Hidden Behind Walls

Chapter 27: Metamorphosis

"Consider it accomplished" she murmurs, rubbing at her eyes.

"Breakfast is ready, we've gotta get up" I explain. She nods her head and begins to crawl off me, she overestimates the amount of space we have on the couch and drops like a stone onto the floor.

"Ouch" she moaned. I clamp my hand over my mouth to muffle my laugh. Raven is sprawled on the floor, nursing her back. She shoots me a glare and sticks out her tongue. I stick mine out at her as well. She lumbers up, her mouchwa slowly sliding off her head.

"I'm gonna go brush my teeth" she says, starting to walk in the opposite direction of the kitchen. I follow after her with a yawn, trying to shake away the remnants of a nightmare from my memory. She snatches up her phone from the floor where it was charging against a wall and slides into into her pocket. I don't even remember where my phone is now.

"Your phone's on the coffee table" she adds. I cast a glance over, and it is. I pick it up slowly and turn it over in my hands, finally deciding after a few seconds to click the home button to check for notifications. It was an endless sprawl of texts from some known contacts but also some random numbers as well. The most prominent texts were from Daren and Ruri which seemed to be endless. I ran the phone through my fingers and then decided to leave it on the coffee table. Raven then wanders off to the doorway that lead to the kitchen, her feet shuffling through while she passed the table bustling with toddlers gobbling food.

"Princess!! Clay-Clay!!" I hear Nathaniel squeal with a mouthful of eggs, he starts to scramble off his chair but Cassandra stops him.

"Raven and Clayton will be back in a minute, finish eating and don't talk with your mouthful" Cassandra stated, seating Nathaniel back on his chair. He furrowed his brows in confusion, and looked up at his mom.

"Who's Rar-ven and Clay-clay-clay...ten...tin?" Nathaniel asks. Rave turned around with a laugh, and I couldn't help but join her.

"I'm Raven, silly" Rave explained to Nathaniel, "And he's" she says as she points to me, "Clayton." Nathaniel held that confused expression on his face for a few more seconds, but then turned his face into a grin once again.

"You're funny Princess" Nathaniel says dismissing us with a laugh. Cassandra's grin was huge as she turned to us,

"I guess your names are Princess and Clay-Clay" she chortles.

"I guess they are" I say with a small smile. At that point the other kids started noticing our presence and stopped focusing on their food. They all started to scramble off their chairs, and their parents came rushing in. Haneul and Thierry were stopped by a woman with a dark brown afro put in a half up half down bun hairstyle. Haneul hugged the woman in an instant, forgetting about us altogether, her straight black hair swinging in her ponytail, the fair hairs sticking up at her edges. Thierry pouted, but waited patiently to be picked up as well. A man with the same curly light brown hair as Thierry swooped in and pressed numerous kisses on his face.

"Papaaa" Thierry says giggling. Raven nudges me, and points a finger at the two parents.

"That's my Aunt Lillian and Uncle Ives" she explains. Another set of parents, both with very pronounced cheekbones, appeared, claiming Marceline and Elan, who quietly submitted to their instructions of eating their breakfast with their parents assistance. The breakfast table became even more hectic with the influx in population. Raven slipped out of the chaos and I followed suit.

"Where are you two going?" A voice thick with an accent asked. Rave turned around slowly with a slow grin spreading on her face. I didn't know if I wanted to turn around. Raven raised her eyebrows and looked past me signaling that I should in fact turn around. I did the same slow spin towards the source of the voice. A old woman with graying hair pulled into cornrows and spectacles that sat at the bridge of her nose came into my line of sight. .