11It was a quiet and slow day in a small neighborhood where ashen gray clouds were plastered against the sky, giving the afternoon a slightly darker appearance. The threat of a storm was noticeable with increasing winds and the dropping temperature. In this particular neighborhood there was a house that appeared normal, occupied by a family of three. It was two stories tall and had a two car garage, a picket fence, and a sole tree in the backyard from which a wooden swing was tied by rope. On the upper floor of the house a boy about twelve years old was seen in his room, lying in bed, staring at the ceiling while his mind drifted off with the clouds.
"Timothy," a female voice called him back to reality. "Could you please come downstairs?"
The boy got up out of bed slowly and with a sigh, began to make his way downstairs. He could tell by his mother's voice what was coming. It had been happening enough recently that he even began putting his shoes on that were left by the door absentmindedly. When he finished tying them he made his way downstairs to his mom.
"Timothy, why don't you go play outside for a while? A growing boy needs his exercise after all." she asked in a manner that was more of a command.
"Okay," he said quietly, and turned around to go outside. He stood outside the front door, with it barely open so he could hear the start of another argument between his parents before he silently shut it behind him. Although the weather hinted at a possible storm in the future, his mom and dad didn't even check to make sure he brought a raincoat or umbrella with him.
Timothy began making his way to the park, taking his usual route, while he tried balancing on the curb with his arms out. He was an average height for his age, and had tousled yellow-blonde hair and bright blue eyes. As he made his way to the park, the skies slowly started becoming darker.
Once he arrived, he took a seat on a park bench, plopping down onto the wooden structure before examining the park. It was a large area, with a slightly rusty playground, a murky lake surrounded by tall grass that hid the shallow edges, a field of grass with the occasional dandelion peeking out, and an entrance to the local forest.
Timothy enjoyed coming to the park, especially because of his friend that would always be there. He always seemed to know what was going on and exactly how the boy felt. He really came to the park specifically for two reasons; one, he felt more comfortable being with the friend than he did anywhere else. He always was able to comfort the boy, and had promised Timothy something much more than what he had now. And two, it was the place he went when he had to get away from his parents and their fighting. They tried to make it seem like they were happy with the fake smiles, the gifts, and the attention, but he knew it was all a ploy to get him to trust one of them over the other. He heard the fights, no matter how loud the television was turned up. They would send him away so they could fight and then he would come back and it would be like nothing happened. As he was silently fuming to himself about how annoying his parents were, a dark raven flew by and perched on the tree above him unnoticed until it called out to him.
"Hello there Timothy, how are you doing today?" the raven chirped.
"Hi Mister Raven!" the boy shouted and waved happily, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that a bird was speaking to him. This particular bird was a raven, with feathers as black as coal and eyes to match.
"So, have you made a decision on the offer I gave you?" Raven asked.
Timothy shifted uncomfortably at the question, obviously unsure about the offer Raven had alluded to.
"It's alright, I understand that it's not an easy decision to make but-" Raven began, when all of a sudden it began to rain. "Well this doesn't bode well, here it is raining and you don't even have a coat or umbrella. Let's go find someplace with better cover for you so you don't get soaked."
"Okay," Timothy said, glad to be off topic and followed Raven into the forest without a second thought.
A black car was traveling in a nearby location along the bumpy streets, its headlights on to illuminate the ever darkening roads. There were four people inside including the driver, all appearing to be in their mid to late teens.
The man in the back of the car was leaning back in his seat and smirking at the driver. He had short, dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He laughed to himself at the frustration of the driver who he was poking fun at with his constant remarks.
Next to the back passenger was a girl who sat up at full attention and had gave off an aura of authority. She had long blonde hair and piercing green eyes that narrowed at every remark the man sitting next to her made. She drummed her trimmed nails angrily on the seat, restraining herself from hitting the man next to her. His constant comments were steadily eating away at her already thin patience.
The third passenger who was seated up front had snow white hair peeking out from under his ski cap. He had a straight face and looked out the window, uncaring as to what was happening around him. Although one would be unable to tell if his eyes were actually open or not under the black shades he wore, he gave off an eerie aura of constant alertness, seemingly knowing of everything that went on around him.
The driver was hunched over steering wheel. He had black hair that went up a few inches and blue eyes that glared icily at the road in frustration to the passenger's comments. His fingers were gripping the wheel tightly and he grew more frustrated at every comment the back passenger made at him.
