Part 5

"Let no one leave anyone in this story..."

Even while looking at the phone screen in my hand, the melody of the song he sang was swirling in my ears.

The tone of his voice, which was a mixture of magic, magic and love, did not go out of my ears.  It played around in my brain like a broken record.

"Let no one leave anyone in this story..."

When Raven saw me just staring at the phone, she turned off her phone screen and placed it on her chest.  But she didn't take her eyes off me.  He looked like this;  I felt it was inside of me.  It's like she was me she, as if she was always in my life.

"Are you looking for peace here?"  ' I asked, pointing to my room.  "In my room?"  I continued in a low voice.

She stared at me blankly for a few seconds, then threw her arm over her eyes and she pretended I wasn't in the room.  What was up with these people?

"Hey king of the crows, go sleep somewhere else."  I said as I approached and poked him carefully.

He quickly pulled his arm away from his eyes, his hands grabbed my wrist over my cardigan and threw me on the bed.  Right next to you.  While I counted myself lucky not to scream, his breath hitting my neck took my breath away.  My heartbeat accelerated and my breathing became irregular.  He wrapped his arm around my stomach and, resting his forehead on my back, began to take deep breaths.  While their breath warmed my back, I could not stop the cramps that entered my stomach.  It was like my stomach was churning.  I don't know if it was something to do with him being with me, but my stomach was in a very bad state.

When I was filled to the brim and realized that I was going to vomit, I didn't know how to free myself from his arms.  I didn't have time to go to the washroom.  I did something to drive my mom crazy and threw up on the cream carpet.

Although it seemed impossible for all of this to happen in a few minutes, it did happen.  And I kept throwing up.  I could feel Raven standing behind me, but I couldn't focus on her.  As I emptied all the bile juices in my stomach onto the flowery carpet, my nausea went away.

I sat up, trying not to look at my vomit, and my back was against the broad breasts.  He rubbed his finger on my arm as if to say it was passed.  Electric current flowed from his fingers that touched my arm, penetrated my skin, penetrated me, and struck me.  My stomach tightened again.  Even though it was empty, I bent down again and gagged.  I felt my throat burn as the sour taste in my mouth crept back into my stomach.

"Mom..." I said in my forced voice.  What did I have?

Raven's hands rested on my shoulders for support.  This gesture did nothing but make me worse.  When I started to shake and vomit, I could feel the sweat particles forming on my forehead.  And the sweat running down my neck to my stomach.  When I pushed Raven's hands, an idea occurred to me.

"Don't go from here..." I started, when my empty stomach became nauseous again.  The bitter waters coming out of my mouth left deep burns in my throat.  I took a deep breath and tried to get away from him.

"You have to get out of here. It must be happening because of you."  I said as I slid to the other end of the bed.

I put my cold fingers on my forehead and wiped some of the sweat layer with my fingers.  I was staring at pitch black.  He was in a thoughtful mood.  My throat started to burn again as I took another deep breath.  I was thirsty.

"Please go. I'm getting worse."

I got down from the other end of the bed and threw myself in front of the window.  I opened the window and let the fresh air in.  As I took deep breaths one after the other, the cold of the night made my bones shiver.  I sighed in frustration when I saw that my school uniform was in a disgraceful state.

"Matilda?"

I turned and looked at the bed as my mother's sudden voice made me jump where I was.  Raven was gone.

"Matilda…" my mother gasped angrily.

"What's wrong, girl? Are you sick?"  ' he asked, this time brittle.

When he came to me with careful steps without stepping on the carpet, I wrapped my arms around his neck and started to cry.  It had nothing to do with my bad stomach.  Or with Raven.  I was just crying for relief.  It was as if the black-winged bird that perched on my chest and made a nest there was flapping its wings and sprinkling air into my heart as it cried.

I cried, before my eyes there was a desiccated corpse.

I cried, holding the hands of the hands carrying the body.

I cried, the killer was right under me.

I cried, he was not my murderer.

I cried, I was no longer of this world.

When my mother took me to the bathroom, I continued to cry.  While I was taking off my clothes, I saw my mother crying with me.  My brother's inquisitive gaze hovered over us, and he withdrew when he saw my mother rob me.

"What's wrong?"  ' asked Harry.

