Flight of the Raven: White Raven, #1

Prologue

In the story of the Raven he was instructed from birth by his father in every subject so that the raven could make a world; after trying many different ways, the raven was finally successful.

The raven started out by creating light. Raven had heard that there was a very rich man living atop the hill who had light but did not let it out for the world to see.

Raven tried many ways to get into the house so that he could obtain the light and finally devised a plan that would work.  Raven transformed himself into a speck of dirt and placed himself in a glass of water from which the man’s daughter was drinking. The girl drank the speck of dirt and in this way became pregnant. Sometime later a child was born and this child was possessed by Raven.

When Raven had the strength to crawl around the house he found the shelf where the man had his treasures on display. Raven cried intensely for the objects on the shelf and eventually, the man pulled down his bag of stars and allowed the child to play with it. Raven rolled the stars around on the ground for a while and then, when he was given the opportunity, allowed them to go up the smoke hole where they scattered into the sky in the arrangement which you now see them in today.

The next day the boy cried for more of the things on the shelf and was given a bag which contained the moon. Raven played with the moon and in the same fashion as the stars he let the moon up the smoke hole and it went into the sky for all to see.

On the third day, the boy cried very intensely for the final object on the shelf and the man, knowing what would happen, but unable to refuse his grandson, gave him the box that contained the sun. As soon as Raven had this he flew up the smoke hole with the box having stolen all the man’s valuables.  Raven did not yet release the sun.

Raven shortly thereafter was told of a well with a never-ending supply of water. Raven went to the place where the well was and learned that the man who owned the well-kept it covered and never left its side. He even built his house around the well and slept by it so that no one else could drink from it. Once again Raven began to scheme a plan to get this water.

Raven disguised himself as the man’s brother-in-law and went to the man telling him that he would stay the night with him. Both went to sleep and in the early morning Raven woke up and went away from the well. When Raven returned he brought with him dog dung and put it on the sleeping man’s buttocks.  Raven awoke the man and showed the man the accident he had had in the night. The man embarrassed and in need to clean up, ran out of the house to clean up.

By the time the man came back, Raven had drunk up nearly all the water. Raven flew out the smoke hole away from the man but got stuck. The man commenced with making a fire under Raven to make smoke and this smoke turned the raven the color we are accustomed to seeing it today (before that, Raven was pure white). – The Raven in Native American Mythology

Chapter 1

A catastrophic chain of events began when Great Uncle Harvey died. Ava and her family listened to a lawyer read the will for the first time. They learned from the lawyer things about the recluse relative no one knew about. Her father sat stunned as he heard he had a wealthy relative who had decided to leave everything to him. Their relative made money as a physicist and had retired to take up gardening.  He never re-married, after his first wife died, or had any children. They also discovered their relative had hundreds of acres in a remote part of upper Montana near the Canadian border. The land was surrounded by a state park and on the property, was a large old six-bedroom mansion. The place came with a maid and cook, whose wages were paid for the next year. The property boasted of meticulous gardens, a woodshed, and a three-car garage. Being alone in the middle of nowhere sounded like a sad life to Ava. She could not imagine being alone in a huge house for so long.

Months later the boxes were still stacked neatly in a pile in one area of the new room waiting for the owner to unpack them.  Ava looked at them and kicked the closest box. It did not move or even fall over.  The boxes were so full of memories that they weighed down the cardboard and split the seams at the top. Sighing she flopped down on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. It was a plain beige color. Not one glow-in-the-dark star on it. The pictures of Ava and her friends taped to the mirror were the only personal touches. Ava could not hear crowded city noises like in her old neighborhood with homes so close to each other she could hear the next-door neighbor arguing with his wife through her bedroom wall. Ava loved the flat plains of Oklahoma where she could see for miles in every direction. Now she couldn’t hear anything or see through the many trees surrounding their house. Only the creaking sounds of the glass doors leading out onto a balcony broke up the silence. The dusty old person smell lingered in the house even though wind blew through the cracks of windows and doors. She rose and circled the room like a caged animal.  She stopped at the boxes, then moved away to look out at the snow-covered balcony and the forest around the house. Hearing her name being called she slowly left the room and stomped down the stairs as the smell of food surrounded her.

Dinner was eaten in silence as the family sat around the large table. It was not a stiff silence but one of exhaustion. Ava sat at the familiar table with her family. She only looked at her plate and tried not to make eye contact with anyone. She felt her mother’s stare and pretended not to notice. Her father’s sigh spoke volumes. Ava squirmed in her chair and pushed the food around on her plate with her fork.

After dinner, the family moved to the den where their father proceeded to light a fire in the Victorian style fireplace. Ava had laughed, for the first time that night, as she watched her brothers and father fight over whether the fireplace was gas or electric.

