Into The Vale of Shadows // Max Mayfield

III; vi. car seat

chapter six
car seat

   RAVEN BRUSHED HER hair back with her hand. She got to her feet, dusted herself and looked around like nothing happened. She stuck a stick of cigarette in between her lips, lighting it up and blowing away the smoke that came with it.

     She started walking towards Steve's car, opening the door to grab her bag. She yet again put her aid in, trying to test if its batteries were still good by clapping her hands. Raven sighed when she heard it clear, throwing her bag aside and got out of the car. She massaged the bridge of her nose as she tried to ease the now slowly disappearing pain in her head.

     Raven inhaled the nicotine filled smoke, letting it sit in her lungs until she felt like her head was buzzing and her air way begged for air. She exhaled the smoke from her chest, feeling like it also took her gnawing anxiety away. She's been really dependent on this thing for the past few months. The feeling it brought her when she'd hold it in felt really familiar that it got her doing it over and over again, to the point that it looked to be an addiction. She knows it was bad for her, but why do bad things always feel so good?

     "Raven," she heard a call from a distance after the sound of an opening door. She was quick to throw her cigarette away, smelling herself if she still reeked the scent of it. Raven rushed to her bag and looked for her perfume, spraying herself all over, even spraying some on her mouth — which made her gag at the bitter taste of it. "Hey."

     "H—hey," she stammered, seeing Max just outside the car looking in at her.

     Max looked at her. Her eyes trailed along Raven's features. Raven's face looked grubby, with dirt sticking to what seemed to be trails of tears, noticing the way her blonde hair looked to be disarranged, sticking to her forehead and neck, and her shirt disheveled. Raven thought there was a glint of something behind Max's eyes, but she didn't want to assume anything and just hurt herself in the end. "You okay?"

     "I—" Raven's voice cracked. Her face turned red, swallowing before she cleared her throat. She ran her hand through her hair, fixing it in the process. "Yeah, I'm . . . I'm all right."

     "You have something . . ." Max raised her hand, sent it to Raven's way as though attempting to touch her. Raven just watched there, looking as though she was waiting. Then Max's hand staggered, sending it to point at a part of her face instead. ". . . Something here."

     "Oh . . . Oh, yeah." Raven was going to wipe her face with her shirt, but stopped mid way when Max handed her a hanky. "Thanks," was all she uttered as she took it, offering a small smile to the girl's way.

     "What happened to you." Raven turned to her back, seeing Dustin entering the car and sitting beside her. "You kinda just disappeared out of there."

     "Yeah," Robin agreed, sitting on the passenger's seat, looking at her sister through the rear view mirror. Robin turned to her, face filled with concern. "Everything okay?"

     "I'm all right, I just—" She pointed to her ears, shrugging as they looked to have understood what she meant.

     Raven startled when Max sat beside her, feeling their arms touch as soon as the girl got to take her seat. Raven's heart started to feel like it was going to spill out of her ribs. She pursed her lips and scooted away from her and closer to Dustin. "Everyone ready?"

     "Nah-uh," said Dustin, giving Raven a small shove that was strong enough to have her close to Max again, "Stop pushing me, you've got like a really big space over your side."