*Nighttime*
(Alternate Universe)
**Possible Trigger Warning**
Names:
See-More: Seymour
Jinx: Shanaya (it's an ethnic name for her since she's Indian in the comics)
Mammoth: Graham
Dionne: Terra's friend in 'Things change'
Amber: Terra's friend in 'Things change'
Angela Roth: Arella's name before she met Azar and the monks
Clifford: Member of the Doom Patrol
Rita: Member of the Doom Patrol and Beast boy's adoptive mother in canon.
A black haired girl heaved a deep sigh as she watched as the raindrops race down the outside of the window pain. The pitter patter of rain sounded amongst the roof top and against the windows. The petite child stared dejectedly at the storm outside, it had been continuously raining for some hours now.
"Raven, are you ready for school?" Angela Roth asked while she washed the dishes from breakfast and waited patiently for her daughter's response.
Without glancing away from the window Raven nodded her head 'yes' wordlessly as she finally stood up from the couch in front of the window.
Angela nodded with a gentle smile although her blue eyes showed a hint of pain. "Put on your coat."
Reluctantly, Raven obeyed her mother was helped her into her slick purple raincoat and shoved her boots on her feet. Before pulling her hood up, her mother kissed her pale cheek then pulled Raven into loose hug and wished her goodbye. The apartment they currently inhabited was mostly quiet and it was just the two of them. And that's how it had always been. Struggling to pay the bills and surviving on pay check to pay check with a single income.
"Be careful and have a good day." Angela brushed her dark hair over her shoulder.
Turning the squeaky brass door knob Raven was now outside with the rain pouring buckets from the dark grayish-black sky. She held on tightly to the railing and cautiously walked down the slippery steps of the stairs to begin her long walk to school.
In her raincoat pocket she held onto a counterfeit parent's note that she had forged from her mother's writing. Raven certainly knew that her mother would not approve of her sneaky behavior. She was well aware that it was punishable behavior if she was ever caught. At the bottom of the stairs she looked in the direction of her school which was down a dark empty street.
Almost in a trance she began the walk to school, splashing in the unavoidable and surprisingly deep puddles. Being alone in the rain was almost calming with the steady beats of constant rain to put her mind at ease. She crossed empty train tracks, walked through four alleys and through a metal chain linked fence; Raven was finally staring at the back of her school from a short distance.
She pulled her hood more firmly over her head and clutched tightly onto her soaked backpack. With a deep breath, Raven marched up the uneven and cracked cement steps that led to the doors of the school. Benjamin Tyler Elementary school was quite an old and run down school with sickly cracks decorating the building with soft green moss beginning to emerge. The windows were up too high for anyone to easily see out of them, the hallways and classrooms were always dimly lit and the flooring was cracking from the giant tree roots on the school yard. In other words, the school looked exactly of that of any child's nightmare.
Like clockwork, Raven walked to her classroom and to her desk that was assigned in the back. Eventually, the rest of the class filed in when the bell rang to signal the start of the school day. But Raven didn't quite go unnoticed as she desperately hoped for; she was never just unnoticed by her classmates.
"Wow, you're a mess Raven. I guess being a plain Jane just wasn't enough for you, huh?" A tall and blonde girl said; her eyes locked on Raven as she referred to her soaking wet clothes from the rain. The child went by the well-known nickname of Kitten.
Without a response, Raven held her wet raincoat closer to her body and shrunk a little in her chair, her blue eyes focused in on the carvings and doodles on her desk. Laughter and giggles broke out as their teacher was not near and the third grade class was giving their undivided attention to Raven. Her heart broke into a sprint and she began to shake out of fear and with the adrenaline rush that shot through her body.
Fang sat backwards on top of his desk and brushed his greasy hair out of his eyes, "Why are you so poor? Does your mom really not have a car?"
"Hey Terra, poke the it with your ruler," Amber enticed the thin girl. "See if the thing will talk."
Terra squirmed under the uncomfortable situation and chose to ignore the wealthy Kitten. Raven now had to fight down her emotions from her horrid classmates. Even if a tear were to cascade down her pale porcelain cheek, their teasing would only increase tenfold.
Gizmo laughed aloud before he voiced his thoughts, "Say somethin' you lint licking cootie queen."