Then Michael said, Dad, it’s a wood fireplace. Isn’t there a woodshed on the property? Yeah! laughed Thomas. Everyone but their father joined in laughing.

As I recall none of you boys know how to light a fire unless there is burning hair involved. I don’t care how many times you tried to do it right on a scouting trip.  So, I’m in charge of lighting any fires in this house.  The snickering in the room stopped when the death stare from their dad settled on them.

They settled down into their seats on the couch and chairs watching the flames catch on the wood and slowly warm the room from the cold. Winter was deeply settled in the area. Everywhere the eye could see from on top of the hill, the earth was covered with a winter blanket, from the mountains and forest in the north to the open fields and small town in the west. Everyone was excited about having a winter with lots of snow.  From the beginning of October to the end of November they built snowmen, snow forts and had many snowball fights until they needed a break from all the snow.

Do you remember the time, Thomas thought he could light gas soaked logs at the river while camping? Steven asked laughing with Michael and breaking the serene silence.

Okay, okay, boys. Don’t start another fight, please.  Let’s just sit quietly for a few minutes. Their mom cut in before more horror stories were exchanged.

She became aware of the movements in the room and how they had slowed to a stop. The firelight flickered in the room adding a hint of coziness to the atmosphere.  But for Ava, she was starting to feel claustrophobic.  She scanned the room and her frozen family. Everything felt familiar. She could feel a headache start at the top of her head. She tried to push the memory to the front where she could see what would happen next. This only made the headache spread down her skull to the temple on the right. As she stood everyone’s movements quickly caught up with time.  She said goodnight with a smile.  Ava headed towards the stairs. Looking back, she watched as they resumed their loud teasing of each other. They did not notice her straining to see beyond the moment. Ava climbed the steps up to her room. She listened to the sounds of her family laughing and talking. She sighed contentedly, she was glad things were almost normal.  She did not like the strain between her and her parents after the big change. Ava had slowly started to accept the new place and started talking to her parents again a few days after the move. It helped that she now had some contact with her friends back home, even if it was by landline right now. Ava just needed news of what was happening back home with all her friends. The school dance was a week after she moved. She had been looking forward to the event for a whole month, but now that was in the past.

Ava walked outside her room onto the balcony looking up into the sky. Her movements felt familiar as if she had done them before. She searched for the brightest star she could make a wish on. Her father was always telling her stories about the stars in the sky.  Like how some stars could grant wishes while others would watch over us. The story of the raven creating the stars and the moon was her favorite story. The Native American folk story told of a white raven that came to the Earth to create the rivers and oceans. A man had hidden the only light in a chest in his home. The raven disguised himself and took the light and threw them up to the sky. This created the sun, stars, and moon so that every man and creature could have a light on Earth.

She saw something move out of the corner of her eye and looked down at the trees. She could not discern the cloaked sinister figures hiding nearby waiting for her to go back into the house. Ignoring the distraction, Ava concentrated on the sky and found a bright star in the darkening atmosphere.

She thought how fun it would be to soar through the air. I wish I was a bird, whispered Ava into the night. She searched the night sky and saw a star twinkle at her. Excited that she received her answer she hurried to bed and closed her eyes anxiously waiting for morning to come. She did not know the stars were watching her and had witnessed what had happened that night in her home. One star granted her wish to save her.

She went to sleep oblivious to the danger lurking outside in the cold. She dreamt of ravens flying around in lazy circles. The blue sky with the blackbirds appeared to be drawn on a canvas. The circle of birds started wide and became tighter. She was standing in a field looking up at the ravens when one with white feathers dove at her. Ava thrashed around on the bed as the dream became more terrifying. The dream raven chased her through the ancient dark woods and over streams down to the edge of the mountains. The white raven chased her into a cave. She hid deep inside, trying not to make a sound when the glowing eyes came closer. Until finally the raven hopped right on top of her sinking its sharp claws into her chest.  She woke in the middle of the night in a sweaty tangle of sheets, only to quickly forget what she had dreamt of a few minutes ago.

Chapter 2

Almost every day Ava would wake up and do the same routine. She would run to the full- length mirror and see a young girl of twelve years old with wavy long blond hair and hazel eyes scrutinizing her. She would look for any changes in her face or figure. Ava wanted to have some curves to her straight as a stick body. She would not even mind finding a flaw on her smooth skin signaling the start of puberty. After searching herself she would turn and jump back into her warm bed. Closing her eyes tightly she would pretend to be sleeping when Thomas would come in and wake her. The designated waker-upper for Ava, since his room was across the hall from her. But this morning, she was still asleep when Thomas came in.

Wake up Ava! Now! We’ve no time for games today! Her brother’s voice cut through Ava’s sleepiness.

Every noise made by Thomas seemed to be amplified in her ears.  He pulled back the thick dark curtains where light pierced through the shadows in the room. He turned back around and saw the small lump in the bed still