Chapter 2: Chapter 2


Tap, tap, tap...

An eye snapped open, a dark orb moving side to side before looking up, catching the sight of the barred window just above the writing desk.

Tap, tap, tap...

A raven was tap, tap, tapping against the glass, its glossy, dark feathers catching the light of the sun.

Tap, tap, tap...

The eye slowly closed, ignoring the sight of the raven. A slow breath inhaled, the olive skin looking clammy against the white of the bedsheets. The tangled mess of dark hair moved, the face emerging from beneath the sheets. The eyes opened and glanced up at the window, the raven was no where to be found.

"Helen?" The door to her room opened and the nurse in white entered, a kind smile on her face. "It's time to get up. It's a nice day today, do you think it would be nice to spend it with the others?"

Helen did not respond at first, she stared at the nurse as she took in a breath. The right side of her face was hidden behind her mane of tangled hair, hiding the marred flesh of her cheek. She glanced up at the window and then back at the nurse. "No shadows...?"

The nurse's smile did not waver as she gave a nod, "No shadows Helen. It's a very bright day today. Come now, let's get you ready and see the others. If you'd like we can even go outside today."

Helen sat up slowly, moving out of her bed with a grace that never failed to surprise the nurse. She always moved so gracefully, as if she were gliding rather than merely walking. When her bare feet touched the linoleum, she did not wince, she simply stood and moved toward her writing desk. She grabbed her pad and pencils and turned to look at the nurse, waiting. The nurse smiled as she walked into the room and grabbed the robe from the back of the only chair in the room. She placed it over Helen's slender shoulders and kept a firm arm around her waist. "There now, let's get you bathed and off to the cafeteria."

.oOo.

The lounge was a room for the inmates of the asylum, the quiet ones that were less likely to cause harm to themselves or others. Helen sat beside a window with her sketch pad open, her pencil gliding over the paper with ease. A beak could be seen coming to form, a single eye already shaped, it was another raven that she drew.

"How, now," she whispered, her gloved hand working earnestly as she brought the bird to life. There was such focus on her face, such intense concentration that seemed to confuse the doctors and nurses that watched her.

"Any progress this morning?" The doctor asked, reaching out to take the the chart from the nurse in white.

The nurse merely shook her head in response, her gaze never leaving from Helen's form. "No, she is still afraid of shadows and will go no where near a mirror." She looked at the doctor and sighed heavily. "There never seems to be any progress with Helen... I doubt there will be any change..."

"Well, she seems calm enough today." The doctor handed the chart back to the nurse and gave a nod. "Just watch her for the time being."

The nurse nodded in compliance as the doctor moved on to the rest of his patients. She placed the chart back in the pile and turned away, not noticing that Helen was staring across the room. There was shock on the patient's face, shock at seeing a solitary mirror hanging along the wall of the west side of the room. When had that been placed there? It was never there before...

Helen did not know that the mirror had been placed there a week prior as a way to make the lounge appear larger, brighter, more cheerful for the patients there. Unfortunately, they did not remember that one patient in particular was terribly afraid of mirrors...

Helen stared at the large reflective glass, catching the sight of where she should have been sitting beside the window. The window was there in that mirror, the chair was there, even the other patients and nurses could be seen. Helen, however, was no where to be found. Where her reflection should have been, there was nothing but an empty chair.

Helen got to her feet, her pad and pencil falling to the floor without a second glance. She walked toward the mirror, hoping that her reflection would appear somewhere along the pane of glass. There was nothing...

Tap, tap, tap...

A raven tapped against the glass, perched on the edge of the mirror. Helen stared at the bird and then looked around the room behind her. The bird was no where to be seen in the lounge or outside the windows...

Tap, tap, tap...

Helen glanced at the mirror once more, seeing the raven and yet not finding her own reflection. Confusion settling within her, she moved toward the mirror, her lips parting slightly.

"How, now," she said, her voice cracking as she reached out to grab a single wooden chair that rested beside a table. She pulled the chair along, the wood scraping along the linoleum as the raven continued to tap against the glass. She stopped in front of the mirror and slid the chair against the wall. The chair's reflection followed suit, moving on its own. "Shadow's call..." She took a step up onto the chair, her slippered feet making no sound as she held onto the back of the chair for support.

"Raven's wing," her voice cracked, her dark eyes staring at the raven as it continued tap, tap, tapping against the glass of the mirror. "No shadows... please..."

She reached out toward the mirror, reached out toward the bird, and winced as the raven's tapping beak found its mark against her gloved hand. The glass seemed to not exist as the raven's beak drew blood from the palm of her hand. It tilted its head, a single dark eye watching her before it spread its wings and flew off into the mirror world.

Helen held out her bleeding palm, her dark eyes growing wide as she moved to follow after the bird. "Wait," she said, her voice breaking as she stepped over the edge of the mirror and through the glass. "How?" She winced as she felt the cold shock of the glass, feeling as if she were stepping through a sheet of ice water. "How, now... how is a raven..."

She looked around the mirrored version of the lounge, finding that the reflections of the patients and nurses were not to be found here. She stepped down from the chair and glanced around the empty room.

Tap, tap, tap...

Helen glanced at the around the room to find the raven tapping against the pane of an open window. It was waiting for her, waiting to lead her somewhere... She moved without hesitation, clenching her bleeding palm, ignoring the feel of the blood as it joined the stain of black ink of her once white glove. As she neared the window, the raven flew off into the bright sunshine of the world beyond. "Wait," she said in a cracking voice as she moved quickly toward the open window.

The lounge was on the first floor of the asylum, not so long of a drop to the grass below. She placed her hands on the wooden pane and hoisted herself through the window. She swung her legs over the edge gracefully until they are dangling the few feet above the grass. She pushed off of the pane, landing on the soft green grass below. On the familiar grounds of the asylum, there was the forest that bordered the grounds, separating the patients from the outside world. The sun was shining brightly and there were no dark shadows within that forest.

Feeling at ease, Helen took one step and then another. She caught sight of the raven resting on the branch of a tree, watching and waiting for her. The white gloves, stained with black ink, the left stained also with red blood, were held out before her as if trying to touch the air. The hem of her white robe trailed along the grass, her white pajama pants shifting with each step. Her mane of tangled hair swayed from the feel of the clean breeze that blew from the forest.

"How..." She kept her dark eyes on the raven, trusting it beyond the need to know why. "How, now..."

She did not look back at the asylum as she neared the forest, one step and then another... Her form disappeared into the forest, the sight of her white robe a stark contrast against gentle shadows that surrounded her...