Yours, Raven

Nine

When morning came, daylight sweeping across the sloppy faces of two young men snoozing dead drunk on the living room floor, Nicholas already had a video of a highly drunk Elliot belting out a song in his phone. You could have Elliot suspended ten thousand feet in the air on a rope, drunk, and he would still win your heart with his singing. He was born with it.

Nicholas submitted the video clip to the competition. Elliot could punch a hole through Nicholas' head or kiss his big ass, when he received a phone call one vapid evening asking him to sing for them live once before they take him to Mumbai.

Elliot's fussing and cussing only made Nicholas laugh like a mad man. It was next to impossible to predict how far this would go but his trust in Elliot was unshakable and he was excited for him. Elliot could cuss all he wanted, but Nicholas knew Elliot wouldn't stop singing. That was all that mattered.

The rest was history as Elliot stole people's heart day after day, men and women, young and old, becoming a national darling. Now, with his success and work, it would be impossible for him to babysit Raven and Tracy wasn't going to risk her youngest daughter's safety until she thought she was old enough to take care of herself. Until then, Shillong was a far safer place.

Every time Raven called home, she asked about Elliot and Nicholas. Every time Nicholas called home or wrote a letter back home, he asked of Raven and Elliot. Every time he got a second to steal, he'd pull out the pictures in his chest pocket. Three years in active service had gone by since he first got recruited in the special forces. He was now a young man of twenty-six, an army Captain, and Raven, a college girl of nineteen.

Six years had passed since Nicholas first left home.

-----------

In her hostel room in Shillong, after dinner, while humming the softening tune of Edith Piaf's 'La Vie En Rose' under her breath as she tidied up her study table and arranged her books, Raven's phone buzzed and sang the ringtone she'd set for her mom.

"Mummy," she answered.

"Had dinner, kei sanaa?"

"Yeah."

"Are you coming home this summer?"

"Yeah. I think so. After exam."

"When does it end?"

"Fourth of May."

"You have holidays after exam?"

"Yeah."

"And how long does it last?"

"Not sure. Over two weeks. . . probably about a month." Raven mulled, dropping a bunch of pens in a coffee mug on the table.

"Great. Nicholas is coming home too, you know."

"Nick?" Raven echoed into the phone, wide-eyed, a spark of curiosity and delight japping in the quiet recesses of her heart.

"Yes. Nick. He's coming home around the eighth so you'll be home earlier."

For real?!

"Does he have a wife already?" Raven suddenly asked her mom.

The random oddity of the question threw her mother off quite a great deal 'cause the sentence that followed came in the form of a snappy exclamation, "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU SILLY?! HE'S STILL A BACHELOR!!"