Characters In the following chapter:
Raven Mustang (15)
Alyssa Bradford (15)
Setting: Town of Wisteria, Boarding School for the Military Brats
Time: Close to midnight
Flashback
"Raven please don't leave! --- It's dangerous out there, people, thugs, you know what they do to girls our age!" Alyssa Bradford, roommate and best friend to Raven, begged quietly making sure not wake the girls in the next dorm room. She watched Raven ignore her and walk to her dresser, Alyssa followed, grabbed her wrist and turned her around, "Or have you forgotten about Ginese?" Alyssa was desperate to keep Raven at school, even if it meant bringing back a miserable memory. Of course she remembered who Ginese was, she was a sweet girl that had snuck out of the school on night and never came back. A week and a half later they found her body lying next to the river 3 miles away.
Raven looked at her best friend and frowned, "Alyssa, please, try to understand, I can't take it here anymore, alchemy is my passion and I'm not about to give it up because it's not allowed at school. And I'm not going to be a housewife to some military junkie!! No! Not like my mother, it may have worked for her, but I refuse to be her, IT WAS HIS FAULT SHE DIED!!...I have a gift Alyssa and I am willing to go to any lengths to use it." Raven shook form her friend's grasp and continued packing. "Besides," she added," Maybe...Maybe father misses me...He hasn't written...Not like I'd want him to, but maybe he wants to see me again...Maybe he still loves me...If he ever did...Alyssa i have to try." She truly hated to think about her father, because when she did, all it brought back was the pain, the pain to see his face when she found her alone in her mother's room, alone with a monster she wished was mother...She knew quite well he hated her and that was why she was here in the first place...Alyssa broke into her thoughts when she said, " I'll help you out, but only if you promise to write to me everyday...I'm going to miss you Raven...So much. I hope you find what you want." Raven looked into her tear-filled friend's eyes and felt her own tears. She grabbed her friend and hugged her tightly.
Flashback end
This is where Raven's thoughts have been all day, as she lay on the ground of desert, thirsty and tired from walking miles and miles. She had run out of food 3 days ago and was getting to week to move. She lay there her face down in the dirt trying to keep her wits about her. 'Raven you're a stupid girl you should have stayed!! Now your going to die!!" Raven coughed. She could barely see straight her mind was disoriented from hunger and no water, she couldn't even remember which way she was going. She hoisted herself up off the ground and tried taking a few more steps in any direction...She didn't take but two when she was on her knees...The last thing that came to her mind was, 'Maybe It's better this way...Dad won't have to worry about paying my intuition or stuff like that anymore...I'll be out of his hair for good...Just the way he wanted.'
Darkness consumed her.
She never even noticed a small group of travelers coming her way...The leader of the pack had a scar over his face in the shape of a huge X. She had no idea that she was saved.