Raven was happy! That is an under-exaggeration. Raven was very happy. This was probably the best day of Ravens life.
Raven's family hated her. Her family treated her like shit, a no one to them. In all actuality she was smarter than all of them combined. She was the third of her class and she graduated a whole year early. She was sixteen that year, the same year she ran away from home. Her friends didn't care, nobody cared, and her family didn't care. Only Curtis cared.
Raven met Curtis Marsh not long after her seventeenth birthday. He was an outspoken person, very friendly, an all out Ken of this plastic world. She could think of no one more perfect, and she herself mustered up the gall to propose to him. So it was decided and on her eighteenth birthday to trek to Las Vegas and wed there.
Curtis' luck was tremendous that morning. He had won almost a half a million in poker. Raven was filled with hope with the promises of using the money to buy them a new life and a house to live in. They were wed that very night and this is where life ends and a story begins.
Curtis was half rolled over atop the sheets looking her straight in the eyes. He caresses her neck, and the look she was receiving made her love for him grow many times over. Raven kissed him briskly while pulling him closer to her.
"Do you love me?" Raven asks.
Curtis only nodded with his head buried in her breast, which she found both funny and cute.
"Will you always love me?" She asks.
This time he whispered his reply. "Yes, always."
"Will you stay with me forever?"
"Yes."
Raven wrapped her legs around his waist and held him as close as she could manage. She had a secret to tell him, and she was trying to decide if she could wait any longer. The thought of holding it from him overwhelmed her with guilt and she decided it wouldn't change anything now.
"I'm pregnant!" She cooed in his ear.
Curtis' head shot up and a look of awe welled up over his face. He grew tense for only a second. He didn't say anything else but suddenly a jubilant look came over his face. He didn't have to say anything else. He was happy and Raven could tell he was happy. She could feel it.
Curtis suddenly held Raven tighter and more affectionate than he had ever held her before. The overwhelming emotions Raven was feeling was like nothing she had felt before. It was as if every hug every kiss had no passion or love behind it before today. She smiled and told herself to stop thinking silly.
They held each other for the longest of time, and after a while Curtis began muttering and kissing her neck.
"I love you! (kiss) I love you! (kiss)"
Raven loved every moment as she raised her head so he could better reach her neck. She could feel his hand running up and down her waist, and it made her want him even more. It was perfect. They were meant to be. She knew it. Why else would she be blessed with such luck?
"knock knock"
Some one was at the door.
"Oh who could it be with such terrible timing?" She wondered.
Curtis pushed himself off of her, and gave her one last kiss as he crawled out of the bed. He stood there watching her for about two second, when his smile suddenly took a look of worry. He seemed to have shaken the look away instantly and turned towards the door.
Curtis approached with hesitation and peaked through the hole in the door. He looked a little nervous. Raven wondered who it could be.
"Now's not a good time guys." Curtis said through the door. He turned towards Raven and gave her a weird smile. She thought he was just being playful. "Could you just meet me in the lobby tomorrow and we'll talk there."
Raven kept watching Curtis. He suddenly took a step back and jumped out the path of the door. Raven grabbed her ears as the doorknob flew out of place with a bang.
"Raven, get down!" Curtis shouted.
She just stayed sat up on the bed, baffled. Five men suddenly entered the room one by one. The first was a man looked to be in his late thirties with a shiny forehead and hair only around the back of his head. The second was a black guy with dreadlocks, and a weird colorful hat. Another Hispanic figure with a pierced lip and a Mohawk followed. The last two men where a pair of men with brown hair that could have been either white or Hispanic. They looked related.
The balding man walked up to Curtis and kneeled with his hands behind his back and smiled.
"We can't leave now Mr. Marsh." He said in a clearly humored tone. "We got some unfinished business. Now, you owe me some money."
Suddenly Raven recognized the men. These men where also at the poker table this morning, when Curtis won his small fortune. The Balding man was the dealer. It made sense to her. They would wait till someone won a lot and mug him or her that same night. As long as they worked in the building they could keep track of everything.
"Please! Don't do this." Curtis asked.
The Balding man suddenly stood up and looked at Raven.
"So this must be the little lady." The man said. "My she is pretty! I can see why you would want a piece of ass like that."
