He was a sophomore in college? Oh god, what have I done!” Raven yelled covering her face with her hands.
“Raven, what do you mean dear?”
Raven looked into Helio’s mother’s eyes and took a deep breath. Mrs. Montoya led Raven into a lounge and they sat down on a couch. Raven then gave a recap of what had happened, up to where she waved to Helio from her window and curled up in front of the T.V. Helio’s mother smiled at the craftiness of her son and nodded at the part when he pulled out his gun. Raven finished with watery eyes and Mrs. Montoya let out a sigh.
“Dear, you mustn’t blame yourself for what happened.”
“But I feel horrible Mrs. Montoya.”
“Please call me Lily. Raven, I’m glad Helio helped you. It isn’t your fault, he did what was right.”
“But he died for helping a person he didn’t even know.”
“Raven, dear, I’m glad you came. I wanted to hear the story of what happened, not speculation. I’m proud of Helio that he finally put that gun to some use.”
“What do you mean Mrs. Lily?"
"Dear, I gave him that gun for his eighteenth birthday. It was his father’s and I figured he’d need it one day since he was living in New York City.”
Raven almost smiled at the thought of Helio’s kind mother telling her son to take a gun with him to school.
“Come now dear, it’s time for the service.”
Raven nodded and followed Lilly to the gallery. Helio’s coffin was set up at the front of the room, closed, with a painting of him hanging above it. White and orange lilies decorated the set, and a minister stood at the podium to the left. Raven and Lilly took their seats and the service began. The minister began with the story of Helio’s childhood and his fascination with his father’s world travels. Then he explained how strong Helio was when he learned of his father’s death and how he became the man of the house at just fourteen.
Raven found herself crying more than Lilly and Helio’s sister April hugged her mother’s arm tightly. The minister than explained vaguely about the death and concluded with a blessing on Helio’s family and friends. At the end of the service, everyone got up and said one last prayer each on the coffin. Raven was the last to go up. She couldn’t cry anymore, she just felt empty inside.
“God help my soul. I wish there was some way for Helio to come back. I would do anything to have him alive again.” Raven said in her mind.
When she was at the coffin’s side, she placed her hands on the lid and bowed her head. Raven’s forehead was touching the varnished wood and she whispered a prayer. Suddenly, something inside the coffin thumped. She jumped back in surprise with a yelp and everyone turned to look at her.
“Mrs. Lilly, inside the coffin, something thumped against the lid.”
“Dear I think you are imagining things.”
“No I’m serious, I heard something.”
Raven hoped she wasn’t making things up in her head.
“Alright dear, if you are that convinced, open the lid.”
Taking a deep breath, Raven’s fingers grasped the edge of the lid. Her mind was hoping to God that she would find him breathing, though slightly annoyed about being stuck in the coffin. With a little push, Raven lifted the coffin lid up and almost dropped it back down.
“What’s the matter dear?” Lilly asked when she noticed Raven had frozen in place.
“I’m not sure.”
April scuttled up next to Raven and peered into the coffin.
“Mommy, where’s big brother?”
“What do you mean dear?”
Mrs. Montoya walked up next to her daughter and looked down. It was empty.
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Yukai ryu
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