White Raven

“A Raven’s Wings”

Raven sat quietly looking out of the window of the fifteen story high rise. The rain was pouring down and wasn’t supposed to quit until the next day. Due to Hurricane Emily, it had already been raining periodically for three days. Raven had begun to loath nature, it seemingly messing up her life lately. She wanted to go and see her boyfriend but the only way to do that was to hop on the city bus, but the weather didn’t seem to want to allow that today.
She sighed heavily and closed the curtains, nearly tripping on one of her brother’s toys. She picked it up and placed it into his toy box. Lately she had found herself picking up after him more and more. Though only four, he would gladly pick up after himself when their mother was home. Their mother, Mina, worked three shifts sometimes because they could barely pay for their apartment. Now with their father gone she had it extremely hard, often going to the Salvation Army when food was short. Even at this moment, they were low on food and Raven dreaded the trip there. She was afraid that the workers of the place would call child services eventually. She was the only one who ever came to get food. She never heard one complaint from them about her coming so often but she felt a complaint in her heart just the same.
There was a problem that their mother had picked up since their father’s passing. Raven dared not tell her brother, he wouldn’t understand their mother’s drug addictions. She had never actually seen her mother in the process of using but she had found razor blades having a slight white residue. She knew of people who were addicted to marijuana and had been around them when they smoked so she knew the very distinct smell and her mother seemed smothered in the stench. At times, their mother would come home briefly only to leave again leaving just enough money to pay the bills and barely get by on. It was Raven’s job to take care of things while their mother worked.
Raven had finally caught Mina sniffing and begged her to stop. Mina immediately broke down and started to cry, claiming that she would quit when things got better. “This is only until things get better. Okay?” There wasn’t much that Raven could do about it. All she could do was trust her mother and wait and see what happened.
Craige walked in yawning in what was left of his pajamas. He had gotten them a little over a year before and wore them as often as they were clean. They were frayed and the red had turned into a light pink. Raven’s heart sunk as she remembered that all of his clothes were dirty. She smiled at him and hugged him tightly.
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
“Yeah, that’s why I got up,” he said stifling a yawn, “What’s in the kitchen?”
She remembered what kind of shape the kitchen was actually in. With her schedule of late, she didn’t have the time to do anything house related. Last night’s dishes were still on the counter, covering the blue flowered tile. The tile wasn’t new but normally she kept it all looking nice. She had crashed the night before, right after supper and hadn’t done the dishes yet. She knew that there was nothing nutritious in the house for him to eat and all they really had was some leftover cake that Mrs. Hanuman had brought over along with two bowls of spaghetti. The spaghetti had been eaten in it’s entirety and there were a few pieces of cake left.

