"Raven"
by Maddie McAfee '19
The rain poured down on me, soaking my hair and drenching my clothes. Without an umbrella, the raindrops pelted down on me with a splat.
I didn’t mind. In fact, I knew it was going to rain today. My favorite thing about rainy days: no sun.
I’ve always been my happiest in the darkness. Ironic. Whenever I turn the lights off at night, I get filled with a spark; an electric charge. Or, when I stand under a beach umbrella on a sunny day, all this weight gets lifted off my shoulders.
It’s like I’m nocturnal. That ‘spark’ always fills me with energy, and I can’t fall asleep. In the morning, when the light shines through my window, I feel like it burns my skin. It’s not like I’m a vampire, though it would make sense.
Even something as petty as Sunny D orange juice sends a shudder down my spine.
Before I got these feelings, every night around 8:00, a raven would show up on my doorstep. Its small, beady eyes would stare at me through my window, and I stare right back at it.
One night, I tried feeding it. I got a foot away from the small being, and set down a bowl of torn-apart bread.
The bird twitched its head to the side and stared at the bowl with one eye. I sat there, crisscross applesauce. It hopped over to the bowl and pecked at the bread.
A smile crept across my face. The bird ate the bread ravenously, almost too quickly. It sent an odd feeling down my stomach, but I decided to ignore it.
The next night, I fed it again. To my surprise, the bird ignored the food and came to my side. I held out my finger to it, expecting it to jump on. Instead, it pecked me.
Blood started to trickle out of the small hole the raven had implanted into my skin. I yelped in surprise and shooed the bird away.
I rushed into urgent care, worried that the bird might have been carrying rabies. I got the shots, but something didn’t feel right.
Now, I enjoy being in the shadows. It’s like I’m one with them. I feel like I can hear them speaking to me. I feel safe whenever I’m under one.
I walk in the rain, thankful for the gloom on this day. The other day, I walked past my house, not wanting to go inside quite yet. Then I stopped in my tracks.
Sitting on my porch, was the raven. I looked down at my watch. It was 8:00 P.M. The bird hadn’t been back since that one day.
I sensed that I had another date with darkness.