Chapter 2 - Maven <Re-edit>

The air was frosty and foggy in the afternoon. Thick gray clouds moved slowly across the sky. She pushed the glass door open from the bakery and walked onto the cold street of December. With her free hand, she pulled her red scarf down from her mouth and blew lightly into the cold air. She pulled her scarf back over her mouth again, feeling the tip of her nose becoming cold after coming out from the warm bakery. The bag of baked goods she was ordered to buy by her older sister hung slightly from her wrist, swinging back and forth. Although the weather was nice, it seemed like it was going to snow or rain soon with the storm gray clouds. But the streets were still packed with people who were out shopping for the holiday. Tucking her long straight sandy blond hair behind her pink ear before stuffing her hand back into her coat pocket, she continued along her way home.

It wasn't so cold that it would snow but it was definitely a bit chilly, cold enough for a light jacket or a thick wool sweater. The further she got within the city edge the fewer people there were until she reached her neighborhood. It was completely empty, everyone was tucked away in their warm house enjoying the warmth instead of walking out in the cold. She spotted her house, a darker wood color than the rest of the houses around it. It smells of fresh pine wood. It was built like a Japanese-style building, with a wooden sliding front door and wooden carvings of the window frame. She placed her hand on the black metal gate that surrounds the house but pulled away when she heard her phone going buzzing in her pocket.

Stepping to the side, behind the willow tree in their front yard so she was out of view from the lighted windows in the house. The caller ID flashing before her brought a smile to her face as she picked up the call and placed it next to her pink ear.

"Hey Scarlet, I'm surprised that you're calling me. I thought your mother was all about you not calling in the house." She said with a grin as she faced the ground. Tapping her sneakers on the gray concrete floor.

"That's because I'm not at home right now." Her friend Scarlet replied from the other end.

Right away her smile turned into a frown. Why wasn't Scarlet at home at this time, did something happen at home again? All the terrible thoughts clouded her eyes, as she pictured her friend right now, alone on the cold street.

"Why? Did something happen? Are you upset right now? Did your mother-"

"Relax Maven!" Scarlet laughed from the other end. From hearing her friend's laugh, she relaxed a bit, and it brought a small smile back to her lips. If she was laughing then it means nothing bad has happened and that her friend wasn't sad or crying without anyone's comfort.

"My aunt made it back in time for the holiday! I'm out shopping with her right now." Scarlet said with a happier tone than the first. Her own gray eyes lit up at the mention of Scarlet's aunt.

"She's back? Really? That's great! I'll come over to see her when I have time this holiday!" She exclaimed.

"You better," Scarlet replied.

Scarlet's aunt was someone to look up to. She was kind, young, and beautiful. It was a pity that she's still single, even with all the men chasing after her from what Scarlet has described to her. She heard a door click behind her, looking over her shoulder she saw the front door of her house slide open and a suitcase was brought out. She heard her sister's voice calling from the doorway.

"Sorry I got to go, I'll call you back in a bit." She said quietly into the phone before hanging up. Placing her phone back into her pocket she walked slowly up to her gate again, while keeping her gray eyes on what was going on in front of her house. She saw her mother and father both carrying a suitcase as they stumbled out of the house one after another with her sister behind them.

Where are you guys going?" She asked unlocking her gate from the inside and stepped onto the stone steps going up to the porch. Her eyes went back and forth between her parents and then finally back down to the 2 suitcases.

"We're going away for a while due to business. So now you two girls better are good and watch the house." Her father said, grabbing the two suitcases, one in each hand, and wheeled it over to the garage to the right of the house.

"Business trip? It's almost the holidays." She knew exactly where this was going.

"Work calls so what can we do?! We have to provide a living for you brats." Her mother replied without removing her eyes from her nails she has been examining for a while now.

Work? This is the 5th time this year! You guys are only using work as an excuse!" Her sister cried stepping out onto the porch in her blue slippers. She saw her mother rolled her eyes before clearing her throat and turning to them with an annoyed look.

"Look you two are both already in college do you really need me to sweet talk you two?" Her mother said giving them a 'your crazy' expression. "We just need to make the money and give you guys the amount you guys need to live, and we can pretty much do what we need to do."

Her sister seemed to have had enough as she turned around and went back into the house, making sure to slide the front door shut loudly. She turned back to her mother as her mother made her way towards the car in her black high heels. Her mother seems to be dressed for a party instead of for work. She wore a knee-length black coat with a knee-length red dress under it. She had her straight black hair curled. She watched as she got in the car with her mother, they slowly back out of the driveway. Her father gave her a small wave and a small smile while her mother redid her lips with a small handheld mirror. Once the car was out of the driveway and onto the street, they sped off to wherever they were off to.

For a long time she stood there, the car was already long gone and out of sight. Her eyes darted over to the house across the street from theirs. The window was alighted, she saw the shadow of people moving from the window. They already had their Christmas light hanging around their house, she heard children talking loudly from whatever games they were playing, and grown-ups laughing among their own elderly talks. It was the warmth of a family. Her eyes welled with tears, drawing her back to the situation she was in. She blinked quickly and turned back heading inside her own house.

When she stepped through the front door, her sister was in the living room with the tv blasting on a high volume with her back turned towards hers. She silently closed the front door behind her, not daring to annoy her sister any further. She knew her sister better than anyone else. If her sister is mad enough she could do the unthinkable, and right now she wanted very much to live. After putting the food away, she headed up the narrow and steep wooden stairs to her and her sister's room on the second floor. Her sister's room was all the way down a short hallway while her room was close to the stairway, close enough that when her parents argued she could not escape from the noise.