"Well, I know that I tell you not to eat things like cake for breakfast but that’s all that we have at the moment. Hurry up and eat and take a shower immediately after. I’ll give you a clean shirt to put on while I wash some of your clothes."
She really wished that he didn’t have to grow up in such conditions as this. He deserved a better life than he had. A tear slid down her face as she thought of this. The only things that she could do were take care of him and give him all the love she had. At times he was more like her own child lately than her own brother. She was seventeen and it was summer break and had no idea what she was going to do when school started. She would be more like a single parent that a seventeen year old girl. She would have to pay the bills, keep house and go to school. To top it all off, this was her senior year and she was supposed to plan that college she would attend and even what classes she wanted to take. It almost looked like none of it was a possibility any more. Either she took care of her family or they would be homeless and hungry. This was her mother’s job but she was never around to do any of it.
There were so many things that she wished she could do. Her whole future was going down the drain with every sniff and puff Mina took. She had half a mind to take Craige away from their mother when she turned eighteen. Either that or turn her mother in for child endangerment and neglect. For now she could take care of things. The only thing that would worry her if she did take him away was the fact that she would be working and would have to leave him alone at home possibly and she wouldn’t be able to afford a baby sitter. She didn’t want to be anything like her mother, though she use to look up to that same woman.
Raven stopped contemplating on such things and started to gather up Craige’s scattered clothing. From what Raven could tell, he hadn’t picked them up in several days; picking up his jeans and shirt from the night before off of the ragged blue couch. She then went into his bedroom to see if he had any thing in his clothesbasket. There were some that were in the clothesbasket but most of them had seemed to be thrown in that general direction. She grabbed a black trash bag and put all of his clothes into it. She then headed out down stairs to the laundry room. After she got there, she saw a leftover box of detergent that someone had discarded. She turned on the washer and put as many clothes as she could. After the clothes had started she headed up to the management office. She needed a job but couldn’t leave Craig alone. If she worked in the high rise she could watch him.
She turned the corner and saw the door of opportunity standing before her. She knocked lightly on the door. She waved at one of her many neighbors as they passed. She knew that her clothes were ragged and frayed but it was all that she had. Her jeans were torn and her shirt had many stains on it. Her hair was pulled up into a ver messy ponytail, looking like a black mop on top of her head. She tried to smooth it down as she waited.
“Yes?” came a voice as the door opened. It was Mr. Brown; an old grumpy man that had ran that place. She gulped as she tried to smile.
“Hi, Mr. Brown. I was wondering if I could have a word with you,” she said in a professional manner.
“Come on in. Excuse the mess please,” he said motioning to the clutter on his desk.
“I was wondering if there was a job here that I could do for you. We’re kind of low on cash and I need a job that won’t require me to leave the premises,” she explained, looking directly into his hazel green eyes. His eyes were so full of life despite his aged white hair.
“Well, I do need a new janitor and maybe even a part time secretary. Answer me one question and you may have the job,” he said looking directly into her eyes, “Why should I hire you?”
Raven was stunned, she had just given him the reason not five seconds before. She scrambled with the appropriate answer and tried to think it through; she needed the money, would work hard and needed the experience. She couldn’t believe how corny she was about to make this sound.
“I know that I will be able to give 100 percent and sometimes more. I will be a good employee.” She answered.
“Good, you start at seven in the morning and will work for your family’s rent plus $150 each week. That’s just to start you off. I have other things to attend to and I am very happy that you are now on my staff,” he said as he quickly ushered her out.
He shut the door quickly, leaving Raven speechless. She kept her composure until she got back to the apartment. On her way back, she ran into her neighbor, Naomi, Craig was best friends with her son Ryan. Ryan seemed a little odd at times but Raven thought nothing about it. Naomi just smiled as she walked towards her apartment. After Raven got inside the apartment she jumped up and down like when she was a little child. She started to cry with joy as she collapsed onto the floor. The job was not going to be easy she knew, but it was worth it.
Down in the office, Mr. Brown was thinking about his newly hired employee. He knew that he could count on her more than anyone else in the high rise. He knew her mother’s work schedule, yet Raven was never late with the rent. He suspected that Mina was doing some sort of drug but that was none of his business. As long as he got his rent money he was okay. The children were not starving and it seemed that everything was okay. Maybe he should ask them. Nah, it wasn’t any of his business. He hated it when people poked around in his life, and he sure wasn’t going to do that to them. Everyone in the high rise thought of him as a grouchy old man because he valued his privacy. He would be more than willing to help those who he knew really needed it, such as Raven and her brother. He loved to watch Craige run around in the parking lot with Raven as she would attempt to catch him for dinner. It would almost always start out in a little fight and end up with both of them laughing and Raven tickling her little brother. He smiled at the thought. There was one thing though, he decided to talk to Mina when she got home, he wanted to tell her of the arrangement. He went on about his business and thought not once more about it.
Mina came in late that night but Raven was up waiting for her. She had booze on her breath and smelled of death. Raven overlooked this as she always did and gave her a hug. Raven smiled at her mother and told her to sit down; she needed to talk to her. Mina sat down and waited as Raven fixed her a well-needed cup of coffee.

“I have talked to Mr. Brown and he’s given me a job cleaning up the apartments. He’s paying me 150 dollars a week and giving us free rent. I start tomorrow. I had to take this job, you do understand that don’t you?” Raven asked as her mother’s eyes filled with tears.
“Yes, I am very proud of you. Now the money I make can go towards food and new clothes for you both.”

