Empty Apartment

Note: Readers sensitive to domestic violence may have issues with this work as a whole.

A dedication: To anyone who has ever suffered at the hands of a family member. My prayer for you is simple: May you find healing.

Raven Roth sighed as the school day came to an end. She was not her other senior friends, and she did not celebrate the ending of each day. On the contrary, she felt her head becoming heavier as the clock ticked towards two thirty, the release time for the high school. Her arms would gradually grow heavier as she opened her locker, and the smile she kept plastered on her face during the day (she could only assume it looked more like a smirk than an actual smile, but it was an improvement from outright unpleasantness) would come unglued.

She hated to go home. The only thing that even brought the slightest smile to her lips was that she was not going home instantly; she had to tutor her friends Richard and Kori first. She leaned against her locker waiting for the two and surveyed herself in the library window.

All she saw was a scowl and a pale glowing face, the rest of her face obscured in the darkness. Raven did not think of herself as beautiful, but she also did not consider herself ugly. In her own mind, most likely due to everything that had happened in her life, she simply existed, and anything that happened as a consequence of her existence was generally in some way, shape, or form her fault.

By now, she knew what the rules of the game were. She kept her emotions close to her heart, and kept her heart guarded. This was the simplest way to avoid letting anyone take from her what had already been taken once.

"Raven!" Said a cheerful female voice, jerking her from her thoughts. She looked up to see the cheerful Kori, dressed in a flowing pink sundress and half-dragging Richard by his arm, coming toward her. "I am so glad to see you!"

Raven smiled back at Kori as best as she could. "I'm glad to see you too," she said, slamming her locker shut as she pulled her English book from it. The book was thick and one of her favorites, and she was glad to be able to help her friends with the poetry unit they were doing. Not only was it refreshing to be able to talk about her favorite subject, but it was nice just to be able to stay after school without having to lie about why she was staying.

"Hi," said Richard simply. He was not a boy of many words; he usually left that up to their friends Vincent and Garfield. He stood next to his girlfriend, looking for all the world like he had been dragged her against his will. Then again, as Raven saw the nail marks in his arm where Kori had been clinging to him, she had no doubt that he may have been physically dragged to her locker due to Kori's obsession with being 'on time' for everything.

She gave him a sympathetic smile and he gave one back. "Are you two ready?" Raven asked, draping her thin jacket over her shoulder and picking up her messenger bag.

"Yeah," Richard said, "But where to go?" He ran his hand through his thick black hair and smiled. "By the way, thank you for helping us with this."

"We are most grateful!" Kori said in a gushing voice. Before Raven could stop her, Kori had moved forward to embrace her. Raven hugged her back with one arm, wincing as Kori's arm brushed an old bruise on her back.

"You okay?" Richard asked. For as quiet as he was, he was naturally observant. "You look like you're in pain."

"I'm okay."

"All right then," Richard said, and started to lead the way to the library. Raven smiled. She was grateful that at least one of them was able to make choices, because she and Kori never got any work done when it was just the two of them. Kori was constantly distracted and Raven's temper was usually thin, which resulted in minimal work being finished. Richard acted as a kind of natural leader, and a buffer.

Still, she secretly hoped having Richard there didn't make the study session go by too quickly. She was more worried than ever, after remembering the day-old bruises on her back, about going home.

"Aren't you hot?" Richard asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Raven asked, blushing because she had been caught totally off-guard, lost in thoughts she tried to avoid while at school. "Oh, no, of course not."

"Kind of a strange day for all black pants and a long-sleeved shirt," he observed casually. "Sure everything is okay?"

Sometimes, Raven found herself wondering how much her friends knew and how much they didn't know. She hoped they knew nothing although, with her frequent trips to the emergency room and the constant pink slips that called her to the nurse's office, she guessed they might have their suspicions. She could almost feel the cut running down the right side of her arm burning, as though Richard could see it through her shirt. She cursed his keen observation.

"Of course it is," she said, a bit too sharply. Richard just eyed her suspiciously, nodded, and let the subject drop. She sighed gratefully and sat down at the nearest table.

"So what're you guys not sure about?"

"Everything!" Said the pair of them together, and then they both laughed nervously.

"I am so sorry to be taking up so much of your time," said Kori. "I feel most badly."

"Don't worry about it," Raven said, cracking her book open. "If you guys will turn to the first of Poe's poems…"

The friends stayed in the library for well over an hour, Raven patiently explaining metaphors and similes and helping the other two to take detailed notes for each of the possible essay questions. The work was repetitive (mostly due to Kori's frequent questions) but Raven found it easy. In fact, her mind remained wholly occupied until Richard happened to glance at his black-banded watch.

"Four thirty already?" He asked, stretching out. "It's almost time for me to hit work."

"Wait, what time did you say it was?" Panic crept into Raven's voice.

"Four-thirty. Why?" He narrowed his eyes a bit as though suspicious of her sudden interest in the time when thirty seconds ago, she had been perfectly calm.

"I… I totally forgot. I have a… doctor's appointment." Wow, she thought to herself, that was the lamest excuse you have ever come up with.

"I am so sorry to have kept you!" Kori gushed, standing up and reaching for her pink-covered English book. "Perhaps Richard can give you a ride to the place of your appointment!"

"I only brought my motorcycle," Richard said quietly. "Sorry, Raven, but you're going to have to walk." She could tell that he was not buying any of this; he was simply too polite to say anything.

"I'm okay. Really. I'm sorry I have to cut out on you guys. Call me, Kori, and maybe we can meet up tomorrow morning to go over everything really quickly." In her head, she thanked Richard for both his silence and his excuse.

"I most certainly will!" Kori bubbled as Raven gathered up her books. Fear welled up in her heart in a way that most people never would've experienced at going home, and her only thought was one that most people would've thought only ironically:

My father is going to kill me.

She sprinted from the library.