Closing her door shut, she slid her backpack off her shoulder and tossed it lightly to the corner of her room. Feeling tired, she fell backward onto her soft warm bed. She laid there staring up at her blank ceiling, lost in thoughts for a while. She felt her phone vibrate again on her bed, she searched her bed with her outstretched hand and brought her phone to her face. Scarlet had sent her a text along with a picture. In the picture, it was her friend in the front view while her aunt smiled gently in the back. They were both grinning from ear to ear with the puppy filter. Below the picture was a short text that was so Scarlet.

Scarlet: U jelly? :)

She couldn't help but rolled her eyes with a smile, sitting up she replied with a heart. Swiping off the text app, she was about to close off her phone and drop back to her bed but she paused when her gray eyes swept over the picture on her home screen. It was her and her friends from the time when they went to a newly open cafe about 1 year ago. There she was at the very front to the left with her wide grin. Behind her was Scarlet who had the drink in her mouth with a victory sign as if nothing in the world can get between her and her drink. Next to Scarlet was a blue hair girl, Yukanie. Yukanie had her hair braid in a messy french braid that day, her violet eyes wide and smiling giving her a gentle and kind look. Her eyes darted to the last girl in the photo, a dark wavy hair girl with brown eyes. Her smile slightly dropped from her face, Jamie...who used to be so active and easy-going, more of a troublemaker in the group than anyone else. But now she was the least active, whenever the group decided to hang out she was either the last person there or not there at all. Now Jamie barely talked in any of their text, it was like she no longer cared that much. She sighed and closed her screen off, tossing her phone aside somewhere on her bed she dropped back down onto her soft covers. She felt tired as she closed her eyes wanting a short break from the world.

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"Maven!" Her sister's shout jolted her awake. She rolled over onto her back, rubbing her eyes in confusion. She blinked a few times before sitting up in bed. Her window was slightly open letting the cold winter breeze blow in gently into her warm room. Outside the window the sky was dark, she could also hear the sound of rain as it fell from the sky and wetted the earth. She got up and went over to her desk to close the window so nothing of hers get wet. The rain was no light rain either as she peered through her window. The moon was hidden behind the thick dark rain clouds, the rain was heavy but it wasn't thundering at least. It was strange to get rain at the beginning of winter, she turned away from the window and went downstairs as her sister shouted her name again.

"What were you doing up there? I called you like 7 times already." Her sister scolded from the kitchen as she walked in. The smell of cheesy bacon pizza hit her nose and fully woken her.

"I fell asleep for a bit." She replied.

It seemed as if her sister was no longer as annoyed as earlier, she eyed her sister who sat in one of the dining chairs with a slice of pizza in one hand and her phone in the other with a wide grin. She sat down and took a slice of pizza into her hand feeling super hungry all of sudden.

"You ordered pizza?" She asked, chewing on her slice of pizza, hoping to start a conversation with her sister with the stupidest question asked.

"No, I had Sam bring it over." Her sister replied without looking away from the phone.

"You made your boyfriend bring you a box of pizza in this horrible weather?" She repeated with a frown. Indeed her sister can be terrifying sometimes. She wondered how Sam had fallen in love with her sister. Was it the looks? Her sister compared to her was more female-like personality-wise than her, although they both shared the same color eyes, their hair color difference made it hard for anyone to tell they were siblings. Her sister had curly dark short hair which she took after their father's dark spiky hair, while she had straight sandy blond hair taken after her mother. Just the thought of her mother puts a scowl on her face. Her sister gave her a questioning look.

"What's up with that look? Is the pizza bad or something?" Her sister asked with a hint of anger.

She shook her head in a hurry as she swallowed her pizza. She quickly muttered something about taking her food up to eat as she hurried to grab a paper plate from and put an extra slice of pizza on and rush her way out of the kitchen before her sister started saying anything. But she paused by the foot of the stairway right next to the front door. There was something white poking out from under the front door, she bent down and wiggled it left and right to get the paper out. It was a small white envelope, and from the feel of it, it was pretty thick too. She turned the envelope in her hand looking for a name or the sender. But there was nothing.

"Hey sis, did your boyfriend come into the house?" She asked from the doorway.

"No, he stayed in the car. How do you think he got here in this rain huh?" Her sister said loudly.

Her eyes went back to the envelope in her hand. She was pretty sure it wasn't from the mailman since there was no address written or sender or even any of her family's names. So then why was it stuck tightly under her door at the very corner? She didn't remember seeing it when she came through the front door earlier this afternoon. Frowning she placed her paper plate with her pizza down on the steps of the stairs and ripped open the envelope.

Four tickets slipped out onto her hand along with a small post-it stuck to the first ticket. Her frown deepened when she saw the few words writing on the post-it.

"You'll Need It."

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"What is a...phone?" Raven asked, staring at his Grandma with curious eyes.

"Hmm...it's much like the mailing system we use today but much more advance." His Granny reply getting up from her chair, heading into the kitchen. "But Maven is from another world much different from us, a world far more superior than ours, but when it comes to kindness...our world surpasses hers by quite a lot." His Granny added while lifting the lid off of the steaming pot.

"Her world sounds very complicated Granny," Raven said, his eyes followed his Granny as she made her way out once more and settled down on the chair.

"Yes, indeed perhaps you'll understand when you're older." His Granny replied, taking a sip out of her cup.

"So what happens after Maven received the letter?"