Curtis suddenly stood up himself. He had tears in his eyes; Raven was too terrified to notice. The man took a couple of steps closer to her.
"Don't hurt her. Please don't kill her." Curtis says through a clenched jaw.
"Well then make up your mind. What do you want? I'm just here for the money."
"Fine I'll give you the money just, leave her alone." Curtis started walking toward the bed. He looks back at the man and says. "Please don't kill her. She's pregnant."
A wild gleeful looks suddenly came over the bald mans face, and he started to chuckle. "Oh so that's it. I was wondering why you were acting all funny like. I could tell your mind was preoccupied with something. Here let me clear things up a little."
The balding man suddenly pulls his hands out from behind his back to reveal a semiautomatic in one hand and a small revolver in the other. He points the semi at Ravens stomach and pulls the trigger.
"Noooo!" Curtis yells and jumps in the way. Three shots hit him in the stomach and he goes down. The man stops shooting instantly, and makes an upset and confused face. Curtis makes a sad face at Raven and tries to say something but he suddenly slips unconscious. Raven could feel his blood soaking the bed, and her cloths.
The black man suddenly starts yelling at the bald one.
"You idiot! He was the guy that was gonna' pay us, why did you have to go and kill him for."
The balding man smiled a bit and shakes his head. "Relax, we don't need him. I'm sure this pretty little number knows exactly where he hid the money." The black man raised an eyebrow and made an understanding grunt.
"Now tell me pretty lady." Bald man said as he kneeled down near the bed. "Where might Mr. Lovey Dovey hide his money?" He tilted his head as he tried to look up her nightgown and catch a peek of her snatch. The black man let out a high pitch chuckle.
Raven was no longer scared. She was angry, she was furious, but none-the-less she was powerless. She curled up her legs to deny him any pleasure, and slid off the bed. Her gaze was murderous as she walked around him to enter the next room.
"I don't think she likes you Rex." The black man suddenly said, and began laughing hysterically that horrible high pitch laugh. The two brown haired men just chuckled and Mohawk man just smiled.
When she walked into the next room and rummaged through a large red drawer shaped like a heart. The room was huge with a wall made entirely out of glass so they could get a good view, but the curtains where closed.
"Here's the dam money." Raven growls and she slaps it into the right hand of the black man. "I hope you fucking choke on it."
The black man started laughing hysterically again. Rex only snickered. The money passed from hand to hand and eventually the man with a Mohawk states.
"Its all here and a little extra."
Rex started chuckling, and studied the room a while.
"Thanks a lot Sugar. You've been a real help. It's a shame you wont be able to get none tonight because of your soul-mate playing hero over there."
"Say, I have an idea." The black man suddenly proclaimed. "Since this room is all paid for why don't we enjoy the accommodations ourselves?"
"That sounds like a splendid Idea!" Rex replies. The other men start laughing.
"I wouldn't mind having a little fun before I die either." The black man says as he approaches Raven with a light dance like bounce to his step.
Raven takes a step back but the man has long arms and manages to get one around her before she can get away. She can feel his other hand rubbing her leg at the bottom of her gown.
"Just leave me alone and go." She proclaims with a tear in her eye.
"Awe! I don't think she likes you Freddy." Rex states and begins to cackle.
"Oh! That's to bad." Freddy says as his glance goes from Rex back to Raven. "That's to bad!" His hand suddenly shoots up and hits her center like a fist to the gut. She tries to pull away but the pain is unbearable.
"Lets lighten the mood boys." Rex walk around side and pulls a rope that opens the curtains to grant them an overhead view of downtown Las Vegas."
Raven could feel Freddy massaging her clit and it fills her with rage that her body still allows itself to be stimulated. Suddenly he plunges two fingers into her and begins to pull up and forward. It felt like he was trying to tear her open the way a seamier would do to the treads of a dress.
The pain was so intense Raven struck out to the man. She slapped him twice then brought her palm down upon his nose. He stumbled, and began to chuckle. She suddenly ran her nails through the right side of his face, bringing strips of skin down with her fingers.
Freddy was screaming loudly and it surprised her to hear Rex and a couple of the others laughing. Rex was now sitting down on a large red chair that looked like a pillow, and Freddy was stumbling back.
