Author's Note: Due to new rules set by FanFiction, I have removed the song lyrics an added a poem of my own.

Chapter Eighteen - Ray the Raptor

Hannah was gone, Tina was gone, Eric was gone … of course, I didn't know if Tina and Eric were gone … but that's what I thought. I couldn't see any way that they had survived.

A bird suddenly squawked rather loudly and flew away into the sky where the menacing dark clouds were rolling in. I followed it with my eyes, looking through my shoulder length, dark red hair that I had not bothered to put back in my ponytail.

A swift movement in the trees brought my attention away from the bird and back down to the earth where I saw a group of Raptors encircling me.

Istared blankly out at them, not surprised to detect no fear within myself. All I felt was the pain of losing my best friends and being alone in the world.

The Raptors were turning to one another and one of them was squawking orders to the rest. There were … maybe five of them. I didn't really count them, as I didn't care.

I sighed and lowered my head down to my knees. Why bother trying to get out of this one? Even if I had the will and wanted to, it would be impossible. They were too quick. Or I was too slow. One of the two.

I suddenly heard a loud thud and a crack. I looked up to see one of the Raptors had been hit on the head by … a rock. Yes, it was a rock. I saw it lying by its feet. And DARN it was big!

The Raptor's head was practically pouring blood. The other Raptors only had to glance at each other before they attacked the poor, defenseless creature. Sorry, did I say poor and defenseless? My bad.

They all jumped on top of it and began ripping it to pieces. I named the Raptor Ray. I had a thing with naming dead things … which I couldn't explain. At least I liked to name dead animals …

I felt something grab my arm and begin to drag me away. I didn't want to fight it. Well, I didn't personally know what it was, so I just "went with the flow", if you know what I mean.

It was only after the sky began to drop water (first in a mist, then in a "sprinkle", then in a "shower") that the thing dragging me, or pulling me along, rather, stopped. I slumped down onto the ground and rested my head on my knees.

I felt something wrap around me and looked down to see arms. Arms with blue sleeves. Human arms, if you didn't know. I felt something tickle my ear, then heard someone begin to hum a song. I recognized it as one of my favorites that I had listened to when I was feeling bad.

"Lately things have been so hard
Can I hold your broken heart?
All you can see is dark
And lonely days ahead
May I wipe the tears from your eyes?
I can't bear to see you cry.
Please give me your hand
And I will take you to places unseen.
Tell me your dreams.
Let me hold you close
And say I love you."

He stopped humming after the chorus (yes, I figured out it was a guy. Smart me).

I turned around to face him and sighed. It was so good to see him. I rested my head on his shoulder. "Hey, Eric," I said.

"Hey, Lane," he said, soothingly. "What's up?"

I sighed again and pulled back to look into his eyes. Such beautiful blue eyes that looked so concerned … for me. There was something else hidden in his eyes that I could not interpret. But it was deep, and it made me feel good.

He reached out and brushed my red hair, which was practically black it was so wet, out of my face and looked into my eyes. "You have really pretty green eyes, Lane," he said. "I've never noticed before."

I gave a weak smile and looked down at the ground. I felt tears begin to prick at my eyes. No, not here, not now. I couldn't cry in front of Eric. I couldn't show my fear. I had to be strong. I couldn't be weak.

"Lane," he said softly, gently taking my chin and raising it so that I would look at him. "What happened? Why were you acting like that back there?"

"You saw?" I croaked out.

"Yeah, I did. Who did you think threw that rock down from the tree?" said Eric. "By the way, where's Hannah?"

I winced and quickly looked down at the ground. Tears began to spill over and drip down my face.

"Oh my go – she die – Lane?" He stuttered. He tried to make me took at him again but I shook his hand off. I couldn't let him see me cry. But I just couldn't keep my sob in, either.

"Oh, Lane. I'm so, so sorry." He said. He pulled me into a hug. It felt so good; I couldn't believe it. It was just what I needed. Someone's shoulder to cry on. I didn't try to hold it in any more. I cried my eyes out. I cried through the rain (even when it was raining buckets and I couldn't tell whether it was tears or rain-drops falling down my face) until it softened to a quiet trickle. And all the while Eric held me.

I got one last sob out before I sniffed and pulled away, wiping my eyes. "Thanks," I murmured.

"Any time," he said, patting my shoulder.

I looked up at him and sighed, smiling.

We sat in silence, both avoiding each other's eyes.

"But how could you do that to sweet, innocent Ray!" I suddenly exclaimed, turning to Eric. We needed something to lighten the mood!

"Ex-excuse me?" He looked at me like I was a ghost or something.

I wrinkled up my nose and squinted my eyes. "Ray? Ray the Raptor?"

He still looked puzzled.

"The one that you so mercilessly dropped the so called rock on!"

He smiled. "Oh, that Ray. Sorry. I totally forgot."

I stood up quickly, Eric following suit, thinking that I had seen a dinosaur.

"I mean," I continued. "Had he done anything to you? Why should you go killing him?"

"Well … he was going to eat you," Eric explained.

"Oh, I don't give a crud what he was going to do. He has just as much right as the next person, you – you – animal abuser, you!" And with that, I shoved him into a great big muddy puddle. Weee! That was fun! I had always wanted to push someone into a puddle. And having no particular reason to made it even MORE fun!

He sat up, coughing and sputtering. He shook his head to get some of the mud … water … junk off and said, "Ok, ok. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that to … Ralph."

"RAY!" I exclaimed, exasperated.

"Right, right. Ray," Eric said. "Sorry."

"Darn right you are," I said, crossing my arms. "Now come out of that puddle. You're an absolute mess and you'll just catch a dreadful cold." Boy; I was sounding more like my mother every day…

"Fine then," Eric said. "Help me up."

I let out an exasperated sigh and reached down to pull him out of the puddle. And, of course, we all know what happened next. Uh-huh. That's right. CASPLOOSH! (If you couldn't tell, that's the sound of someone falling into water)!

Now it was MY turn to come up coughing and sputtering. "ERIC!" I exclaimed, whacking him up-side the head. "What the heck did you do that for!"

He shrugged. "It was just too perfect an opportunity."

After this followed an uncomfortable silence. I guess we were both thinking about Hannah. He had known her for about as long as I had, and before he turned all … popular … they had been best friends.

I didn't want to think about her, though. It didn't feel good and my past lighthearted moment was slowly being wiped away. So I said, "But how could you do that to poor Ray!"

Author's NoteThere we go. I'm really glad this one didn't take me as long to write as my others. I just knew what I was going to write so I sat down and wrote it. Hope you liked it!

The Elfin Child OH – MY – GOSH! You … you … YOU KILLED HIM! His fans will not be please about this, they won't. Nope, nope. Not in the least bit. –

Amandabires -sends some cake- There you go! Well … Lane actually has straight hair. I kind of feel bad when I give my characters curly hair because I know what it's like and I don't want them to have to deal with it so … yeah. Sorry. But her hair IS cut in a way that it frames her face, bringing out her eyes. --

Lauren IT'S C-I-A-O!

Flutterby Whelp, here's another cookie for you. And I hope that you found what you were looking for (at least a bit) in this chapter. -wink, wink-