Silent World

by Natalie Warren

  Elaise grabbed Katie roughly and pushed her into Mandy with a growl. Raven slowly reached a hand up and touched the substance dripping from her lip but before she could look at what it was, a hand covered her eyes.

  "I thought you all would know better than to attack someone, ten against one!" Eliza hissed. "I can't believe you'd even believe any kind of rumor that Brittany spreads."

  "Eliza, we need to take Raven to Miss Clarence," the blonde heard Jason's voice. "Jake, you come with us."

  Raven had no chance to object as she was rushed away blindly, seeing nothing but black and led in a direction that she couldn't identify. She heard Elaise's angry voice as she snapped at her friends but it faded into the distance when she realized she was led into a building and a door shut behind her.

  "What happened?" Eliza asked, not to Raven.

  "Elaise and the others just came over and accused Raven of saying shit," Jake answered her. "Raven retaliated, of course, and Brittany hit her."

  "As if I asked Brittany to strike me!" Raven scowled.

  "Calm down," Jason whispered in her ear. "We have to get this blood off your face before you see it."

  Raven frowned and slowly nodded, allowing herself to be led up different corridors, having to take a flight of stairs to get to another room. They stopped momentarily and Raven wasn't sure if it was Eliza or Jake that rushed away, returning with another set of footsteps.

  "What's the matter, dears?" asked the voice of an older woman. "Oh, that looks like a nasty cut. Why are you covering her eyes?"

  "She has hemophobia," Jason explained.

  "Poor darling," the woman said. "Bring her over to the bed and I'll fix the problem."

  Raven was led across the room and was swept off her feet, being seated on a comfortable bed. The woman seemed to hum as she rushed back and took Raven's hand, cleaning the blood from her fingers. It was cleaned from her face and Jason finally uncovered her eyes.

  The light was harsh at first and Raven had to blink a few times before she adjusted to it again. She looked up at Jason who didn't appear happy. Eliza and Jake hung back, quietly talking amongst themselves and glancing at her. Eliza's golden eyes seemed concerned as she looked at the blonde girl.

  "Jason, how did you and Eliza know where I was?" she asked, flinching from the sting in her lip.

  "Easy," he shrugged. "We just listened for the bitchy girls yelling at you." Raven had to hold back a giggle so she didn't hurt her lip again and she looked up at the woman.

  She was almost six feet tall with long brown hair and sapphire blue eyes. She looked so polite and friendly as she held up a cloth to clean away more blood that was on Raven's lip.

  "Who are you?" the blonde asked slowly.

  "I am Miss Clarence," the woman smiled a toothy grin. "I'm the school doctor. I take it you haven't been in the sick bay before?"

  "This is her first time," Jason chuckled.

  Miss Clarence nodded and she cleaned up Raven's lip until it stopped bleeding. "There. It will throb for a little bit but it should heal up just fine."

  "Thank you," Raven smiled. "I really appreciate it."

  "You're quite welcome, dear," the woman bowed her head. "Stay out of trouble now."

  "I'll try," Raven promised and Jason helped her off the bed, leading her back out of the sick bay with Eliza and Jake.

  *.*.*

  "I can't believe you!" Elaise snarled at Katie. "Raven has a phobia of blood! What part of that don't you understand?"

  "How can anyone have a phobia of blood?" Katie scoffed as Elaise stalked down the hallway with the two girls having to jog to keep up. "It's stupid-"

  "Say one more thing about Raven and I'll rip your fucking tongue off!" Elaise threatened and whirled around to face Katie, the girl almost crashing into her. "I may not be buddy, buddy with her right now but that does not mean she isn't my friend."

  "I don't see how that works," Mandy pointed out.

  "We've been friends for years; that's not going to change," Elaise snorted and continued down the hall.

  "So did you really say those things about Raven?" Katie spoke up again and the brunette locked her jaw to try and control her temper. "That her father used to abuse her? Is that true?"

  Elaise didn't even justify that with an answer. She ignored her two friends as they tried to ask more and more questions. Elaise just hoped Raven didn't see the blood and freak out. The poor girl would have been terrified.

  "Elaise!" she looked up and smiled when she saw Der walked in her direction. She abandoned her friends and ran up to him, greeting him with a friendly hug.

  "Hello," she giggled.

  "Hey," he smiled. "You look happy to see me."

  "You're better than the two bitches I'm stuck with," she grumbled. "Make up an excuse to help me get rid of them. Quick!"

  "Hey, Der," Mandy said as the two girls caught up.

  Der bowed his head. "Hello, girls. I hope you don't mind, but I need to borrow Elaise for a little bit."

  Katie and Mandy looked disappointed as Der walked off and Elaise skipped after him. The brunette felt relieved that she was rid of the girls and she breathed. "Thank you!"

  "You're welcome," he chuckled. "Now what happened with Raven?"

  Elaise almost halted in her tracks. "How do you hear about everything so fast?"