"You bitch, you bitch. You ruined my face." He grunts. Without warning or hesitation he pulls another semiautomatic from the back of his pants and points it at her. The sounds of the bullets where muffled although there wasn't a silencer. She could see all of them laughing, but they sounded so far away. Everything was moving so slowly as five rounds entered her body.
Raven saw Freddy drop his gun and continue cradling his wound. He was moving so slow trying to keep balance. It seemed like forever but suddenly Rex stood up and pointed his revolver right at her. It seemed so slow but she could hear his voice so clear.
"Lets wish this loving angel a good night boys."
She saw him pull the trigger, she saw the flash and she saw the bullet traveling toward her. It was coming so slow, She was sure she could move out of the way but she was slow also. She was moving even slower than all of them. The bullet was right there in front of her. It was so close she could make out the little scratches and dents in received when exiting the barrel. Then it seemed to have split in two and as it got closer it zipped to close for her to even see it anymore and it was gone.
Glass, Raven was surrounded by glass everywhere. She was falling, from where? She wondered. She could see the red silhouette of the honeymoon flats balcony. She must have fallen out the window. She wanted to scream but couldn't. She was to far now anyway.
How high was the room she pondered, thirty, thirty-five stories. She could see it all going, going fast. Raven felt the pavement, felt the street. She could feel every shard of glass in her body, some pieces where huge, and the bullets. Raven could feel all of it, but she couldn't feel pain.
There was noise all around her. She could hear it, muffled though, as if she where high. Someone was screaming, there was a car honking, and the tinkle of glass falling all around her.
"Dance of the Sugar Plums!" She thought.
How long had she been there? There was a tire next to her head. She could smell the oil; taste the rubber, and the tar all around her. She suddenly wanted to know more about the car. It was obviously old, but someone took care of it though. It was in great condition except for the dent on the corner of the hood. There was blood on the dent. Raven could see it dripping down onto the tires and into the street. It was her blood. She must have hit her head on the car before she landed, she couldn't remember. Raven felt to tired to stay awake anymore. A blurred face suddenly zoomed down to look at her. She couldn't make out much detail before she passed out, before she passed away.
Raven woke up in a dark room, too dark, and she was wrapped up. Wrapped in what? Suddenly she heard a voice. She tried hard to make out what it was saying.
"Come!" It was saying, "Come!" It kept repeating that over and over in a strange quiet way.
With each word Raven began to feel the stinging pain of every shard of glass and the burn of the bullets. She tore at the sheets and tried to reach out, but her hand was blocked. The room was padded. She realized in shock that she was in a coffin.
She grunted as she started pounding on the top. The chanting continued growing louder, and the pain pulsed and intensified with each beat. The roof of her prison slowly began to crack and it wasn't long before she could feel the soft dirt on the other side. The pain was unbearable now. She began to scream and her suffering only fueled her more as she kept fighting for freedom.
Raven realized the shards of glass had been removed. She could not feel them twisting or moving with the dirt as she burrowed her way up. They where not there, nor the bullets, but she could still feel their pain.
The chanting became louder, more high pitch, like a cawing. Raven hated it. She hated the pain. She hated the men who had done this to her. She wanted freedom. She wanted to see the light. She wanted to live. She wanted Revenge. She wanted to "KILL!"
With that last thought the pain stopped. She stopped. She could hear the chant more clearly now like a voice above her head. The soft soil was all around her, suffocating her, she could feel it, except her hand. It was cold, just cold, "Cold Air!"
She reached up with both hands and made an attempt to get a good handle. Once she was certain she gave a hard push and successfully got her head above ground.
The voice suddenly boomed in her head louder and deeper than it had ever been.
"COME!" it said only once.
With that the pain she felt intensified far worse than anything she had ever felt before. It was so horrible that she could not take a first breath; no air filled her lungs as she pulled herself out.
Raven just screamed. Her scream could only be compared to the legends of the banshee. It was loud enough and high enough to shatter glass and tear eardrums. She screamed, and she screamed over and over again. She screamed so loud that she did not notice the chanting continued, but it was not words. The chanting was the call of a crow perched above a nearby cross. The crow was the only creature that stood its ground in the graveyard that night.