Raven's breath caught tightly in her throat and she kept her eyes locked on her desk. Fully aware of what some of her classmates were doing to her. Others ignored the uncomfortable situation all together while others looked on with interest.
"She's probably too stupid to talk." Shanaya covered her smiling mouth and brushed a braid over her shoulder.
"The air head is probably too dumb to even know what we're sayin'. Why come to school if you're gonna suck at learning?" Graham loomed over her desk. He was a heavier child and appeared as if he was held back a couple of times.
Raven bit her lower lip so hard that a trickle of blood dripped onto her cold hand; staining her and the desk. It was all she could do for not letting her tears escape her eyes. Her classmates' words were like noxious fumes that repeatedly beat her up like constant blows to the stomach. Almost like hands trying to choke her around her neck to stop her from her last breath. Similar to a million of tiny razor sharp blades slicing her skin and poisoning her. Poisoning her brain with their hurtful words that would leave scars.
"You know; Raven I can make you look pretty." Kitten said, her brown eyes were suspicious and she held her hands behind her back.
Two of the boys from her class stood by the entrance of the door way; obviously waiting for the teacher to arrive so they were able to give a warning signal. Raven saw that out of the corner of her eye and she swiftly stood up from her chair only to be roughly pushed back in it by Seymour and Fang.
"Don't worry Raven, you'll look cute after this." Shanaya unsuccessfully comforted Raven but her cold words were for mocking.
Seymour and Fang forcefully pinned Raven's arms behind her back as they were too strong for her. Graham had ripped her pink raincoat hood off of Raven's head, revealing her long black hair. She squirmed helplessly in the chair while Kitten proceeded to cut her hair with a pair of red scissors. The only sound was of Raven's struggles, the giggles of some of her classmates, and the sound that the pair of scissors made.
Snip. Snip. Snip. Snip
The classroom fell into silence as they waited with baited breath for Kitten to finish cutting off Raven's black locks. Her once long strands fell to the floor and onto the desk she occupied. Raven bubbled with all the rage that course through her veins. A fire was kindled in her heart; a fire that had finally been ignited and was now just waiting for her to burst.
"Whoops." Kitten pressed the sharp edge of the blade across Raven's ivory arm. Bright blood began to spill over, staining the desk and her clothes.
Some of the onlookers joined in laughing as they saw the joy in Kitten's smile. Now most of them began to take part in what they thought was temporarily entertaining. The pain was almost unbearable for Raven but somehow she endured it. Her classmates pulled at the jagged haircut Kitten had given her and some strands had been painfully ripped out her hair. Others had taken scissors and markers to her clothing.
"Plain Jane!" Each of them chanted as her purple rain coat was destroyed. The black buttons had been thrown to the floor. The once plain coat was covered in writing and had been torn with much effort. Her shiny boots were discarded which left her in white frilly socks and her pink and white long sleeved shirt.
The class had become rowdy all at the expense of their late teacher. A shriek from Raven pierced through the cruel laughter as one had smashed her hand with a heavy foot and another had kicked her in the shins. It sent her sprawling on the cold tiled ground. The searing pain almost blinded her, if it didn't make her pass out but Raven kept fighting back. Her skinny arms swung back and collided with a pair of legs. Roughly, she was pulled up by Graham and pushed to another child as they passed her around in a tight circle. Her ivory skin quickly developed black and purple bruised on her arms from the pressure of her classmates' hands.
"Too bad we couldn't make you prettier." Fang snarled, his dark eyes were colder than ice.
He stuck out his foot as someone passed Raven to him and he tripped her up while Dionne's and Sammy's feet connected violently and repeatedly to her rib cage. The action emitted more shrieks from Raven and the tears finally spilt over and cascaded down her flushed cheeks as the pain of it all was unbearable. She had always known that some of her classmates didn't like her but she wasn't aware that it had escalated to hate. But someone should have heard how loud the class was, how loud her screaming was, but no teacher ran to her rescue
"You look like a he-she." Seymour spat at her as Raven lied helplessly on the ground.
Blood oozed out of her nose and from her right arm, staining through her shirt. Raven's left hand wasn't able to move and it brought searing pain to her right side as she took shallow quick breaths from her lungs. Her head spun wildly as she took in her classmates taunting faces, her eye lids closed and her left cheek lay on the cool tile as the nausea and pain made her ill.
