Raven

(Rorim's POV)

"Maybe you'd like to take a seat."

I blinked, snapping back into reality. By Norman. By his voice.

"Yes, sorry." I sat next to him, dropping my bag to my side. I glanced at him again, analyzed the face of the same Norman I haven't gazed upon for what seemed like decades.

"Has anyone told you that staring is rude?" he spoke, his eyes averting from his phone to me. Any person would have mistaken it to be a friendly smile. His face was still incapable of giving any hint of hostility nor unpleasantry. His demeanor, as warm as the simmering emotions he's mastered to keep, bubbled quietly deep inside him.

"You just look like someone I know." More like someone I've always known. I returned the smile and faced the board.

"Does he have the name Norman as well?" he asked. So much for introductions.

"Yes, actually." I confessed. "He's more unnerving than you're trying to be though. Maybe you can learn a thing or two from him."

His eyes squinted at me, his lips pursed into silence. I pretended not to mind the weight of his stare at me, until he went back to his phone.

Not one part of him is not Norman, I scribbled on my notebook as Ms. Lee started to discuss the activity.

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Watching him do the same thing for a week was boring, so I regressed. It was one cold morning when I sat on my usual tree, on a higher limb, that I found a nest in between the close branches'. Twigs and sticks procured were delicately woven and assembled into the coziest bed for the most unusual eggs I've ever seen. Seven small, stained eggs in a light greenish blue color nestled quietly in their crib. To a five year old, any egg that's not a chicken's is the most unusual.

"Raven!"

I turned my head back and found Norman running towards my tree. He stopped under the limb where I stayed and showed me his usual smile.

I didn't speak. He didn't either. We exchanged bewildered looks for a good few minutes until I broke it and admired my new found nest again, ignoring him.

"Wanna play?" he asked from below.

"No." It doesn't matter since you always win anyway.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

Brows met and turned, and he sighed. "How did you get there?"

"I climbed."

A giggle almost came out of nowhere untilI remembered he was there. He was laughing. Why was he laughing?

"What's there?"

"A nest."

"What's it look like?"

"What do you want?"

Norman froze. I couldn't see his face anymore, he just seemed to stare at the tree trunk. I looked at him, alone with his own silence. What did he want? Why was he just standing there? Did his stomach hurt? Why was he quiet? What was he thinking?

"Norman!" hollered Dennis from inside the house. "Let's play!"

Norman slowly turned and ran back to them. From behind, he still looked disheartened. Maybe he badly wanted to see the nest. Maybe he got bored from all the games he continuously aced. Why not climb then? Maybe he couldn't climb. Maybe he could, after all what can't he not do.

I found out later in a book that it was a Raven's nest and those were Raven eggs. Raven. Like me. Immediately, they were the first of my favorite things. Because for the first time in my very early life, I felt like I was not alone.

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I took a spoonful of my dessert when I scanned at our table for the fifth time. Norman sat across from me, beside him was his friend Gillian talking to Sam, his partner who's seated beside me. My eyes went back to Norman as he ate his food, setting aside the pizza for last. Despite having stolen countless glances at him, it still felt surreal? Watching him, I felt ambivalent. I wanted to know, 'what happened to him?'. I never imagined sitting in front of him like this after so much passing time would make me feel relieved… elated.

"So Sam here is thinking that it might be a good idea to do the activities together." Gillian announced in between his chewing. "I don't know how working together is a good idea when we only have to describe each other's features to personality in a paper. It's not like we'll have write about other people as well."

Wait. Relieved? Happy? No.That's not right. That shouldn't be. I shouldn't - no. He shouldn't be here.

"It's so we can share ideas with each other. Like if I notice something about Ms. Hourglass here, I can tell it to Norman. If Norman knows anything about you, dumbass" - Gillian - "then he can tell it to me. We're hitting two birds with one stone here: we're exchanging ideas and we're getting to know each other personally."

But he's finally here again. He came back. He's back.

"Alright, Ms. Fielder. I won't deny that you have a good point but don't you think that's why Ms. Lee made it into a group of two because it needs to be self-discovery on each partners' parts?" Gillian noted it quite reasonably.

I nodded. Yes. Isn't it perfect? You can finally finish what you started. Your being's whole desire. Your heart's longing. To finally possess the bearer of your soul.

"What do you think, uhmm—" Sam turned to me and placed her hand on my arm.

"Rorim." I smiled to her, returning to my senses. "I think both your ideas are brilliant. We can stay in this group and give ideas. At the end of the day, it's still our personal thoughts that we'll submit to Ms. Lee."

Sam clapped her hands in triumph. "How 'bout you, Norman?"

All eyes went to Norman as he was about to bite the last crust of the pizza. "Do what you want." he murmured and devoured the last piece on his hand.

I looked at my plate and then theirs and found out that he was the last to finish. I'm usually the last to finish but my stomach knowing that it has long been empty, I gobbled on the last of my fried noodles, pudding and yogurt drink for the past blurry minutes. I thought about the term they refer to, something that's called autopilot, as is my nature.

"What's your next class, Norman?" Sam asked, gathering the used utensils and plates on her tray.

"English Lit." He placed his tray on the counter.

"And you Ro?" Ro?

"Poetry." I threw my trash in the bin.

"Urgh, I hate that one." Sam complained. "To this day, I still cannot fathom poems."

"Same. I remember when we were made to memorize "The Raven" in highschool. We had to recite it in class for Valentines because of our bitter English teacher. He was teary-eyed by the end of it, right?" He nudged Norman. "'Deep into that darkness peering…" Gillian declaimed.

"Oh I know that, that's familiar! 'Long I stood there, wondering, fearing…'" Sam joined, her hand to her chest to match Gillian's passion.

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before, I continued in my head.

My eyes darted to him exiting the canteen, Gillian's arms hooked around his neck not before he took a quick glimpse back. Back to me. Would Edgar Allan Poe have felt less mad if he saw his past lover like this? Would he have found closure in seeing a glimpse of his Lenore?

Stop it. He's not your Lenore.

"Hey. We alright Ro?" Sam rubbed my back as she walked next to me. I might have said that out loud.

I smiled. "Yeah, let's go." I tapped her back and we advanced down the hallway.