"Did I mention how great you were at tracking this guy down, because really, you are doing a fantastic job," the back seated passenger sarcastically joked.
"Well sorry I can't track down everything. We weren't exactly given the best equipment to track this thing, and it's not like I can just fly and keep a constant eye on it. Maybe if someone didn't forget the tracking scrolls, I would have something better to work with instead of driving around aimlessly." The driver defended, continuing the argument that had been going on for the past few hours of aimless driving.
There were two loud smacks and then the driver and back passenger both exclaimed "Ow!" as the female passenger glared them both down, furious with their nonstop bickering.
"Enough," she said in a commanding voice, "both of you stop being idiots, we can't afford to fight amongst ourselves here, what if it's already found someone? Right now we just need to locate it and capture it. So John, shut up and keep your eyes on the road," she said to the driver, "and Zack, focus on keeping an eye out for it with your binoculars," she said, shoving the binoculars into his gut with unnecessary force. "You all know our mission, to track him down and either capture him, or eliminate him."
"Yeah yeah," Zack replied, grabbing the binoculars with one hand and rubbing his gut with the other. "The boss will have our heads if we don't stop this thing, we know we know. And did you need to be so forceful with those binoculars Kate, I mean trust me, I know I'm pretty hot bu- OW! Dangit, you hit hard!" he exclaimed after getting punched in the arm, and began rubbing his sore spot carefully.
"Zack, do us all a favor and shut up," Kate said and turned to face the front. She looked thoughtful for a moment, and then sighing faced Adam. "With our tracking spells depleted and things looking like they are, we might not have much time before it's too late. There is only one way we can track him down now. Adam, do you think you could track it for us, by…" she trailed off nervously.
The man in the front passenger's seat, Adam, nodded to the girl, not responding to what she implied. John stopped the car at the next intersection and unlocked the doors. Adam then got out of the car and closed the door behind him silently. He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before taking off down the streets at an unnatural pace. The car was hot on his tail and Kate smirked in the back seat as the winds began picking up in speed.
Timothy and Raven were huddled up under a carved out tree in the forest where the canopy of leaves blocked out most of the rain. The branches shook with the ever increasing wind, and occasionally some leaves fell down to the ground with a few twigs.
They were both silent for a minute, catching their breaths after making a break from the rain before Raven finally spoke up. "I heard your parents fighting again, they seem to be doing it more and more often. That is exactly why I am offering you this deal. I can help free you from all that pain. Instead of being locked up away in that room of yours, you can fly free and escape. You won't have to worry about your parents fighting anymore, you won't have to worry about school or bullies. You'll be free to go wherever you want whenever you want."
The boy fidgeted nervously in his place as the raven continued to go on about the so called offer.
"I know you are nervous, I was too when I was offered this, but I promise you, it is wonderful. The feeling of being weightless, with nothing holding you down or holding you back is indescribable. And you can you always come back, just like I promised. If you find this offer unacceptable or you miss your parents you can always come back, it's a win-win situation here. You know I just want to help you right?"
The boy continued to fidget with his hands and spoke nervously, "I just don't want to worry my parents. If they find me missing they might get upset, and I don't want to be the cause of anymore yelling. It makes me really sad that they keep yelling at each other, I just want it all to stop." The boy finished his sentence in tears. The raven, after sidling closer to the boy while he was talking, leaned up against him in a sign of support.
"I know I know, it's alright, I'm here for you. I promise you, your parents will be perfectly fine with you being gone. Think about it, this way they can sort out all of their problems and you won't have to be there for the yelling. I'll make sure to let your mom and dad know what happened, and they will be perfectly fine with it. In fact, I bet they would want you to do this. Your parents want you to be happy right?" the raven spoke persuasively to the boy, trying to calm his fears.
"Y…yeah," the boy sniffled. "They have been giving me gifts and taking me to restaurants with good food. They do try to make me feel better I guess."
"You see, there you go!" the bird exclaimed. "Your parents want you happy, not sad. They don't want you to hear their yelling, that's why they have the television on. You know, I shouldn't be saying this, but I did talk to your parents." The boy paused for a second and stared the raven. "Yep, I talked to them," he continued. "I told them that I would let it be your decision and wouldn't let you know that they were in on this, but I suppose they wouldn't mind if I told you. You see, they actually contacted me to come and find you. They wanted me to give you this so you could be happy. They wanted time to solve their problems, and didn't want to upset you, so they asked me to help you out."