"I don't know son."

Then I didn't pay attention to what was said and focused on the hot water running over my head.  I thought of it landing in my eyes, gliding down my back to my hips, slithering through my open mouth.  Hot water tasted like hot water.  My body was just relaxing.  I had stopped crying.  I was sitting in the shower stall with my arms tied to my knees.

*

Trying to warm my hands with a cardboard cup, I tried to focus on what Stella was talking about.  When I looked at his face, he was describing a heated event.  Her chocolate brown eyes were wide open, her tiny pink lips chapped.  He often wet his lips with the help of his tongue and excited the event with his hand gestures.  Well, I had no idea what he was talking about right now.  My mind was still stuck last night.

"Someone asked my zodiac sign. Oh love, I'm a Scorpio. My birthday is on November 5th..."

When I turned to the table next to me at the sound I heard, I saw the blue-headed girl on the phone of the boy whose back was turned to me.  I'm pretty sure I shot this video months ago.  I frowned when I saw where he was watching the video.  I didn't have an Instagram account.  I was just using Periscope for that account.

"Brother, this girl is amazing…" the boy said when he played the video again.

"Hi guys, what's up? Today I saw the boy in black again. I suspect he is a sadist, frankly..."

I couldn't believe that I was unaware that there was an Instagram account opened in my name.

"Matilda?"  said Stella.

When I turned my gaze to her, she was looking at me with a curious face.

"Hmm?" I asked, but my ears were still on my voice echoing on the next table.  I hoped Stella wouldn't recognize my voice.  Even he didn't know about my personality.

"He likes this girl. I hate him."  he said angrily.

"Which daughter?"  I asked.

When he said, "Here's that blue-headed bitch," I didn't care about the cursing I took.

I was trying to look at his face seriously while biting my lips to keep from laughing.  I couldn't resist and burst out laughing.  I was laughing so loudly that even the boy watching my video on the phone turned to look at us.  Stella's big eyes made me laugh even more.

"What? Did I say something funny?"

"I still don't understand how you don't understand."  After saying that, I started laughing again.

A little further on, next to the door leading from the cafeteria to the garden, North's brown eyes met mine as North and his friends stared intently at our table.  I averted my eyes as laughter choked my throat.  When I saw North coming towards us out of the corner of my eye, I left the hot chocolate in my hand on the table and quickly left the cafeteria, muttering that I'm leaving.

"What happened?"  ' Stella asked, coming behind me.

"None."  I said angrily.

Stella followed me out of breath as I climbed the stairs to our classroom in twos.

"Well, why are you laughing like that?"

As I stood at the end of the stairs waiting for him to catch up with me, my phone vibrated in my hand.  I looked at my phone and there was a new message.  I unlocked the screen and read the message from the number not added to my contacts.

Person X: "I didn't know it was going to be like this. I'm sorry, Camellia. Are you okay?"

While I was looking at the message with excitement, Stella came to me.  While I was replying to him, I was texting him at the same time.

"Umm, I'm the blue-headed girl."

Matilda: "I'm fine, thanks."

My phone vibrated again as I gazed with delight at Stella's frozen face.

Person X: "I'm glad."

Matilda: "King of the crows... How did you get my number?"

"How are you?" Stella said in surprise.  "It's you? It's you and you didn't say it?" she added.  Right after, he hit my arm with one.  We were about to enter the classroom as I stared at him with wide eyes.

"Hush, shut up. I'll explain everything on the way out," I said while winking at him.  "Don't expose me," I added.

When we sat on our wooden benches by the window, the lesson was written on the blackboard, Language and Expression.  When my phone vibrated, I knew the message had arrived at least two minutes late.

"Matilda... I know what I'm going to do to you," said Stella, pulling her books out of her bag.  I did not reply to him, I replied to the message he received.

Person X: "I had it ring from your phone for a while. By the way, I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use the word crow on me again."

Matilda: "How did you get it to ring for a while?  How can you get my phone?  How do you even get into my room? By the way, I'll keep calling you CROW."

I registered his number as King of Crows.  When I saw Stella reaching towards my phone, I closed the screen and put it in the inside pocket of my cardigan.

