Lilac

My window rattles. Silence. It rattles again. My eyelids slowly lift.I turn to face my bed stand. The clock glares 3:47 am. The witching hour. I sit up and turn to my window. I can’t make out much, but something appears to be flying. . Suddenly, my window flies open and I lunge towards my lamp. Oh. It’s a raven. I try shushing it, but apparently, it’s very rebellious. It shrieks so loud that I only have a couple of seconds to hide it before my door flies open. My mom bursts in the room.

¨WHA- Alex? What happened? Are you okay?¨ her face twisted in an attempt to show empathy.

¨Yeah, what’s wrong?¨ the crow struggles to be free from under my pillow.

¨You! You’re what’s wrong! You woke me up in the middle of my beauty sleep.¨

What a dilemma, My mind races.¨I don’t know what you’re talking about.¨

¨Then why are you up? Ugh, just go to sleep already.¨ She slams my door.

I lift my pillow and stare at the crow. What are you doing here?

A ray of sunshine hits me right in the eye. Now, the clock reads 7:24 am Ugh. at least it's Friday.

I hoist myself out of bed and I squeeze into my chest binder. It hugs my torso just right. Then, I slip on a pair of jeans and my favorite color hoodie, a lovely tranquil blue. Shoes, phone, bag, I thunder down the stairs. Out the door, I’m already late.

Running down the sidewalk, the memory of the dangers of overexerting yourself in a binder flash by me, but it’s better than detention. I gasp for breath. My shoes slap against the pavement. The same crow from last night lands at my feet and looks at me dead in the eyes. Suddenly, I can breathe again. No time to think. I run even faster. Through the doors, I slide to my seat just as the bell rings. 

¨Let's get started.¨ Ms. Smith remarks, side-eyeing me. I stare out the window. There’s more now. Around ten or twenty. The thing is, they’re all staring at me. Every single one of them. Why are they here? Did I imprint on them? Are they coming for revenge? I snap out of the swirling toilet bowl of my thoughts to hear

¨Hey, do you know what the answer to question 14?¨

I turn around and there she is. Shit. shit shit shit.

¨Uh, what?¨ my head rests on my hand. My hair needs a trim. I hate scissors though.

¨We have a worksheet, are you even here?¨ Ana says, her smile widens.

The ravens continue to stare. I laugh it off and start my work. I grind my teeth to drown out the thoughts. One gets on the windowsill. They won't stop following me.

Suddenly, it's 3:00pm. How did I get here? My brain seems hazy.

¨Hey, you want me to walk you home? You seem a bit on edge.¨ Ana´s now by my side.

 ¨Uh, sure. How do i seem on edge though?¨

¨Well- ¨ her voice falters. ¨Which way should we go? I've never seen your house.¨

¨I think I can walk myself home. But thanks.¨

¨Are you sure?¨ her eyes fill with empathy. This time it's true. Real.

¨Okay, follow me.¨

Left, left, left right left. We would chant that in safety patrol. Wait. I've never been on a safety patrol.

 My poor shoes are tired. I take them off. 

Ana stays quiet. What's on her mind?

¨Hey Ana, are you okay too?¨ I stop. The rocks dig under my bare feet.

¨Yeah, im okay.¨

I stand. The sidewalk has so many shades of grey. A mosaic of it. More crows gather on the chain link fence, but I pretend not to notice. I don't want to provoke them.

We keep walking. 

The clean cut white exterior of my house is blinding. Scrubbed to perfection.

I want to tear it down brick by brick.

¨so this is your house, huh? ¨ Ana asks.

I nod. 

¨ it's nice.¨”she turns to me. ¨Well, see you tomorrow, alex.¨

She gives me a note and runs the other way.

As I walk up the steps, I see crows on the road, staring at me again. and I don't get to see it. I breathe, and then open the front door. 

My parents are in the living room. Bickering about something that could be solved easily. He did, She did. I ran to my room. Since when was my room orange? I drop my bag and open the note. 

It reads 

´ Hey Alex, I just wanted to say I think you're really cool and I would love to hang out sometime. Here's my number.´

My heart skips. 

There's a knock at the front door, and I skip down the stairs to get it. The door swings open and a swarm of ravens take off and fly towards the sun, and a cold chill runs down my spine. They're not gonna stop coming. But maybe this is a good thing. Maybe. 

I run back to my computer and search how to capture a raven

… no results. I guess i need to do this with no help.

I grab my phone and run down the street to the nearest pet store. I grab some bird food and then run to the antique store. 

Ravens like shiny things, right? Sure.

I grab a couple old quarters and an old comic. The woman behind the counter looks empty. She has a blank stare. I turn and hear the ring of the bell when I walk out of the door. 

