Her name was Raven

Chapter 17

Tiny sparkling dots flickered, one by one. They grew and glowed, thousands of them. Millions of them danced and glittered. Billions spread across the sky beneath and above. Countless stars glistening, surrounding her, they were painted on a deep navy canvas, not black, but so dark as to make colour indeterminable.

She was clothed in silks. They felt soft against her skin and floated about her. She could see the many different colours of them though there was no light. She could see everything in a sort of veiled moonlight. She danced. She spun and twirled and felt the cool air on her face, the silks on her skin, her hair flying behind her. She threw her arms out to try and catch the stars but they slipped through her flingers. The stars beneath her rippled; she was dancing on water. The water was cold to her bare feet and splashed around her ankles. She didn't know how deep the water was, but she stood on top of it. She bounced on the balls of her feet and took off at a sprint. She laughed, she felt free.

The whispers of the wind turned into the whispers of the voices. She cried out and wanted to fall to the ground but the water suddenly became hard and held her. The silks tightened around her body like pythons, tying her in place. She felt tears on her cheeks and the wind became howling, deafening her with the cries of the voices, clamouring to be heard. She couldn't move, couldn't run from them.

Suddenly they crystallised and came together in one perfect song. In a moment she could hear them clearly, and in that moment everything fell away. The stars shot from the sky and the water melted from under her. In the darkness there was one glimmering star, but it wasn't a star. It pulsated and glowed. The light grew and she walked towards it. It was a heartbeat.

When she touched it she felt warmth and love and kindness and jealously and greed, lust and daring and protectiveness. She recognised it. It was the heartbeat of the world, it was life. It was what she had felt in her calmest moments on earth. But there was something wrong with it... a tiny murmur, an irregularity. She grasped the heartbeat and held it close. There it was a flaw, something that threw off the whole melody. She understood. The voices whispered for the last time in her ear and withdrew. Now all that was left was the song of the heartbeat, the slightly imperfect heartbeat. She let it go and stepped back. The voices were fading and she followed them, walking towards their call. She walked so far she fell off the end of the universe. Pitch engulfed her and she moved through it, though she couldn't feel it.

The world turned upside down and the blackness faded away. Grey sky melted with grey sea and she couldn't tell which way was up. She saw the stars.

Raven woke to the moon hanging low on the tree line, the stars sparkling above her. It was night. She realised she was curled up against Duran. When had that happened? I must have been cold, Raven thought. Carefully, she moved away from him, shuffling along the grass. When she had detached herself she stood up. She walked around the clearing, listening. She heard breathing, water gurgling, a slight breeze, her own soft footsteps, but that was it. The voices were gone, and Raven knew they were gone for good. She breathed a sigh of relief and walked aimlessly a little more. She pondered what she needed to do. It was such a simple task, but so hard to achieve. She had time though, she wasn't rushed. Her aimless pacing slowed. She glanced up at the stars as if to check they were still there and this was still reality.

As she stopped she heard Duran's voice call hoarsely, "Raven?"

"Yes?" she answered, barely more than a whisper.

"Are you leaving again?"

She didn't know what she should answer. She bit her lip and replied.

"There's something I have to do."

"Why don't you come home with me and be safe?" he asked, almost pleaded, and his voice told her the thought of her running for the rest of her life, towards or away from those trying to harm her worried him. "I can protect you, they'll never find you again, I promise you that Raven."

"I need to do this, and if you won't let me I'll... run away again to do it."

Duran sat up and met her eyes levelly. "If you run again I'll chase you again Raven, to the ends of the earth. I'll find you again." Raven dropped his gaze and looked back to the forest.

After a long pause she turned and looked at him from across the clearing. There was enough light to see his shape, waiting.

"Then let me do this," she whispered.

"Let me come with you."

"Alright," she agreed softly.

Duran shifted.

"Good. Now come here and go back to sleep since you're not running off anywhere. It's the middle of the night." He gestured to the ground near him.

Raven chuckled and walked back over to him,sitting back on the spongy grass. This time she didn't pull away from him. Shesnuggled up to his warmth and drifted off into a dreamless slumber. Duranwrapped an arm protectively around her in her sleep and watched the forest longbefore he too drifted off again.h=61�a�nO