Raven groans as she wakes up, hair in her face and dried drool on her chin. It's the middle of the night, and she leans over to reach her phone. The bright light blinds her, and she shields her eyes as she hits answer. "JESUS CHRIST WHOEVER IS CALLING I HATE YOU." She yells. "Excuse me, young lady?" She jumps at the voice, her head hitting her head on the head frame. Excitement sparks her eyes as her joy drowns her fatigue. "DADDY!" She yells happily. "No hello?" He laughs, and she can imagine the grinning face of her father. Happiness floods through her. "Greetings are just formalities anyway," She squeals. Her father chuckles lightly, "Are you wondering why I'm calling you at-" There's a pause. "- 1:27 am?" 
"Yes, care to explain?" Raven quirks an eyebrow, even though he can't see it. Before he can answer, a knock on her window is audible, and she half expects it to be her father. "Well-" She cuts him off. "Hang on.." She looks at the window suspiciously. "I'll be right back." She sets the phone down, and drops to the floor.

She crawls to the window, peeking up to see who it is. James looks back, and they both jump. Her room is on the first floor, so he isn't injured. She slides the window open. "Why are you knocking at my window in the middle of the night?" She asks conspicuously. "Well, you bloody woke me up with all this yelling! I thought someone was murdering you." He mutters the last bit, and she giggles. "Oops," Her sheepish grin spreads, "Sorry. My dad called me." Realization hits his face, and he blushes. "Sorry for overreacting." 
"At least I know if someone is killing me I have a boy next door to knock on the window." She laughs. "I better get back to my dad. Sorry for waking you." "Sorry for interrupting." She says bye and he leaves.

Raven picks the phone back up, holding it to her ear. "I'm back." She says, praying that her dad is still there. "Great, sorry for keeping you waiting." He replies sarcastically. She rolls her eyes. "Was that a.." He dramatically gasps, "BOY! In your bedroom! IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT?" His tone is more than accusatory. "The neighbor. I woke him up." She answers honestly. "Oh... is he cute?" 
"DAD!" She yells, feeling heat rush into her cheeks. "What? I need to know things like this." He explains. "Do you like him, though? I bet you two would make a great couple!" He gushes, and her face seems to get redder and redder. "Dad! Why did you call!" She changes the topic. She doesn't like James at all, he's a huge nerd and not cute at all. "Well, don't tell you're mother... but they are letting me go. They found evidence that it wasn't me." SQUEEEEEEE! She recollects herself. "Why can't I tell mom?" She tries not to scream with pure delight. "Because.. I want it to be a surprise for her. Can you help me?" 

////////

"MOM!" She groans dramatically. "You're gonna be late for the teacher/parent meeting!" She lies. There is no meeting, it's just to get her out of the house. The real meeting is actually in a month, but her mother thinks otherwise right now. "I know, I know," She rushes. "Coming!" "Just hurry up!" Raven nags. "Alright, leaving!" Her mom pecks her on the forehead before rushing out the door. Now, we wait.. Raven sits and waits for her father to come, and he can hold her one more time. She can hug him and he can embrace her. She smiles to herself at the though. She checks her watch and frowns. He should have been here already.

20 minutes later, still no dad. The door swings open, and she jumps up, happier than she's ever been before- until she sees her mother. "Silly you," Her mother starts. "The meeting isn't until next month." Unshed tears well in Raven's eyes, but she tries to hide it. "Oh, heh, right, silly me!" She croaks. "I'm gonna go upstairs." A flash of pain seems to inhabit her mothers eyes, before a casual smile. Raven runs to her room.

She didn't want to talk to anyone. Especially not her best friend. She wanted someone who wouldn't give her a sympathetic speech about how it will all be okay, she wanted someone who would listen and try to make her laugh about it. She remembered last night.

She couldn't go over to him. The tears started falling, even though she was more angry than sad. She had been so sad about the fact that her father was gone that she didn't take a second to think about how he abondoned his family. She realized how suspicious he was, anyway. He lied to them about his whereabouts that night, saying he was going shopping. Why didn't he just say that he was meeting with a student if he had anything to hide? 

She had so much faith in him because she was naiive and now it was biting her back. She was sobbing at this point. Even with all this anger, she still didn't believe he killed her. Another thought whispers in the back of her mind. What if he was having an affair with one of his students? The betrayal in this act would be unbearable to his wife, Raven's mothyer, and he would know it. So if the student threatened to spill, he might just kill her to protect his secret.

Disgust seemed to be all she could feel now. Alongside betrayal and anger and pain and whatever else was lurking  in her mind. With all this newfound angry energy, she slipped out of her window and didn't look back. As she reached the fire escape at the neighbors house, she started thinking this whole thing through. What am I doing? This is crazy! Stop! 
Her legs, however, refused to listen as they climbed the steel ladder. Her arms followed, and she swiftly climbed with grace she didn't know she had. This was ridiculous. But as the adrenaline coursed through her from the dizzying height, she kept climbing. She got to the second floor. Note that the houses on her street were all about a hundred years old, and the fire escape didn't see, to have ever been redone. with broken rungs and pieces. She peeked in the window, to see a nursery. It had butterflies on the wall and on a mobile over the crib, which held a silently sleeping baby. Precious. She turned and climbed the next ladder. She was getting painfully high, and she suddenly remembered her fear of hights. Out of nowhere, the rung she waws standing on came loose, and she was holding on with just her hands. Her heart skipped a beat and panic drowned her. She gripped so hard her knuckles turned white. She wasn't strong, and on the heavy side, so she wasn't doing very well. Her vision started getting dazed.

Closing her eyes, unconciousnous started to overwhelm her. Tears forced their way out of the corners of her eyes, and she tried to stay awake, despite the horrible sensation of churning in the pit of her stomach. Suddenly a voice startles her, shaking her out of the drifting sleep. A hand reached down, and thye voice told her to grab it. She would fall if she let go. She violently shook her head. "You have too!" It demanded. She shook her head again. "RAVEN!" It shouted. Finally agreeing, she reached to the hand, lurching foreward and hitting her head on one of the rungs. It pulled her up, and everything faded to darkness.