Later on in the day, and Raven was by herself. Alex had gone down to Luigi's with the team, although she was reluctant to leave Raven. Eventually, she was convinced that Raven would be fine for a while.
She sat crossed legged on Alex's bed. She had found some more things in her pockets, and she laid them on the bed in front of her. Besides the GCSE-equivalents, there was a passport, a birth certificate and a photo. She read the documents carefully. According to them, she was sixteen, a legal adult. So it was fine that she could work. She took a while working up the nerve to look at the photo. After a while, when she could delay it no more, she studied the picture. It was a typical 1970's photo, in colour. She looked a long time at the faces on the paper. Then she tossed it aside and lay on the bed, sobs racking through her body.
It was a picture of her and her mother, in 70's dress, happy in a park picnicking. Something Raven had never done. Never would be able to do. At least, not with her mother. The woman who had resented her birth, hated that she could no longer only focus on herself, on her career. Raven hated that her mother never made time for her, preferring to cast her off to a childminder, to school, clubs, anything, as long as Catherine Black didn't have to do anymore then sign on the dotted line. Raven wondered how long it would take to find her body. If her mother would care. Raven had no idea why her mother had kept her after she was born, instead of casting her off to a children's home. Filled with these troubled thoughts, Raven slipped into an uneasy slumber.
That night, she dreamed. Not dreams of things that were impossible, but things about her life. After she had exited. She watched from the sidelines as a man found her limp and blood-soaked body. She watched as the ambulance crew covered her with a sheet, and drove off. She watched in the morgue, as her body was examined, then shut away. She watched her mother in their home, watching the news. She watched as her mother screamed at the TV when it flashed a picture of her dead body, and she watched as her mother, her unloving mother, sobbed over her still form in the cold morgue, her uneven breathes showing as clouds tumbling out, her tears running through her make-up, leaving black lines running down her cheeks.
Raven woke up to the dark silence. She sat up, wiping her tear-stained face, as she remembered the dream. Was it real? Why did her mother only show her affection towards her daughter now, when it was too late? She shuddered at the sudden cold, and she collected the documents and the photo in the darkness and shut them in a drawer. And after that, she locked her heart away, where no-one could see its delapitated state. She grabbed some blankets and padded into the front room, shivering despite the fact it was summer. She curled up under the blankets on the sofa, and shuddered her way into sleep.
At Luigi's, the team were sitting around a table, laughing and joking. At a lull, Alex cleared her throat and announced,
"My sister has died, and now my niece is staying with me." At this, the team gave their condolences, and Alex continued, "Her name is Rae Black, and she's going to be working at the station with our team." Gene nodded, verifying this fact. They started to ask questions about her and what she would be doing, all seeming eager to meet her. Eventually, Alex glanced at the clock and gasped. It was later then she thought. She had promised to be back at the flat an hour ago. She hurridly said good-bye, and rushed back home.
When she got in, she spied Raven sleeping on the sofa. She reached out and touched her forehead, and gasped. Raven was stone-cold, as if she was dead. She quickly checked her pulse, not knowing what to expect, and not knowing what she would do if she couldn't find a heartbeat. Her fingers found Raven's marble wrist, and was relieved to feel the steady beat of life under her fingertips. She wondered why her body was so icy, afterall, it was not from lack of heat. There were four blankets cocooning the teenager, and the air in the living room was humid. Raven didn't look ill, just pale, which she had always done. Her skin contrasted dramatically with the shock of jet black hair that went just past her shoulders, messy with uneasy sleep. Maybe, Alex thought, it has something to do with the fact that she's dead in her time. But wouldn't that mean I'd be cold too? She shrugged off the thought, and went to her bed.
What did you think? Sorry I haven't updated in a while-I've been really busy!