"Really? They really did?" The boy asked excitedly, his sorrow forgotten for the moment at the thought of his parents asking for this.
"Of course, I would never dream of stealing a kid away from his parents. But like I said, it's all up to you to decide. You can either go back to your house, or you can take me up on my offer."
After a few moments of thinking things over, Timothy looked up with a big smile on his face. "I want to accept your offer Mister Raven. I want to be a raven!" The boy nearly shouted as thunder could begin to be heard approaching them.
"Look, look, there he goes, that way!" Zack shouted from the front seat, pushing on John's shoulder as to get his attention.
"Would you stop pushing me! And when did you get up front?" John asked as he tried to focus on the road and keep up with Adam. Even though Adam was sticking by the main roads, he knew where he was going and didn't pause. John on the other hand was stuck trying to follow him without getting lost. Plus he was dealing with Zack shouting at him for every slow turn he made. "Look, this is my car. I don't want it getting hurt. I just put on a fresh coat of wax and…"
"Hurt? Dude, it's a car," Zack stated with a slight laugh. "You need to calm down about getting your precious car hurt and try to catch up to Adam. We can't afford you losing track of it again."
"Would you two idiots please shut up!" Kate shouted from the back. She was making strange marks on a piece of paper. "Zack, for once just be quiet and stop distracting John while he's driving. And John, please, if it's not too much trouble, we would like to get this taken care of soon if it's possible."
"Fine fine," John grumbled, accelerating the car to catch up to Adam. "It's only a car, it's not anything important, I don't have to pay if it gets damaged…" John began muttering to himself, mocking Kate quietly.
"Hey, where is Adam going? John, stop muttering to yourself and look up." Kate said, pointing to a sign that said 'Elmwood Park'. The car came to a stop outside of the gate and John turned around to face Kate.
"Oh no. No no no no no, we are not off roading! I don't care if it's just a park or…" he trailed off as he looked at Kate, who was giving him a look that of intense fury and frustration. His skin turned white as a ghost and he slowly turned around, eyes wide open in nervousness. "N…n…nevermind, off-roading it is. W…we have to g…get this done with." John started up the car and took off into the park after Adam while the rain picked up in intensity.
Timothy and Raven were in a deeper and darker part of the forest. Since they were out in the open, and the rain was coming down harder, they were both getting more and more wet as time went by.
"Alright then Timothy, if you're sure about your decision, I suppose we should get this underway. Now, step forward into that ring. It might feel strange, but don't worry, it'll all be over soon." As he was speaking, a ring of purple flame formed in front of Timothy.
He made his way forward timidly, nervous of the fire ring. His nervousness was overshadowed though as he was bubbling with excitement at the thoughts of flying free overhead and his parents with smiles on their faces. Raven moved to hover directly over Timothy. He began speaking some strange words and all of a sudden, the purple fire began rising up to Timothy's height. It was full of strange markings and the purple light began shining more intensely before the raven spoke up again.
"Alright, here we go, time to complete our deal. All you have to do is accept this offer and you'll be good to go. Now, do you wish to take my place as a raven and soar the skies above, free from the chains of the earth?"
Just as Timothy was about to respond, a flash of lightning and clap of thunder went off overhead, illuminating the forest. Over the sound of thunder, a voice was heard crying out, "Break!" All of a sudden, the ring of fire dissipated and the forest became dark again.
"So, there you are. We've finally found you," a voice stated darkly from the depths of the forest, the sound of his voice coming from all around Timothy and Raven.
Another bolt of lightning went off overhead and a figure was illuminated in the light, his eyes flashing a piercing yellow by the lightning as he glared out over his shades.
"Now then, it's time that you deal with us," he continued. He became immersed in light again as the car appeared behind him, its headlights shining directly at him causing his shadow to engulf both Timothy and Raven. Timothy felt an inexplicable fear grasp him and his heart began to race, beating more and more intensely while his breathing sped up to match the rhythm of his pounding chest. The same darkness that covered his body began to cloud his mind and he soon collapsed into the shadows.
Author's Note: Hello, this is my first story I have published on FictionPress. This is actually the revised edition of the first chapter so I give a special thanks to Crystalynn, my beta reader, for her assistance with editing this chapter. She gave me great ideas and helped me to rewrite some of the sections so it is more clear and better written. I hope you enjoy this story.