  "I have my ways."

  The brunette sighed. "Brittany told me that Raven was telling everyone bad things about me… But Raven said that she heard that I was saying stuff about her…"

  "That's what happens when you listen to Brittany," Der told her. "She likes getting under everyone's skin. She's the killer of friendships."

  Elaise frowned. "But she knew Raven was scared of blood and she still attacked her."

  Der stopped and Elaise spun around to face him. "That's just the way she is. She doesn't care about anyone else but herself and she always wants all the attention. It can't be helped. But the fact that you defended Raven proves that there's a chance for your friendship to be fixed."

  "How?" Elaise asked and Der quickly grabbed her shoulders, gently pushing her back and out of the way of other students walking down the hall. He stood in front of her and she felt her breath catch in her throat when she measured the distance between them.

  "The two of you still respect each other," Der smiled, resting his forehead against hers.

  "How do you gather that?" she murmured, feeling his warm breath tickle her face. She felt her silver necklace resting against her chest and she thought that if Der got any closer to her, the heavy necklace would weigh her down and pull her straight to the ground.

  "If you were going to hurt Raven, you already would have done it," he pointed out and Elaise felt her body quivering as he leaned towards her again. She had thought about it over and over again in her head since their time in the forest and she had tried to imagine what would have happened if he had kissed her then, instead of rushing her out of the forest because 'someone' was in there.

  She noticed a lot of kids turning to stare but Der didn't look concerned. Elaise's eyes fluttered shut as Der began to close the gap between them but she heard him growl to himself. Elaise opened her eyes again and felt her heart sink. Was he going to bail out again?

  He didn't get the chance to back out as someone from behind shoved him forward and their lips connected. Elaise's heart raced again and pounded against her chest, feeling the warmth seeping into her body and taking hold of her as butterflies tried to escape from her stomach. All she wanted to do was grab him and never let him go!

  He pulled away almost too quickly and they both turned to see who had pushed him. Storm and Heath stood their with grins on their faces and quickly called congratulations to Der before cupping their hands over their mouths and letting out loud, childish howls before racing off down the hallway, laughing their heads off.

  "Bastards," Der muttered half to himself and Elaise felt her cheeks burn as he turned back to her. "You got what you wanted."

  "And how did
you know I wanted it?" she demanded and stubbornly crossed her arms.

  "As if it wasn't obvious," he reached a hand up and lightly tugged at a lock of her hair. "You've been waiting on that since you got here!"

  Her face was burning at a hundred degrees and she tried to look away. "Not true!"

  With one finger, Der pressed under her chin and forced her to look at him. "Just admit, you liked it."

  She grumbled. "Maybe a little…"

  He almost burst into laughter and shook his head. "That's good. So answer my next question?"

  "What is it?"

  "Go out with me?" his eyes turned pleading and Elaise felt like she was going to faint!

  She tried to register it in her head so that she could put together a proper answer without shaking in her skin and sounding like a complete idiot. Had he really just asked her out?! A voice in the back of her mind screamed at her to say yes, but another told her to say no. She looked up at him and could still sense the odd feeling about him. She'd had that feeling not just with Der, but with Jason and a few others. They were all… different.

  "Well?" Der asked nervously.

  Elaise took a deep breath and knew that this was probably the only chance she was going to get. She pushed away the odd feeling and smiled. "Yes."

  "Yes?" he blinked and she nodded. His face lit up and she yelped as he grabbed her by the waist and picked her up, spinning her around and putting her back on the ground, hugging her. How happy could a guy be? She thought.

  "You don't need to be overly excited," Elaise told him with a giggle. "It's just me."

  "Yes, but I like you," he smiled and kissed her cheek.

  She stepped away to try and say something to him but she yelped when her necklace suddenly unclipped and fell. Der reacted quickly and reached his hand forward, snatching it from the air and wrapping his fingers around the chain with a chuckle… until smoke rose up from his hand.

  Elaise blinked as Der quickly let the chain drop to the floor and he took a step back, holding his smoking hand. The brunette looked down at her silver necklace before turning back to Der. "What was that?" she asked.

  "Nothing," he answered quickly, panic on his face.

  "Let me see your hand," she muttered and grabbed his hand, holding it out and expecting to see a burn, but his palm was uninjured. She slowly looked back up at Der and bent to pick up her necklace, holding it tightly in her hand. "This is pure silver," she almost whispered.

  "Elaise, don't take that the wrong way," Der' eyes were wide. "That was nothing…"

  "No, it wasn't," Elaise shook her had and shivers ran down her spine when the pieces slowly came together. Then her heart fluttered when another thought entered her mind. "Raven!"

  She pivoted on her heels and sprinted away from Der despite his calls, unable to believe what she had just witnessed. Grief swept over her and she raced through the school to try and find her best friend. She shoulder-barged a bunch of students who turned to glare at her but she ignored them and kept running. She felt her breath catch in her throat when she turned around one last corner before she finally found Raven… with Jason, Eliza and Jake.

