That night, I couldn't sleep. Blis, Kimiko, and I had spent the rest of the day working on Blis' wedding. We didn't get a lot done because the boys kept on interrupting us, or we would get side-tracked by something and go off on a tangent of conversation about said distraction. Usually when people get jet-lag, all they do is sleep. But not me. In fact, just the opposite happens: I get insomnia and can't sleep until my body adjusts. Until then, I decided that I might as well take a walk around the temple and associate myself with the area.
Quietly I snuck out of my room and outside. Everything was quiet. I couldn't even hear crickets. This put me on high alert. Normally when things are this quiet, it means one of two things: 1- something bad is about to happen, or 2- there's going to be a storm. And since the sky was cleared, I was aiming towards the first one.
I looked around uneasily. I really wanted to go into the garden, but at the same time I didn't. Eventually the urge to go out won, and I stepped onto the path. Almost immediately a loud cawing made me jump. I looked up. A huge black bird sat on the roof of the building was watching me. We stared at each other for a few minutes until it took off, flying along the path in the direction of the garden. It paused after a little bit and stared back at me, obviously wanting me to follow. I did, naturally. Every couple of yards or so the bird would stop and look back at me.
"I'm coming, I'm coming. Gosh, you stupid bird, you're more impatient then my mother was!" I continued to mutter other insults under my breath at it until we reached the garden.
I stopped, but the raven didn't. It flew to the top of the gate and looked at me. "Ooh, no you don't! No way, no how am I going out into a strange jungle in the middle of the night, in the dead dark, and with absolutely no way to get back! You are officially on your own now!"
I turned and started walking back to the temple, but paused. I glanced over my shoulder. The bird was still there, and still staring at me. I frowned and stuck my tongue out at it. I took a few more steps, then peered back at it again. Still there. Dang it. I looked at the temple, back at the bird, then back at the temple again. I sighed. 'I'm probably going to regret this,' I thought. Without another hesitation, I turned and followed the bird again.