Raven didn't know how she was able to find the strength to stand up but it cost a great deal of effort and pain. Her crippled body lurched forwards as she attempted to escape her peers, she stumbled as they pulled her back while she ran towards the door. Her hand pressed against her mouth and as she coughed, specks of blood tainted her pale hands. Raven kept moving and passed the two boys guarding the door; leaving behind the cruel laughing and mocking of her third grade class.
"Get out you he-she!" Shanaya shouted but not before she hurled an orange chair towards the door to scare the girl.
The students howled with laugher and grabbed whatever they could find to pelt in her direction. Raven felt dizzy and her eyes threatened to blackout, her legs shook violently and threatened to give way. She managed to push open the heavy school doors she was met with the splashing of rain on her face which was almost enough to put aside her nausea. Raven wanted to put as much space between her and the school. Soon she crawled back through the chain link fence and turned down a quiet street.
Halfway through the street she realized the wetness of her feet as her boots were back in Benjamin Tyler's third grade class. Her white socks had turned murky gray from the rain water. The rest of her clothes were soaking wet and her now choppy short black hair clung to her neck and face. Her breathing became ragged and challenging. After walking further and further into the alley—following all kinds of twists and turns—she finally came upon a green bench and rested. The full exhaustion took its toll on her and her eyes began to lull close.
"I hate that place." Raven mumbled to herself. She had finally spoke for the first time in months. "I hate being me." Her voice was drowned out by the rain picking up and pouring harder. "And I hate everyone."
More tears flowed out the corners of her eyes as she took a shaky and painful breath. It was worse when the unpreventable sobs racked through her body and pierced her heart. Raven closed her eyes completely and she sat on the bench huddled over in pain as the rain fell on her. With her good hand, she brushed away her tears and sniffled then opened her arms as the rain began to lighten up to a drizzle. Raven opened her eyes and was startled by a figure that loomed above her; it sent her heart into another sprint. Rain pelted and trickled off his clear umbrella. Shocked, Raven sat frozen in place despite the searing pain she was currently experiencing.
"Why are you talking to yourself?" A curious blue-eyed boy stood in front of her. Raven frantically stood up and hurried away from him "Wait up! I just wanted to talk." The boy called out. He stood still before following after the girl with the choppy haircut. "What's your name?"
He easily ran ahead of her as Raven wasn't in the perfect condition to run. He held out his hand in a halting motion and kept his umbrella raised over his head. His eyes traveled up and down her body, seeing for the first time how broken she really was. Perhaps if she told him her name, he would leave her alone.
"Raven."
"What?" A puzzled expression crossed his face.
She averted her eyes to her shoeless feet, "I'm Raven."
"Oh like the bird?" He stared at her with interest and moved to hold his umbrella over her head, "My name's Garfield, I'm eight. How old are you?"
She was unimpressed with him and asked a rude question of her own. "Like the cat?"
He continued to talk to her and he talked a lot. His blonde hair was hidden under his rain coat and he had a smile on his face. Her face scrunched up and her vision was blurry once again. Her nose and cheeks remained red from the freezing temperature and she bit her lip in order to stop herself from falling apart in front of him. Her blue eyes remained dull and lifeless, similar to what she looked like right then.
"Um I guess so. Yeah." It was easy for her to see the unease in his face with the mention of the newspaper comic.
"I'm nine." Her pink lips whispered, her soft voice almost inaudible to Garfield.
He nodded his head, "I overslept and I'm late for school. Did you oversleep too?" His tone held doubt as he looked her over again, "Whoa, what happened to your hand? And your shoes? I like to go barefoot too but…"
Raven was silent as he became more aware of her appearance. She side stepped him to pass but he whirled around and held onto strap of her soaked backpack.
"Go away." She scrunched up her shirt to pull it out of his grasp as Garfield desperately tried to stop her from leaving.
"But I want to help." Garfield followed anyways to her utter annoyance, "Does it hurt? It sure looks like it does."
Raven ignored him and crossed the street. She walked towards the direction of her apartment and she was close. Though she would have to sit out on the steps and wait for her mother to return which would be hours. There was only one key to their one-bedroom apartment and her mother always kept it with her. And there was no way Raven would ever return to that school. The steady rain had reduced to a drizzle but Garfield still kept his umbrella open.
"Stop following me." The only thing she could focus on, was the sting of the thin cut on her arm and the throbbing of her crushed hand.