"Who are you texting?" he asked in a whisper.  He whispered because at that moment the Literature teacher had entered the classroom.  He glared at the class with his frowning white eyebrows, balding head, and bulging eyes.  As I slowly stood up, my phone vibrated again.  I couldn't help but pout when I remembered that I wouldn't be able to reply to the message.

"I'll tell you later," I said, dismissing him.  It would be nice if I could find out what I'm going to talk about during this lesson.

❄

King of the Crows: "As a matter of fact, I've been entering your room for a long time. When your brother comes home, I usually go through the door behind him. The only place where you don't have a password on your phone is the Contacts.

King of the Crows: "Good lessons, by the way."

Matilda: "WHAT SHOULD I ENTER THE ROOM FOR A LONG TIME?"

Matilda: "ARE YOU PERFECT?"

Matilda: "SAY THIS IS A JOKE?"

Matilda: "I THINK YOU ARE TRYING TO LOOK LIKE EDWARD IN TWILIGHT. ENTERING MY ROOM AND BUT DON'T LOOK!"

Matilda: "I'M TALKING ABOUT THIS TO THAT GOAT MAN."

Matilda: "PLEASE STOP CALLING ME CAMELLIA!"

Twenty minutes.  For exactly twenty minutes, I've been waiting for a message from that man with pitch black eyes.  I sent the messages as soon as I left the class.  Now we were at Stella'yal Rengarenk.  As its colorful name suggests, it was a colorful cafe.  Pinks, blues, yellows, greens... It was taking me back to the Teletubbies.  That's why I've seen so many colors in one place.  Stella was fiddling with her phone with one hand as she sipped her hot chocolate.

"I was bored and suddenly I found myself "Blue Headed Girl" I said emphasizing the blue-headed girl.

Holding the mug tightly between my fingers, I tapped my phone on the table twice with my index finger.  As a photo of a red riding hood and a white wolf appeared on the screen, I was once again amazed by the beauty of the photo.  It was enormous.

When I saw that there was no message coming, I turned the screen off by double-clicking my finger again.  While I was sending the hot chocolate towards my stomach, I took a flour cookie from the plate decorated with colorful balloons on the table and took a small bite.

"Why didn't you tell me until now?" Stella asked, hanging up the phone and putting it aside.

"I don't know, I didn't need to say it. It's like a hobby for me after all," I said, crossing my legs.  Our black school uniforms, contrasting with the colorful cafe, seemed to prove that we didn't really belong here.

"Even the Instagram account opened in the name of the baby has 500 thousand followers, how did you not see the need," he said without hiding his horrified expression.

"I just heard about that account.   I don't use Instagram. It's gone when I open it," I said, when I bit the flour cookie again.

"You already have five followers on that account. Your brother, me, North, a man named Raven, and Egg…" he said and stopped.  I was wondering if Raven was that Raven when she took out her phone and picked it up.  There were photos of an Instagram user on the phone screen as Stella grabbed my attention by holding the phone up to my face.  In the photo, there was nothing but eggs.  "The eggq you know …" she added, shaking the phone.

"You said Raven?" I asked excitedly.

"Yeah... Let me see how he looks," he said with a scowl.  While he kept fiddling with the phone, I was trying to look at his phone leaning towards him.  He noticed that I was looking at the phone and moved his chair towards me.  "Raven Watson," he said so I could clearly see the phone.  There was no information on his Instagram account other than his date of birth.  There was a blackish photo on his profile that was visible from afar.  The kind with open muscular body.

"This is a fake account. Look, he also posted a model picture," said Stella, leaving Raven's account.  As I memorized his date of birth in the corner of my head, my phone on the table vibrated.  Please let there be a message from Raven, who is only three years older than me and was born on the tenth of November.

"Who?" Stella asked when she felt my phone vibrate.  I took the phone in my hand and looked at the incoming message.  Bingo!

King of the Crows: "Am I emulating Edward? Is this said by a girl obsessed with Enrique Iglesias who finds her teenage photos and pastes them in her notebook? Do you think I'll consider Camellia?"

King of the Crows: "Whatever. Don't sleep on Saturday night, I have to take you to Shadow."

While I was looking at the messages with wide eyes, I was trying to hide it from Stella.  Saturday... Today was Monday.  Could I hold out until Saturday?  I couldn't be patient.

