Chapter 2 Chapter 0002
•RAVEN•
By the time my father and Valerie let me out of the basement, I was weak and couldn't even stand. I had nothing for two days but water.
Alora took me to her bathroom and got me cleaned up. She said nothing throughout the entire time until she was done dressing me up.
"I'm sorry about your mother's death, Raven," she muttered, placing her hands on my shoulders. "But I will always be here when you need me."
"Thank you, Alora." I wrapped my arms around her. "Do you know where my mother was buried?" I asked, pulling away from her.
Her face changed, and she straightened up. "I'm sorry, but I don't know where your mother was buried. Your father kept her funeral private."
She left before I could ask her any more questions, and I stood there, feeling utterly alone.
A month after my mother's death, I turned into a maid in my father's house and stopped going to school. He'd always tell me that my stepmother needed me to take care of her and her unborn child.
I had been working the entire day, handwashing her clothes and shoes when I went to the kitchen to grab something to eat and found nothing in the fridge.
My head was throbbing, and I knew if I had nothing, I would faint. So, I grabbed two eggs from the cabinet and fried them.
But before I could eat them, my stepmother walked in, her nostrils flaring. "What's going on here?" she sneered. "Who told you to make food in my kitchen?"
"I am hungry," I replied. "I made the eggs because there was—"
"Who told you to speak?" She snarled, slapping me in the face before I could finish my sentence.
I stumbled on the floor and scratched my knee against the chair. The pain shot through me, and I groaned.
Before I could get up, Valerie took a step closer to the table. Her foot landed on the water that had spilled earlier from the jug I used to rinse my hands.
The floor was slick, and she slipped.
“Ahhh!” she screamed as she fell hard onto the floor, clutching her stomach. “My baby! Oh my God, my baby!”
Panic filled the room, and my heart jumped into my throat.
Just then, my father rushed into the kitchen. “Valerie!” he shouted.
He knelt beside her and carefully helped her sit up, holding her tightly. “Are you okay? What happened?” he asked, his voice shaking.
Valerie burst into tears, clinging to him. “Raven did this,” she cried, pointing at me with a trembling hand. “She spilled water on the floor on purpose. She wants me to lose the baby.”
“What?” I gasped. “I didn’t—”
“She hates me,” Valerie sobbed louder. “She wants you all to herself and wants my child gone.”
My father’s face hardened as he looked at me. There was no concern in his eyes, only anger.
“Is this true, Raven?” he demanded.
I shook my head, tears spilling down my face. “No, Papa. I was just hungry, and I didn’t mean for anything to happen. Please, you must believe me.”
He didn’t listen. He helped Valerie up from the floor and inspected her carefully before he turned to me.
"You've already caused trouble by hurting my wife," he answered, scoffing. "You will spend the night in the disciplinary room. This will teach you a lesson to respect the woman who took over as your mother when your useless mother died."
I cried when he mentioned the disciplinary room. The place was dark and had no hole in the wall for air and light to pass through.
I was usually sent on a time-out there for an hour or two, but never the entire night.
My stomach tightened when I thought about how suffocated I would feel once I was there.
"No," Valerie chimed in. "Raven should leave this house, Tank. I'm scared I will lose the baby because of her one day. Is that what you want?"
"No, darling, but—"
"But nothing," she interrupted him. "We will have a child soon, love, and I don't want our daughter to be around her. What are we going to do if she tries to harm her because she wants you all to herself?"
My father looked at me, his face conflicted. He didn't want to throw me out, but when he leaned over and wrapped her arm around her waist, I knew she had succeeded.
"You must leave this house, Raven," he said with a sharp tone. "My wife and child are not safe around you. Valerie would've lost the baby because of your selfishness."
"No, Papa," I begged. "I will stay in the disciplinary room for as long as you want me, but please don't throw me out. I won't cause trouble for you anymore, and I will do whatever you want me to do. Please."
My father didn't even hesitate as he grabbed my wrist and led me to the front door.
I tilted my head and saw Valerie standing near the staircase, her hand on her swollen belly, and she waved at me with a wicked smirk on her face.
"You're no longer welcome here," my father hissed. "Leave. Forget everything about me, do you hear me? I am no longer your father, and this house is no longer your home."
He slammed the door in my face, and I sobbed, trying to knock, but no one answered.
After an hour of knocking and crying out for my father, asking for forgiveness, Arthur came and dragged me out of the gate.
Just like that, I had lost my home and didn't even know where to go. My chest tightened when I saw the sky darkening.
I quickly rushed to the library building in town to find a place to sleep there.
When I closed my eyes and tried to sleep under the small bench near the library building, I felt someone grabbing my feet.
The man laughed mockingly as he dragged me toward him, and I screamed, trying to grab onto something.
"Stop fighting me," he scoffed. "Or I will make this very hard for you."
He placed his hand over my mouth, trying to drown out my screams as his other hand tried to take off my clothes, but before he could succeed, someone knocked him out with a bottle.
He dropped to the ground beside me, his head bleeding from the cut, and I gasped, my body shaking as I realized what could've happened.
"Hey, come with me," the girl who had saved me said as she stretched out her hand, and I took it.
"Don't worry, I will keep you safe," she muttered as we walked down the dark alley.
My relief didn't last long. When we turned the corner to the main road, trying to cross to the other side, a car came out of nowhere and hit us both.
My head hit the side of the pavement while the girl's body lay still beside the car.
My breaths came out shallow as darkness filled my vision and I slipped out.
