Chapter Five - Raven

"And sometimes they like to put big red noses on us while we balance balls on our heads." Raven said, confirming that Emma was no longer listening. Raven stared at the girl, somewhat bewildered by her, and she could easily see the image of a boy in Emma's mind, if a person could scream images, Emma would be doing just that. It was like a strange obsession.

Raven looked to Chandler, and he too had a worried expression. It was true there was commotion about one of the new guests, but usually that meant they were losing them. Raven couldn't help but feel sad for this new girl. She seemed so young and doe-eyed. It sparked a motherly concern in Raven, a feeling she had only really had for Chandler since being here. Not like it was before she and Chandler were taken.

~~~

It was unseasonably cold in Texas at the time. Raven looked out the window as her two younger brother's played out in the cold rain. Normally she would have kept them inside, fearing they might catch a cold, but on that day Raven's mother lay on the faded red sofa, barely hanging on to life, and at only nine years old, Raven felt her younger siblings deserved some small fraction of joy on such a grim occasion.

Walking back to the front room, Raven's father and older brother, Samuel, sat in wooden chairs. Samuel was the oldest at seventeen, three years older than Raven. Raven's father held her mother's hand gently, his white skin no longer a bright contrast to his wife's olive complexion as she paled with her sickness.

Raven sat in the empty chair next to her mother's head. Carefully, Raven's mother reached a hand to Raven's cheek, a weak smile pulling at her lips. "Mi'ja," She whispered, a sense of love and urgency coaxing out her last words. "promise to take care of my boys, for me." She asked, squeezing her husband's loving hand.

"I promise, mama." Raven said, kissing her mother's forehead.

Raven's mother passed away a few hours later, and as Raven promised, she did everything she could to take care of her family. Samuel moved out as soon as he could, finding that living at home was too painful. He was not heard from much since then, only the occasional call to ask for money, which her family never had. Raven's little brothers did well over time as they learned to rely on Raven as the mother of the household. Perhaps it helped that they had each other. Raven's father was the one who took it hardest. He spent his life fighting to have his wife, their love being forbidden by both of their families when they were younger. Without her, he was nothing, at least he never tried to be anything. Many times Raven would come home from her waitressing job to find her father half asleep on the coach, having had no strength to even go to work.

For a while Raven felt it was just a phase, a type of mourning he was going through, but when Raven was twenty-one, and still having to work restaurant jobs to support her family, she understood this was how things would always be with her father. It was worrisome, and with her brothers now sixteen and old enough to work, her father completely quite working his job at the office for a full-time job of watching television. It was a hopeless battle, and each day seemed to grow grimmer and grimmer.

One day, after an early morning shift, Raven came home to an envelope addressed to her, but with no return address. Raven took it to the kitchen table, where Chandler was found eating some soup, home from school with a "stomach bug," which really meant he spent all night up making sure their father did not choke on his own vomit.

Raven opened the gold-sealed letter and a shiny announcement fell out. It was for a new product that was said to cure any form of depression or anxiety with no side-effects. It had been on every other television commercial and news program as the new hit medical discovery, but the Delarosa family never had enough money to even invest in health insurance. Another card was found within the envelope, saying that their family was chosen to receive this new medicine for free, as whoever sent this has heard of their family's struggles.

Chandler begged Raven to let him go with her, and after a minute of silent puppy-dog eyes, Raven gave in. After making sure their father was tucked under a blanket on the sofa, Raven and Chandler were on the first train to Austin for their miracle. Everything seemed to go well. The train was a bit busy because it was a friday and people always seemed to have weekend plans, but Chandler and Raven just sat smiling goofily at one another.

"This could be it." Chandler blurted in excitement. "Maybe papa can go back to work, and you can go to school like you always wanted."

Raven smiled, trying not to get her hopes up too high, but deep down she knew this was what she wanted more than anything. Half-way to Austin the train suddenly came to a halt, tossing it's passengers forward like a bucking bronco.

A static-filled intercom crackled through the train, "Sorry for the inconvienence. We are experiencing some slight difficulties, and will continue with our scheduled rout as quick as we can."

Chandler and Raven looked at each other, a bit confused by the commotion, but thought nothing more of it. A minute later one of the workers came up to Raven.

"Excuse me, miss. Are you Raven Delarosa?" She asked. The woman had sharp features, and a high, sleek, ponytail.

"Yes..."

"Ah, splendid." The woman said with a single clap of her hands. "I need you to come with me please, it won't be but a moment I assure you."

Raven stood up awkwardly, and Chandler did as well, refusing to let Raven out of his site.  The woman seemed a bit hesitant at first, but Raven explained, "This is just my little brother, Chandler."

"Oh, uh... yes, well come along then." She said, reclaiming her composure. She led Raven and Chandler outside of the train, and onto a small platform in the middle of no where. It seemed odd to Raven that the train seemed to breakdown right at an abandoned train-stop. "They will be along in just a moment." The woman said, shutting the train door.

Raven glanced at Chandler briefly before noticing it was starting to snow. Just as she was about to say something about the astonishing weather, fast foot steps sounded on the wooden platform, and the rest of Raven's memory is a painful blackness.

~~~

Raven's hand rocketed towards her head, as if she was reliving the pain all over again. She took a few deep breaths and then let her hand fall back down. Emma was looking at Raven now, and her green eyes looked upon her sadly. Raven knew instantly that Emma had relived each moment as Raven felt it. Straightening up, Raven reassumed the motherly posture she had felt before.

"Dinner will be ready soon." Raven stood up quickly. "I will go gather my things." Raven took long strides toward's the other side of the room, where she had left a book of poems she was reading. As she walked past the piano, Jason looked up to Raven, causing her to stop.

Raven looked to him, but his mind was blocked off as it always was. An awkwardness grew within Raven, as if Jason was a fragile thing that few could successfully handle, and she felt she was not one of those people.

"I, uh, dinner is soon." She blurted.

Jason looked at Raven blankly.

An anger grew within Raven. "You know, we have both been here a while, and you know all there is to know about all of us, while we know nothing about you. And maybe you think that's some kind of power you hold against us, but it's not. Rudeness does not make you stronger." She huffed.

Raven quickly walked over to where her Emily Dickinson book lied, her face red with embarrassment and anger as a descending tone expressed that dinner was ready and everyone's escorts were on their way to collect them.