Chapter 11 - The Raven

At school the next day, Mikayla saw posters up in all the hallways for the Halloween dance in three weeks.

“Sucks that Halloween is on a Monday!”

“I know right?  At least there will be lots of parties on the weekend!”

Mikayla rolled her eyes at the pair of students as they walked passed her.

Halloween was just another stupid day that she chose not to partake in.

She stopped to look at the poster for a minute, examining the teenage figures dressed in costumes that ranged from zombies to angels, pirates to celebrity-look-alikes, and even a jack-o-lantern.  It advertised candy, good music, and a spooky atmosphere.

It looks ridiculous, she thought.

“What are you going to be for Halloween?”

Mikayla turned, surprised to hear an unfamiliar voice address her.  She saw the goth girl standing next to her as she eyed the poster momentarily before glancing up at Mikayla.  Mikayla was a good four or five inches taller than her, and that included the thick three-inch heeled boots that she wore.

She studied the girl.  Her hair was black with bright purple streaks.  Mikayla remembered her face from the previous week as being framed with dark reddish-black hair. Her style also changed, resembling a bit more of an anime look mixed with her industrial, or rivet head, gothic look.  Her hair, once long and straight, now had bangs that fell in her eyes, and the long hair that framed her face was cut short to her chin, while the rest was still long and pulled up in a high ponytail. 

She was so close that Mikayla was able to get a good look at her eyes; she had the most unusual eyes.  Underneath her black-painted eyelids, her irises were blue at the edges and darkened the deeper they got to the pupils where they were almost a purple color.

Mikayla felt her hair stand on end and almost an electric shock when their eyes met, causing both of them to look away abruptly.  She didn’t know what to make of that sensation, so she opted to take a step away.

The girl did the same, but she did it so casually that a normal person wouldn’t have noticed.  Mikayla noticed though.  She always noticed the little behaviors people had around her because she always sparked them somehow.

What did she want?  Why wouldn’t she just go away?

“My name’s Luna, by the way,” she said.  “And rumor has it that you’re Mikay, right?”

“Your point is?”

Although Mikayla intended to be vague and blunt, she really did not want to interact with this girl.  She made her uneasy—especially those eyes.

Luna shrugged.  “Just wondering if you want to hang out some time.  There’s a Halloween party coming up at my friend’s house, and I thought you might be interested.”

Mikayla tried to not wrinkle her nose at the invitation.  Definitely not.  Just go away.

The bell rang to warn students of their first period class.

Seeing Mikayla’s disinterested glare, Luna gave her a weak smile before she turned.  Over her shoulder she said, “Well, think about it anyway.”

Mikayla just scowled at her back.  Think about it?  Not necessary.

She turned in the opposite direction that Luna went and tromped off to class.

She didn’t know where that girl came from, but why was she suddenly interested in becoming friends?

Hm, she was talking with Isaac last week, she thought, remembering how she saw him outside with their group.  Maybe he said something to them?  Yeah, I bet he’s got something to do with it.

She saw Isaac talking with a girl at his locker as she got closer to class.  She looked to be a year or two younger, but very pretty with long chestnut brown hair and smiling green eyes.  She wore low-rise jeans and a form-fitting peacock-blue t-shirt that did little to conceal her ample bosoms and tiny waist.  Her demeanor suggested she was flirting with Isaac, while a gaggle of girls, probably her friends, waited nearby.

Mikayla felt her stomach clench as she got closer.  Her eyes met Isaac’s as she passed and she tried not to hiss at the girl.

He looked bewildered and she wondered if it was because of the smirk on her face.

He didn’t say anything to her in class, and she didn’t volunteer anything either.

On her way to second period, she found him walking in step next to her.  She picked up her pace and he followed.  She was surprised that he wasn’t having trouble keeping up with her long strides, but then, he was only an inch or two taller than her.  He was equally capable of walking quickly when his legs were just as long as hers.

She caught herself grinning despite his silence.  He was pursuing her, she knew.  It made her feel desirable, and this form of power made her carry herself higher.

