My feet pounded against the ground as my fingers gripped the smooth, tall wood that was taller than the world’s tallest man. My back ached from all the bending; as my breath was ragged from the short yet heavy run. Throwing cabers was a hard thing to do. You have to feel when the time was right to flip the wood, which is what I did. I felt the top of the wood lift from my shoulders, and with all my strength I had to flip that wood unto the ground hard enough to make the birds go quiet.

I heard the crowd cheer, and chant my name ‘Raven!’ I saw the blinding, flashing lights and heard the speaker blaring in my ears, “Raven has done it again!” The flashing lights blinded me from trying to find my father, “Papa!” I called as I felt the cold wind nipped at my bare arms, which sent a shiver down my spine. That brought me back to reality of standing alone in my town streets.  

“Papa!” I yelled once again with fear that I would never see him again. “Raven?! Where are you?” his panicked voice rang through my ears. “Raven!! There you are!!”  I felt his warm hand rest upon my shoulder. “PAPA!” I cried and clung to his shirt wrapping my arms around his neck holding him close to me. “I want-t it b-back” I hiccupped into his ear, as I cried onto his tartan. “I know honey, I know” his thick Scottish accent was smooth and filled with so much love.

I missed my old life; I missed my passed, which was full of light and colors with shapes and letters. I missed my mother and brother. I remember that fatal night, it was supposed to be adventurous, with fun and carelessness. I remember my father putting me in a closet that had holes from the bullets that had been shot. I remember that man's face as he held a gun up to my mother’s head, and hearing her pleas to let my brother go.  I remember my brother’s grunts and pained screams, as they chained him up, and whipped him 50 times. I remember my father unconscious body on the floor, his blood soaked his white shirt.  

I miss them; I miss their laughter, their smiles, their bright shining green eyes, and their red long curly hair. But now they lay 6 feet under. Where people could step on them, without knowing that their there.  Everything is gone, taken like the thief in the night. The fun filled memories fade with light in my eyes.  All I see now is darkness, darkness that holds nothing but the cold and all the tears that will never meet the light, everything just gone from my reach.

For now i'm leashed to a stick, like a metal detector, but instead of finding metal. Im looking for my path, my road to happiness, I let my father lift me into his strong arms and carry me around the small town that I now call home. I closed my eyes and let my exhausted, tense body relax as I fell into a peaceful sleep.