“One other thing mom,” Raven said as she interrupted her mother, “You promise that once we got back on our feet, you would quit.”

Mina was silent as she realized the improbability of her quitting her habit. She wished that she could quit, but it seemed so impossible. The only thing that she could do was try. She decided that even though it seemed so impossible she would tell Raven that she would do it for sure. They all needed something to hold on to right now.
“Yes, it is time to quit,” she said as she started to busy herself in the kitchen.
She felt like there was a deep hole in her heart. She knew that she couldn’t give them the one thing that they wanted. She wanted to burst into tears but refrained. She missed their father so much. He could have given her the strength to quit hell if he hadn’t left she wouldn’t be in this mess! Why did he have to go and die? she thought angrily. She had to leave, her emotions were getting to her again. She looked back and saw that Raven had already went to bed. She put all the money that she had save a few dollars on the kitchen table and left. She hoped that when Craige and Raven awoke they would not worry about her; they should’ve known that she would be back sooner or later.
Their father had been a mechanic and made good money, coming home about the same time every night. When he would come home he would play with Craige and talk with Raven about how their days had gone. He had a warm heart and loved his family dearly, especially his Mina. She would be home a little before he was and would start supper. She would tell the kids to do their homework and clean their rooms. After supper she would talk to Raven about her private and social life. After all was done, the dishes and putting up of the left-over, she would tuck Craige into bed and sing him to sleep. The adults would talk about bills and other financial issues before retiring to bed. They would smile and hold each other like there was no tomorrow. The night of June 18, 2004 there was no tomorrow.
George was fixing an old Honda when the lunch bell rang. After washing his hands he took out his lunch of leftover spaghetti. He went inside and heated it up, the smell filling his nostrils. He sighed heavily wanting to go home. He began to think about how that day had been very slow and just decided to give everyone the rest of the day off. He went and told everyone the news, telling them that they would still get paid for a full days work. No one having any objections, he left for home. He got into his car and started off down the road going as fast as the law would allow. He glanced over at his phone and reached for it, he wanted to tell Mina about his surprise. There was a nail in the road and his tire blew, sending him spinning out of control. He hit a light pole and was killed on impact.
Raven awoke the next morning and saw the money on the table. She sighed and put it in her pocket. It was about three hundred dollars, though she knew that her mother had made more than that in the past weeks. It didn’t matter though; her job would take care of everything. She went into Craige’s room and woke him.
“I’m off to work, okay? If you need any thing just come and find me.” She said as she kissed him lightly on the forehead. He grumbled a response and she left.



Chapter One
“Flying Destinations”

She thought about Craige as she cleaned the ladies restroom down on the first floor. He was only four but he acted like he was about six or seven. She wanted to get him tested for gifted but with her schedule she didn’t have time. She wondered if the school would be willing to help her in any way. He would be starting in the fall and his birthday was just a week away. She had almost forgotten! She had so get him something but she had no idea what on earth he would want. She thought about it briefly but dismissed it and continued her work. After she had finished it was almost five o’clock and she was about to starve; she hadn’t taken her break all day. Though hungry, her day had went very smoothly so far. She had never had a job but to her this was the most important job in the world. She felt like her whole families’ lives rested in her hands. In a sense they did; she was paying for the rent and helping with the food and bills. She was also responsible for her brother, making her the adult around the house. She did everything.
The problem that was pressing on her was the fact that she wouldn’t be able to work all day after school started. What if Mr. Brown decided that he couldn’t keep her doing only half a day’s work? She would have to keep up in her studies because she wanted to graduate. She had been in school for thirteen years, (k-12), and she didn’t want to screw things up now. Although this was making her worry, she had the feeling that he would be willing to work something out. He wasn’t the mean old man that everyone seemed to take him for. She smiled and finally made herself clear her head so she could finish the waxing.
She didn’t get home until about seven thirty. She flung herself on the couch and sat there for a few minuets, her rest short lived. She had made a few tips helping people do various things all day. She decided that they needed to go and get some real food.