Until she realized that feeling desirable wasn’t a good thing.  Crap.  She needed to divert his attention off her.

“Pretty girl,” she said suddenly when they were halfway to class.

“Who?  The girl I was talking to before class?”

Mikayla nodded, her eyes focused on the pathway between students before her.

“Oh, that was Beth.”  He shrugged.  “Yeah, I guess she’s pretty.”

“She’s attracted to you.”

“You think so?”

Mikayla looked at him from the corner of her eye.  He had a slight smirk on his face, but his eyes were fixated on getting through the crowded hallway. “I know so,” she said.

He rubbed the back of his neck.  “I don’t know about that.  I did help her out when she was a freshman, and every now and then she’ll come over and say hi.  She’s just being nice.”

Mikayla rolled her eyes at his excuse.  “I can spot a lie when I hear it, you know.”

His lips curved upward more, making his eyes crinkle in the corners.  “Really?  That’s even more interesting than the fact that Beth’s attracted to me.”

Mikayla squared her jaw.  She didn’t know what to say then.  It was obvious to her that he was attractive for a male, both inside and out; she didn’t need to confirm it verbally.  He carried himself confidently like he knew this, but didn’t dwell on it like some guys did.  That made him even more attractive to girls.  And that was just his personality, never mind the fact that he was tall, lean, and should be on the track team.

Ugh, she just wanted to get away from this conversation all together.

Luckily, they were almost at their next class.  She hurried in ahead of him and sat down in her seat at the back.

She saw him grinning as he sat down in his seat further up and was joined by his friends.  Leaning back in her seat, she watched them from the corner of her eye as class began.

She tried to focus on the lesson, but she caught herself frequently observing him.   Her thoughts wondered around the things he had said, the way he moved, and the way he smiled.

Did he really find her interesting?  If so, why?  And how could she turn his attention away from her?

Turning her gaze to the window, she saw a raven sitting on a branch of the tree outside the building. 

It was staring at her.

Her blood ran cold as her eyes locked onto its.  She couldn’t pull away.  Her heart began to race.  She could feel it pounding within her ribs, as her breath caught in her throat.  Fog encased her senses and her thoughts swirled around as if a storm was brewing within.  A rumble, like thunder far off in the distance, resounded in her mind as her vision grew gray and cloudy.  Crying out was impossible as her lungs refused to function and she couldn’t even gasp for air.  She felt as though she was drowning in a sea of nothingness.  Numbness gripped her and everything around her fell silent.  Frozen in time, and unable to move, her mind began to fill with white noise, like a high-pitched scream.

Then, she heard a voice calling her name from far away.

“Mikayla.”

The raven grinned at her.

“Mikayla Reed!”

There was a slamming of hands on her desk, like a clap of thunder.

Jumping up and out of her seat, she threw the desk against the wall behind her.  The crash was so sudden, and the sound so deafening, that she wasn’t even sure she had heard it as it snapped in half and fell to the ground.

Her eyes began to refocus, and she could hear herself breathing in loud rasping huffs.  Everyone in her class stared at her in shock, even the teacher from the front of the room.

A click, like the flick of a light switch, and her mind was back and she looked around her, at the desk by her feet, and she began to shake.

Wh-What happened?

Her eyes shot to the window.  The raven was gone.

Fear gripped her as she registered what she had just done, and she took a step back.  Heart-pounding, mind-whirling, she hesitated before she ran out of the room.

Her heavy footsteps reverberated down the silent hallways.  She was still trying to catch her breath as she sought a quiet corner to hide and gather herself.

Fuck!  Fuck!  What the fuck?  What the fuck was that?

She found her quiet little corner and huddled into a ball, trembling with fear.

Wracking her hands through her hair, she tried to make sense of what just took place.

There was no denying it.  Something had happened.  Something she had no control over.

And it scared the living daylights out of her.

They were getting close.  And she didn’t know how she could keep them away, or how to fight them if it came down to that.

They were still a mystery.  A mystery she didn’t want to uncover.