Then, when it closes behind me, I see it. The power lines. Every last raven is situated perfectly on them for 3 blocks. I am literally wailking in a murder. I run down the street, trying not to make eye contact with the big one. I look up. 

Oh my god.

Everything goes black around me and I can feel the wind howling. My sneakers lift off the sidewalk and I look around. When it stops, I'm winded and the quarters are gone.

I ran home. Nobody seems to notice what just happened. My sneakers have come undone and I trip on the shoelace. There's a steady stream of blood running down my face, but I can't see much. It's getting dark again. I need to be home. I keep running. I can't breathe. The ravens don't help me this time.

When I get home, my mom explodes. 

¨WHAT HAPPENED???? YOUR HOODIE!¨ my mom screams. She has a habit of doing that.

I look down and see that the entire front side of my hoodie is soaked in my own blood. Shit.

¨uh, I guess I had a nose bleed and i didnt notice?¨ iIm not lying at this point. It's around 7 blocks from the store to here. I'm gasping for air.

She takes a deep breath and yanks the hoodie off my back. ¨you really need to be more responsible at this point. You're 13. Take better care of yourself.¨ she scolds me, and turns to put it in the wash. I go to my room.

How did it get in here? The raven that helped me this morning is sitting on by bed.

¨uh, hi?¨ i say to it. I grab the bird seed from my back pocket and toss it on the floor. It gives me a grateful look. I feel a rush of relief, but it doesn't last for long. I rub my eyes and look at the raven again. I'm not delusional. I grab it and put it in my old backpack. What do I do? I grab the note and call Ana. 

it rings.

It rings again. The raven stares at me from the bag and I cancel the call. I need to sleep.

I change and then settle into bed.

The next morning, I jolted up, and my eyes darted to the bag. The raven is missing. I jump out of bed, yank on my binder, a pair of jeans, and a tank top and run out the door. Running down the street, I see it. The ravens are rearranging again, so I run to the park. What are they trying to tell me?

When I arrive, I look up, they're here. The swarm of them dives down to the grassy clearing in front of me. They get settled, and then they start.

I… no it´s a H… or an U?

It's not a word at all! It's a smiley face! 

Once the thought popped into my head, they all started squawking in approval. 

Huh. What am I gonna do with like, 20 ravens? My phone starts buzzing. It's her.

¨Hey Alex, i was wondering why you called me yesterday. I was about to answer but you canceled it.¨

I'm trying to herd all those ravens to where they were.

¨uh, I guess I accidentally called you. Have you ever noticed that ravens are following you? ¨

¨wait- what are you talking about? How did you know that? Are they following you too?¨

¨Uh, yeah. Right now i'm at the park trying to keep them in one spot.¨

¨Okay, i'll be right over.¨ she replies hastily, and the phone disconnects. One of the ravens shoots me an angry look.

A couple minutes later, I felt a tap on my shoulder. 

¨woah. You were not kidding about the ravens. That's a lot.¨ she remarks, and points to one of them. ¨that one looks like it would be named Lilac.¨ the one she pointed to looks like the one that broke into my room a couple days ago.

¨Yeah, it does, doesn't it? Okay, what I'm thinking we should do is that we should keep some, and then send others to be free.¨ I say. This idea sparks lots of quarrels between the ravens. 

¨Oh fine, we´ll keep all of you.¨ they squawk in agreement. Ana throws me a worried look.

¨i don't even know how to keep 20 ravens! ¨ she tells me. 

So we don't. But they kept on following us. For days on end, they kept on following,

One day, I turn around, and they are all just walking behind me in a straight line. Like ducklings following its mother. ¨ So, I put my hands on my hips. ¨fine. I'll keep you guys. But not in my house. On my roof, okay?¨

They nod in agreement. Lilac squawks. 

I dial Ana´s number. ¨Is it the ravens again?¨ she asks.

¨yeah, it is. I told them i could keep them as long as they sleep on the roof.¨

¨well, okay. What if they follow us to school?¨

¨they already do that. ¨ I say. She laughs.

¨sure then. See you tomorrow!¨, and she hung up. The black screen reflects to show my red face.

The next day, she and I walk into school with all of them behind us. Everything is vivid. A good feeling is in the air. The ravens are amazing. She's amazing.

¨this is so cool, right?¨ Ana says.

My feet hit the ground, each step like a new beginning.

I finally feel right.

A couple of months later,I checked on the ravens. Now there's only about 6.

There were 8 yesterday. They started disappearing about 2 weeks ago. 

A week passes. They're gone. Ana stops calling. I feel empty again.