"Stop, Stella!" I shouted as he tried to take the phone from my hand.  "What are you doing?  When I encountered chocolate brownies staring at me with disappointment, my heart was wrenched.  Still, I did not make any concessions, I looked into his eyes with the same anger.

"Am I an idiot?  Are you calling me stupid?" he asked in a shaky voice.

I took a deep breath.  I hated this hypersensitivity of Stella.  Even though I tried to say the words by choosing in my head, I still said whatever was on my mind.

"Look, you can understand that, it's surprising."

"Okay, Matilda. Does making friends with this idiot make you smart?" she asked sternly.  There was disappointment and anger in his eyes.  I knew that his anger was as light as bird feed, and that it spread around even with a small breath.  He would build up his anger one by one.  As he always does.

"I don't want to be talkative, Stella. Let's get out of here." I said and started stuffing the books on the table into my bag without looking at her.  He didn't answer but I could feel his angry aura.  He would probably cry if I went any further.

After we both packed our things and paid the bill, we left the cafe.  When we started walking in silence, there was a noticeable distance between us.  As the cold wind chilled my skin, I took out my phone and started to reply to the message I couldn't answer.

They say hugging your loved one feels peaceful, right?

Born on November 5, on a day when the apocalypse broke out in 2000, I did not hug a man other than my brother and father until I was 16 years old.  I was disgusted with even shaking hands.  Would I feel at peace with someone hugging me when I was disgusted with even shaking hands?  I never thought.

I rolled my eyes, looked at the writing on the wall again, turned around and walked towards my house.

Tuesday.

Stella didn't come to school today.

Raven has not replied back to my message since yesterday.  I'm curious about Stella, but she needs a little more time.

Wednesday.

Stella didn't come to school today either.  Raven didn't text today.  I'm madly curious about Stella.

Thursday.

Stella went to Muğla for a few days.  I heard her mother tell our homeroom teacher.

Still no word from Raven.  Should I send a message?

Friday.

I was caught cheating on a math test.  The teacher ripped my exam paper into pieces and made a ton of talk.  I'm about to die of excitement tomorrow Saturday.

Saturday.

I was sitting cross-legged on the sofa in my room, phone in hand, waiting for a message from Raven.  It was ten minutes to midnight and I didn't know what time Raven was coming.  I even texted him to see if we were going.  No, he didn't give an answer.

I jumped as the door to my room opened silently.  Raven was standing in the doorway with her straight black hair, black leather jacket, black jeans and black boots.  I didn't know how to get up from the couch I was sitting on when I saw it coming.  She made a stop sign with her hand as I walked towards him.  While the notification light of my phone on the sofa was flashing, I saw him put his phone in his pocket.  I approached the couch again and picked up the phone.

King of the Crows: "We will move forward with a distance between us or you may get hurt. You have to walk ahead of me, I will be watching you. We will go to the park by the beach."

Rather than replying to the message he sent, I just nodded my head.  When we left the house quietly, I was in the dark street.  There were a few people walking around.  I hugged my thick coat tighter as the cold pierced my bones.  I was starting to get excited as I walked towards the park with the noise coming from Raven's boots.  I often turned around, making sure Raven was behind me, and kept walking.  Ten minutes, only ten minutes later, we were in the forest in the park.  Now Kuzgun was in front of me, and he was advancing with fast steps.  Ignoring the young people walking in the park, he stopped in front of a big tree and put his hand on the trunk of the tree.  When he pulled something from the trunk of the tree, a screaming sound went up.  As the screaming increased, I saw the people walking around the park falling over to where they were.  When I turned my eyes to Raven, which I opened in horror, I saw a girl in a white dress looking at me.  The girl's dress was wide and long.  His hair was long, straight and black.  As for her face… Her frowning black eyebrows were touching, her lips were a pale bruise of a cherry.  His eyes were angry and lifeless.  While I was backing up in fear, Raven bent down and whispered in her ear.  The girl's features softened, while her scary-looking face became more adorable.

"Welcome, beautiful Neva Girl. I'm the one in charge of the Shadow Gates. Welcome back to the Shadow where you belong," she said with a sweetness that made me find it odd.

* * *