"My mom can fix your hand," Garfield walked alongside her, "We can go back to my house."
She stopped and faced him, "So can mine. What do you want?"
That was the most she had ever spoken since the past five months. It had taken Raven less than five minutes to deem Garfield annoying. She thought through her options carefully, if she kept ignoring him he might follow her home anyways. On the other hand, if she agreed and if he was telling the truth, maybe his mother really could help her. But she hardly knew the boy and he already claimed that they were somewhat friends.
He smiled again, "To help."
"Is your mom a doctor?" She initiated the conversation for the first time.
Garfield shrugged, "She kind of like a doctor."
"Won't she be mad that you're not at school?"
"I don't know. Maybe." He paused for a split second, "Did you cut your hair yourself? I did that once and my Dad was mad. I live this way." He pointed for them to cross the street once more.
Raven chose not to answer him and instead let her eyes roam over his features. The tufts of blonde hair that did poke out from under his hood was in disarray. His dark green and gray winter coat was zipped all the way up and they were roughly the same height. He kept talking on how he wanted a pet and who his teacher was despite how Raven had no intent of answering him.
Her feet were freezing and the ground was hard as she practically walked barefoot. Raven was careful to avoid the glass on the sidewalk due to smashed car windows and more likely empty beer and soda bottles. Garfield easily held the umbrella over both of them and she tried her best to not step in the puddles.
It was after twenty minutes when Garfield stopped in front of a large two story house. "My mom didn't have to go to work today."
He then pointed to the white Range Rover vehicle that was parked in the driveway. The two-story house was large painted and paneled with a shade of crème trimmed with white. The house looked open without blinds blocking the view from the windows and there was a wraparound porch. In short, the house was simply gorgeous as Garfield walked up the cemented path way quite unlike the dinky apartment her mother owned. All it took was a ring of a doorbell before someone answered. And that someone was not his mother.
"Garfield?" A large man held the door open. He had broad shoulders and his curly hair was cut short. "Shouldn't you be at school right now, kid?"
Garfield tried pushing past the man and Raven debated on leaving right then. "Yeah I was but—"
"Did you forget something again?" The man finally stepped aside to let the child through, "You gotta stop doing that."
"No but—"
"Clifford, who's at the door?" Rita called, her voice traveling throughout the house.
Raven clenched her teeth as the pain grew even more unbearable. Her ribs ached every time she had to breathe and she wished that she didn't have to.
"Just Garfield," Clifford's eyes focused outside the house and finally on her, "And…" His voice grew quiet as he let his sentence trail off.
Garfield looked back at her as he managed to close his umbrella, "That's my uncle."
"You should've been at school by now." Rita said and her voice grew closer.
Raven kept her eyes on Garfield as he fumbled to take his backpack off. "I know. You can come in." He told her and then shouted the last part, "My friend is hurt, Mom."
Friends? They had only been acquainted with each other for roughly twenty-five minutes. And the conversation had been one sided as Garfield had done much of the talking and she hadn't been particularly nice with him. Although he had said it, Raven made no move to cross the threshold of the large house. She didn't know him and they were all strangers to her.
Garfield's tall mother came into view and had a look of surprise on her face at the small crowd at the door. However, her smile faded when she saw Raven caressing her left hand to her chest.
Clifford held his car keys in one hand, "I'm going to head out Rita."
"You're going back to Michigan?"
He nodded his head, "I have some work to finish up there."
The curly haired man wrapped his arm around Garfield in a parting hug, "I'll visit soon."
"Drive safely." Rita smiled and embraced him in a hug after.
Raven stepped aside so the large man could head to his car parked on the side of the road. Shivers racked through her body and she wished that she could just disappear on the spot. Who was she to impose her problems on someone else. She was so focused on her thoughts that she didn't realize that Rita had left and Garfield stood in close range of her. It was a few minutes later when Garfield's mother returned with soft blue towels for her to dry off.
"Who did this to you?" Rita asked while she examined the blood stain on the inner part of Raven's arm.
She was quiet as Rita still held her arm and her wet sleeve was pushed all the way up to her elbow. She sat in a wooden chair in the spacious kitchen with Garfield at the head of the table and quiet for once. Raven had learned her lesson the first time about snitching on someone and she wasn't about to repeat it. The boy had stolen her backpack and spilled the contents out of it while he rode away on his bicycle.
