Into The Vale of Shadows // Max Mayfield

II; x. why didn't you tell us?

chapter ten
why didn't you tell us?

     THE BASEMENT WAS hot, but Raven remained motionless and asleep, hugging herself as sweat slowly built up on her skin, the lack of air felt suffocating and yet she was still asleep. She felt herself being shaken, her face forming into a frown as she slowly heard her name being called, more like yelled out into her ears, "Raven, wake up!"

     "Five more minutes, okay?" Gorgon sighed, its flowery face looked to be annoyed as he carried on with waking the girl.

     "We have NO MORE MINUTES LEFT!" the sudden outburst awoken the girl, jolting up and awake as she looked her surroundings, seeing her friends looking at her with looks of questioning. You fell asleep!

     "What time is it?" She wiped her eyes, trying to see her friends faces clearly. She groaned as she sat straight, feeling this ache on her lower back that made her face form into a grimace, stretching to hear relieving cracks from it. "God, my body hurts."

     "It's . . ." Mike trailed off, looking at the watch on his wrist. "Quarter to ten."

     "Shhhhit!" Raven jumped up, now widely awake as she looked for her bag. "Shit, shit." She saw it on the D&D table, grabbing it and running straight to the stairs, ready to leave the room but Will called after her, voice filled with concern as she watched the girl.

     "Where are you going?" he asked, neck extending as he followed the girl with his gaze.

     Raven turned around, walking back down to the bottom of the stairs to face Will. She sighed, toes anxiously tapping on the wooden stair while looking upon the boy. "I was uh . . ." Raven sighed, "I'm just . . ." she pointed to the door with her thumb.

     You should tell them, the entity suggested, Gorgon pushed her frame off of the stairs to face the entirety of the party, the lot looking at her in question. Mike stood by the pillar, Will sat on a table near him, Lucas was on the floor, while Max and El now occupied the couch she had abandoned.

     She took the nearest seat, slumping her figure in distress, thought to herself if she should tell them or not. But Gorgon's intrusive whispers won in the end, forced into talking by the entity. "I found something," she started, slouching forward to balance her elbows on her knees. "It might— No, it has a connection to the Mind Flayer, to the Upside Down. But there's no need to worry," she assured, not just her friends but herself too. "I have it all under control, I already have a plan for it." it was a half lie half truth, but she went on with it. "A plan to rid of it."

     "Why didn't you tell us about this?" Mike asked calmly.

     "I thought there was no need. I told you, I've got it under control," she stated.

     "How long have you been keeping this information?" Lucas questioned, leaning forward to hear things Raven has to say. The girl counted in her head, recalling what day it was today and the day when the rat melted into a flesh of blob, and if we're calculations are right, it would be—

     "Two days." She looked up at them. "The day before Will told you."

     "You waited that long before you told us?" Mike crossed his arms, trying to meet with Raven's eyes.