I have to get out of here!  Before…

Then he was there.  Looking down at her with wide eyes, he watched her quiver.

She stared up at him from between the tresses of her hair.  How did he know she was there?

More importantly, why did he come after her?

“Mikay…” Isaac’s voice was a breathy whisper.

She looked away, trying to gather her wits, but was still too shaken by what happened to do anything.  Her lungs were still burning and she coughed, gasped, as she was still struggling out of the downing feeling that had flooded over her.

He kneeled down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

She pushed him away and bared her teeth at him.  “Go away!”

He grimaced, and she thought that he might actually leave, but instead he just stood there, looking down at her.

She looked away.

“What happened back there?” he asked softly.  “One minute Mr. Lewis was calling your name because you were staring out the window, the next you were slamming your hands on the desk and throwing it against the wall.”

“Fuck off,” she interrupted in an icy tone.  She turned and glared at him.  “If you know what’s good for you, you will fuck the hell off.”

He regarded her in sad, worried confusion.

She knew he was reaching out to her, trying to help her in any way he could, but she couldn’t let him get close.  It was torture and she just wanted him to leave so the pain in her heart would cease.

Why couldn’t he understand that?

“You’re a bitch.”

A smirk tugged on her corners of her lips.  “About time you realized that.”

He shook his head and walked away.  He had a headache all morning, and didn’t want to deal with her crazy attitude anymore.  Moreover, he felt this strange urge to leave, like he had to.  His headache intensified when he tried to reach out to Mikayla.  As he walked back to class, he was clutching his forehead in his hand, and wondering if maybe he should just go to the nurse’s office instead.

He staggered then, and he sighed.  The nurse’s station it is, he told himself.

He steered himself in the right direction and the closer he got to the nurse’s station, the more his headache let up.  He still decided to ask for a painkiller and sit down for a bit.

When the period ended, and he was just leaving the nurse’s station, he noticed the goth girl, Luna, stumble towards him. 

He stared at her and her wild eyes, pale and nearly colorless, that seemed to shift all over the place.  He found himself reaching out and steadying her by taking her hands in his.

“Luna, you okay?  Do you need to see the nurse?” he asked, searching her unusually white face.

If she heard him, she didn’t respond.  Instead, she lowered her eyes and collapsed in his arms.

“Hey!”  He caught her, but nearly dropped her, as she weighed a ton for someone as skinny as she was.  Was his head really messed up that badly that he couldn’t grasp her actual weight?

 He grunted as he looked over his shoulder to the students walking by.  He made eye contact with another boy, maybe a junior, and called for his assistance.  Together, they dragged her to the nurse’s station just a few feet away.

The nurse put a damp cloth on Luna’s forehead as Isaac sat next to her on the bed.  His head started to pound again and he had the urge to get up and leave, but he felt like it wouldn’t be right to leave Luna there.  He wanted to stay and make sure everything was okay with her.

The nurse disappeared in the back room for a minute, and no sooner had she disappeared that Luna opened her eyes and reached over to Isaac.

“Woah, woah, easy there,” he said, rising to his feet and taking her outstretched hand with both of us. 

Gently, he pressed her back down on the bed, and stared transfixed in her white eyes.

What the fuck happened to her eyes? 

He felt his headache subside as he watched her lips flutter.

“You-You must go,” she rasped.

“It’s okay, Luna,” he said.  “I’ll stay here with you until your parents come.”

Her head moved from side to side slightly on the pillow, never taking her freaky white eyes off his.  “No, you must go.” 

She pressed his hands back weakly.  Her hand was hot with fever, and a stronger urge to go forced him to release her.

“You must go to her,” she said.  “She needs you.”

“Who?” The word tumbled out of his mouth even though he knew the answer.

He didn’t know why he knew, or how he knew, but he knew all the same.

She appeared in his mind, clutching her knees to her chest under the tree in the schoolyard, her long hair covering her body like a black cloak.

“Mikayla.”

.

Author's Note: The picture on the side is Luna. ;D