"Raven?"
Garfield's blue eyes switched between his mother and Raven before drifting back again. "She doesn't talk a whole lot."
"Let's have you call home so your parents know you aren't in school." Rita gently released Raven and found the gray cordless phone on the counter top. "Can you do that for me?"
A yellow ice pack was pressed against her swollen left hand to ease the pain. The dial tone rang as Raven stared at Rita, "My mother isn't home."
"Do you know her work number?"
Raven shook her head no to Rita's question but quickly stopped. The dull throb of her temples became worse from all the crying she had endured; a tension headache. Garfield swung his feet to and fro and for the first time wasn't running his mouth.
"I need to call the school." She said. Rita was already redialing a new number and left the kitchen.
Garfield's fingertips drummed his finger tips on the table top, "Do you play any sports? I play soccer and sometimes I play goalie."
"Why do you talk so much?" Raven couldn't stop the words that tumbled out of her mouth though she didn't regret asking.
He shrugged his shoulders unaffected by her bluntness. "Do you like to draw?"
"No."
His fingers moved to unzip his green coat, "Then what do you like to do?"
"Read."
And if it were possible, he perked up some more. She could still hear the low hum of Rita's voice on the phone, "Oh! I have some books about animals. Do you want to see them?"
The day was growing later as Rita's phone call seemed to grow longer. And Raven had been almost unresponsive to Garfield's questions as he spoke a million miles per second. She held the blue towel around her shoulders tighter and wondered what her mother would think.
"Hell-o?" A hand frantically waved in front of her face, "You in there? My mom said we can eat these."
Garfield slid the chocolate chip granola bar across the table to her. He had already opened his and was desperately vying for her attention.
"Raven, I just got off the phone with your mother." Rita replaced the phone on its mount, "She'll be home as soon as she can."
As soon as she can. That was roughly about an hour and half on public transport. And that length of time seemed far too long to be stuck with Mr. sunshine and rainbows. As soon as she thought of walking back to her apartment, Rita had destroyed her possibility. It was set that Raven would remain there with those strangers to be supervised. It struck Raven as odd as her mother hadn't worried about supervision before and with strangers none the less.
The day seemed never ending as Garfield showed her his animal books anyways. Her silence didn't seem to faze him one bit. Rita had set out snacks for them and she did express concern over her son skipping school. Raven couldn't have been more glad when the phone call finally came for her to return home.
"Here, it's my walkie talkie," Garfield handed her the blue device with the black antenna. "We can talk to each other if they're on at the same time."
Raven stared as he forced her to take the object. She observed the silver screen and the black buttons but said nothing. He continued to smile at her while he bucked his own seatbelt. He was giving her the luxury of an expensive toy which she thought as odd. Garfield was odd to her as well as she herself was to other people.
Rita glanced at the two in the rearview mirror. "How are you feeling, Raven?"
Of course Rita new she was in discomfort but it didn't stop her from asking. Raven gave a sideways glance to the boy beside her in the backseat. "Sick."
Angela Roth had already been waiting at the bottom steps of the apartment building. Garfield's mother had talked with her for a long time over the phone. Rita was speaking to her but it went through one ear and out the other. Raven carefully maneuvered out of the backseat of the car to lessen some of the pain. Rita had followed her to her mother and once again the two adults were talking while glancing down at her from time to time. Raven watched as Garfield waved his walkie talkie in the air from the backseat of the car. It was as if he was trying to give her a subliminal message that he had already told her in words.
A mere day had passed and she had been quiet when her mother moved the kitchen chair into a bathroom. A large gray towel had been carefully draped over her shoulders and her mother held a pair of purple scissors. Raven's body had subconsciously tensed when she her mother came closer to her. Angela had been torn when she had discovered what happened to her daughter. How anyone could treat another human so distastefully; child or not. It was inhumane. And it took a special effort for her not to choke up when she saw Raven.
"Relax Raven," Her mother cooed and took a strand of her mismatched hair. "You can lie down soon."
The blades of the scissors sliced through her hair as her mother made an effort to even it out. Her black hair would be short, shorter than what she would've thought. Raven would have been fine with it if it was on her own terms. How unfortunate she was to endure such a horrifying experience. And no matter how hard she tried her classmates' taunting haunted her beyond her conscious state. Raven's straight hair was now in a bob cut that hung just above her shoulders and manages to frame her face. It was decent enough and she wouldn't complain.
