THE LORD AND HIS RAVEN

My name is Raven price, I am 24 years old. The daughter of Hollywood's top actress and actor, Charlotte Price and Julian Hex and recently made one of the youngest and richest in the city by my mother’s death. And I think I died. ~ I knew it would be a matter of time before I was caught. But how long have I been running? I could no longer tell. My heart was racing, my lungs were on my fire, I could no longer feel my legs and every part of me burned and ached and hurt. I had nothing to eat and haven’t tasted water in days. I was running purely on adrenaline and it faded away a while back. I could hear my heaving breath against my ears and even breathing hurts. But I still could not stop, I knew what would happen once I did. My name will splashed all over social media tomorrow. The magazines will have a beautiful picture of me, alongside one of my mother’s and the headline would be, “THE LAST OF THE PRICE, RAVEN PRICE DIES DAYS AFTER HER MOTHER WAS BURIED.” I could not stop, even when a part of me kept asking why I was running. What was the point of actually living? A thorny vine snagged my angle, causing me to cease my thoughts and sent me tumbling to the ground. I bit back a cry as pain seared through my legs. Blood trickled from the gash, mixing with the damp earth. “Over there.” Someone bellowed and I yanked out the thorn, wincing as it tore free from my flesh. I sprang to my feet, my heart racing and pushed on despite the agony that I was forced to endure. As I ran, the trees seemed to blur together. The sky grew darker and the wind whipped through the trees casting shadows on the ground. Shadows of swaying branches and murderous men. “Stop running, Raven.” A voice growled behind me, telling me just how close they were. “It will only make this worse.” I ignored the warning. I didn’t want to die. Not like this. A gunshot pierced the sky a second later, stilling the dark woods and I froze, my chest heaving. Tears burned the back of my eyes and they came gushing out so quickly, my chest burned with so much pain, mixed with the fear and regret that would come of my death. And for the first time in my life, I wanted to curse my mother. She was the one who married a mad man. She was the one who made my life hell, only to die and leave me with a death penalty. Suddenly, lightning lit the sky and almost immediately, heavy, mighty drops of rain, descended on me. The woods suddenly came alive with sounds of animals, insects and bird’s screeching. They came from their place of hiding and instantly flew towards a direction. Me. Their shrill alarm calls were harsh, loud and their flaps, noisy and chaotic. I screamed as the birds flew past me and towards my attackers. The men screamed and I turned to find the birds attacking with beaks, wings and tiny claws. I swallowed hard, taking in water from the rain to wet my tongue while ignoring the strangeness of the situation. I took to my heel, dragging my feet through the wet sticky ground and towards any direction. “Raven….” Someone roared before I could get too far. I heard the c**k of a gun right behind me and I stopped, cold running down my spine. I knew more than anything that one wrong move and it was over. I raised my hand in the air and slowly turned around till I was face to face with the leader of the gang. And there was blood coming out of one of his eyes. “See what you caused.” He growled, raising his gun to me. “Nothing will give me as much joy as ending you right now.” He smirked, the lightning from the sky, shining light to his face. I took a slow step back and suddenly paused when the lightning helped me catch a glimpse of the pit right behind me. I swallowed, the feel of death clutching my heart. “I can pay more,” I tried to bargain. I had nowhere else to run to. “After all this….” He laughed. “No f*****g way. If he had only told us that you were such a handful.” ‘He’ could only mean my stepfather. That bastard. I found out that he was stealing from my mother when she was still alive. He was never really good for her. He was an asshole, a manwhore and an alcoholic. If she had only listened then. But had there ever been a time she listened? I had given up on making her see reasons. But then she died, so suddenly, it still felt like a dream. And surprisingly, she left everything in my name. I knew it was going to be a catalyst for a bigger problem. I just didn’t know it would be so soon. And I never thought he would go this far. “Did my stepfather order you to kill me as well?” I asked. He clicked his tongue and I got my answer. If he could kill me to get what he wanted, he would. But if that were to happen, then his plans would be ruined. And everything we owned would be given to dozens of charity organisations till nothing was left. He needed me to sign those papers. “He won’t get what he wants if you kill me like this.” I entered, trying to buy time. “Oh, I am sure he will find a way.” He smiled. “I, on the other hand, am not a patient man.” The gun suddenly went off. My life flashed before my eyes. “So this is it?” My thoughts registered. “This is how I died.” I shut my eyes, letting the tears that came from the pain. Was it the gunshot? Or the fact that I had lived but never truly lived. With so much regrets, so much questions, so much anger. I opened my eyes for a brief second and caught sight of those birds again coming towards me. My legs slipped. I screamed and within a second, I was falling deep, into that pit, to my death, if the bullet wasn’t already killing me with the birds right there, surrounding me, gurgling, their alarms shrilling. Ravens. They were ravens. ~ When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in a strange place. Not the woods, filled with the trees and the night. But I was somehow lying on the floor, with the sky as clear as the ocean and the sun warm against my skin. There were no birds, no guns and no pit. “This has to be death.” My thoughts whispered as I tried to get up, only to find out that I could neither move or feel my body. That had not settled in when I heard footsteps that sounded more like hooves. My heart skipped. I tried to turn to the direction the sound came from but my body was stiff and I could not move my neck. The little movement I tried to make only brought me severe pain. “Great.” I mumbled. I clearly could not catch a break. “If this isn’t heaven, then I was probably about to be eaten by a wild animal.” A moment later, a man came into my line of sight, blocking the sun from my eyes. I didn’t get to see his face clearly before I took note of the large hound breathing down on me with its large flesh tearing canines right in my face. My heart stopped. It was something between a wolf and a bear. Only, it couldn’t be a wolf because it was too big and it couldn’t be a bear because it looked so much like a wolf. It growled, the sound nothing like I had ever heard. Cold ran all over my body and a tremble ran through me as fear and panic overwhelmed me. I wanted to scream but his look was crazed, with eyes red like blood. “Phineas.” Someone suddenly growled. It sounded greatly like the man beside the wolf, yet he sounded exactly like the wolf. “Rather than kill her, take her in for questioning. You can ravish her after we are done.”