  "Raven!" Elaise gasped and grabbed the blonde, yanking her away from the others. "Keep away from them!"

  "Elaise, what the fuck is your problem?!" Raven pulled free of her grip and turned to face her, confusion written all over her face.

  "You okay?" Jason asked, moving to take a step towards Raven.

  "Stay back!" Elaise warned and held up her silver necklace. Jason took one look at it and his eyes darted to his friends, both looking worried. "I know what you's are!"

  "Are you insane?!" Raven hissed at her. "What has gotten into you?"

  "Raven, you have to stay back," Elaise begged. "They're werewolves!"

  Close Call

  13. Close call

  Raven couldn't help but blink at Elaise with her mouth hanging open. "You… You have officially lost your mind."

  "I'm serious!" Elaise exclaimed. "Raven, you have to believe me. They're werewolves!"

  Raven rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Werewolves? Really?" she stepped over to Jason and looked up at all three of her friend. "Mm… Nope. None of them look like werewolves to me."

  "They can't touch silver!" Elaise pointed out. "My necklace dropped and Der grabbed it… It burnt his hand!"

  "Did it leave a mark?" Raven couldn't believe that her superstitious friend had finally lost it. It had to have just been a trick of the light or something.

  "Werewolves heal rapidly," her friend tried. "I'll prove it! These guys won't be able to touch it either." Elaise took a step forward, holding her necklace up to Jason but Raven quickly intercepted.

  "Elaise!" she snapped. "That's enough! I don't know what you're on but you've gone crazy. They are not werewolves; there is no such thing."

  "They are!" Elaise insisted. "They can't touch silver… And that's why they don't like the mistletoe perfume I wear, because humans can't smell it."

  "No, you're just paranoid," Raven shook her head. "There is no such thing as werewolves, vampires, pixies, dragons or any other of your superstitious beliefs. Why can't you just let it go and accept they're not real?"

  "They are real," Elaise frowned and Raven watched her expressions carefully. She did seem distressed by something but Der couldn't be a werewolf.

  "Listen to me," Raven spoke quietly to her friend. "Werewolves are big, scary, furry half-human, half-wolf things… Do these guys look like that?" she gestured to her three companions.

  "That's their human forms," the brunette's eyes became watery. "Please believe me. You're going to get hurt!"

  "Your friend is scary," Jake mumbled.

  "Raven?" Eliza said.

  "Don't listen to them," the brunette growled. "You wonder why Eliza's eyes are gold? It's because she's a werewolf!"

  "Let's go," Raven sighed to her friends. "Look, Elaise… Maybe go see the doctor. You might be running a fever."

  "I'm not!" Elaise exclaimed but Raven shook her head and turned away, grabbing Jason's hand and leading him and their companions away. Elaise tried calling out to her but Raven wasn't prepared to listen to any more of her crazy talk.

  "You don't believe her, do you?" Jason asked.

  "Of course not!" Raven winced from her split lip. "You guys can't be werewolves; they don't exist! I don't need to deal with Elaise's paranoia when I'm already trying to get used to the fact that Stephanie…" she couldn't even finish her sentence and she felt her chest aching again.

  "Don't worry about it," Eliza told her. "I'll go talk to Der and maybe get some sense out of the whole thing."

  "Don't let Elaise get you with her silver chain," Jake joked. Eliza giggled before dashing away.

  "I can't believe she even tried that," Raven frowned. "I'm really sorry. She's never been this bad before."

  "It's okay," Jason assured her. "Maybe she realized that fighting is stupid and wants to try and apologize… in her own special way."

  "By trying to attack you?" Raven blinked. "That's a strange apology. And after the rumors I've heard… Only she knows about my dad. And you," she added, glancing up at Jason.

  "So your dad really did hurt you all the time?" Jake frowned and the blonde nodded.

  "He was always drunk and my mother was always at work. Dad insisted on home-schooling me and my mum made the mistake of allowing it," Raven felt Jason's hand tighten over hers.

  "I'm sorry to hear that," Jake offered, his voice sincere.

  "It's okay," Raven smiled. "When my mum found out she took me and we ran. I haven't seen my dad since."

  Jake smiled warmly. "That's good at least. But I'm gonna go see if I can get one of my teachers to explain something about an exam tomorrow so I'll catch you's later."

  Raven watched him leave and she was left with Jason. She glanced up at him as they walked down the halls and she wasn't surprised when they found themselves at his dorm. Walking in, Jason went to the fridge and got Raven a drink of water
. She gratefully took the glass and had a couple of sips.

  "I never knew someone could be that psychotic," Jason chuckled. "I was actually worried Elaise was going to try and choke me with her chain."

  Raven took a few more sips of water before giving it back to Jason. He smiled and drank the rest in one gulp. "I don't know why she would have thought you guys were werewolves."