It had already been one week since Raven had been absent from school. And she had learned from her mother that several of the students in her class had been suspended. At the hospital, Raven's left had was in fact broken and she wore a plain white cast. The thin cut on her arm had scabbed over along with the smaller cuts that littered her body. And two of her ribs were badly bruised but not cracked and she was currently taking medicine for the pain.
"I don't want to go back there." Raven said and stared as her mother moved to put on her shoes. "I hate that school."
Her mother sighed, "I can't afford to have you homeschooled. It costs too much."
"I know." But it didn't hurt in pleading with her mother. The closest compromise was for Raven to transfer to a different elementary school. After an attack like such, there was no doubt that it would happen again if she remained at Benjamin Tyler.
"Raven, I have to work night shift again." Angela said, "I'll be home when you're sleeping. And if you need me my phone number is on the counter."
Raven robotically nodded her head as she was still tucked into the bed she shared with her mother. The medical bills would be a large blow to them as Angela was currently struggling to simply put food on the table. She felt her mother's lips press against her forehead before her mother left the room and soon the small apartment.
She held a thin paperback book in her good hand to entertain herself. She had been bored and had already completed the homework she had received in advanced from her teacher. They owned a small TV but they didn't have cable. And all the shows that ran was either soap operas or just really old. Her head turned towards the small bedside table which the blue walkie talkie had been deposited on.
"Hello?" She felt silly for talking into the device. But hope had deposited somewhere inside of her as she awaited an answer.
Perhaps he wouldn't answer her as it was already nearing 9:00pm. And she had kept the device turned off since the second day of meeting Garfield. His optimism had intrigued overwhelmed her all the same. A minute passed and Raven's thumb rested on the off switch to once again silence the feedback.
"Raven?" Garfield's voice faintly rang through from on the other end. "Oh guess what?"
She silently contemplated if she should continue the conversation, "What?"
"No, you have to guess."
She wasn't quite sure why she had called but she did. And she somehow knew that Garfield would've answered. She listened to his excited voice as he told her about his friends and the new present his mother had gotten him. He spoke to her exactly how he had when they had met only eight days ago. Sure, he was still annoying and sometimes rubbed her the wrong way. But he was so happy, even when she couldn't physically see him. Garfield was the bright beacon while she was the moth that was attracted to the bright light.
"…don't know. I don't have a favorite I like every animal." His voice was slow as the night grew later and his eyelids grew heavier, "Do you play any sports?"
"No."
Raven hung on to his every word as it made the apartment feel less eerie and lonesome. Garfield spent a lot of time telling her about the things that interested him before he chose to ask her a question. And in truth, they were like two puzzle pieces that didn't fit together. But unbeknownst to them, they would come together to complete the picture. Though, only time could tell.
For the first time, Garfield's voice was absent. "Maybe when you're better you can come over to my house." He continued the sentence though his words were slurred with the lack of sleep. "With my friend Kori and my friend Vic…"
Garfield's thoughts were left hanging and were to never be finished. Raven's eyes lulled shut with the walkie talkie loosely in her hand and near her chin. Her head cradled the soft pink pillow and her mouth was slightly ajar. It was a wonder that the feedback hadn't been enough to wake her. Perhaps—if she could tolerate it—there could be more past bedtime chats to fight the darkness that settled inside of her and the monsters that thirsted for her blood in the hallways. But now she was lost in her dreams to temporarily escape the reality that tortured her soul.
A/N: First of all, I'm not gonna lie. Through 3-6 grade we all teased a girl in my class (same girl every year) and we said much worse stuff (including the he-she one a lot due to a poster on the door with split faces). People in the same grade bullied her which was almost everyone. Though we never laid a hand on her. Yes, I feel horrible about it now and she disappeared off the face of the Earth after 7th grade. I feel like a monster. I'm sorry if I have offended any of you.
Second, I am so late on BBRae week and I probably will be for the rest of the week so heads up. I now realize how OOC this really was and how much I suck at writing AU but I'll have to do better with the next chapters. I'm not impressed by this fic as it is a rewrite that I had done years earlier. And I don't think it ties into the theme so well wither.