As she walked...all the demons stopped...

       I watch as Kat's eyes lighten up, taking in the beauty of the carnival. River immediately runs up to a food stand and I can't even bother to feign surprise. I take a side glance, giving Klaus a huge smile which he returns. He grabs on to my hand, interlocking our fingers and while this was definitely not my kind of thing, I couldn't really find it in myself to care.

        "What should we do first?" Klaus asks as we trail by, watching people try different games.

        "I call Ferris Wheel!" Riv suddenly yells, appearing out of literally no where with a corn dog stuffed into his mouth.

          I take in the sight of the huge wheel which probably covered more space than anything else on the plot. "Kat, you want to go up on that?"

         I had a fear of heights and my phobia being kept kind of depended on Kat's answer. If she wasn't interested in the ride, then I could simply cover up with that. River knows I'd stick with Kat anyway.

         "Absolutely! Why not?" She replies, a little too enthusiastic.

          "See...I'm hearing, 'absolutely not', sorry Riv," I tsk. "Maybe some other time."

          I watch as River's eyes roll towards the back of his head. "She wants to go on the ride. Don't tell me you're afraid of heights, Raven."

          Kat snorts. "She might as well be, now that she's got a boyfriend. A list of things you'd never expect from Raven." River chuckles at that, giving her an high five.

         "Let's go ride that bitch." I scowl.

    
       Klaus and I get buckled up into one of the seats while River and Kat get on another. Two persons per seat and I was kind of grateful for that because I didn't want River and Kat laughing up at me if I let out a scream or anything. There were about thirty people on this thing anyway, so if I yelled now, it could be mistaken for that of any one.

           "Are you sure you want to go on this thing?" Klaus asks, lifting his brow.

       "Uh...yeah, totally."

        "You know, we could sneak off right now without River and Kat seeing us and just make them believe we rode on it too." He suggests with a smirk and I stare down at his lips, taking the hint.

      Breaking out of his trance, I shake my head to clear my thoughts. "No. I've got to do it. I don't chicken out."

       He lets out a breath of laughter at my choice of word and I smack at his hand. The  machine momentarily goes on and then off, which has me gripping on to Klaus' shirt. His laughter increases at that point, echoing through my ears as my fingers pull up his shirt.

          "Hey, look up." He whispers into my ear and even though I don't want to, I can't stop myself from glancing up. His lips immediately meet mine with a gentle touch and I'm unable to decide if the tingles spreading round are from the nervousness of being so high up or the impact of his lips. They disconnect from mine and brushes against my forehead as the ride really starts this time.
     
         
           The ride turns out to be what I least expected but it definitely gets my adrenaline up. River and Kat end up ditching Klaus and I to go compete against each other at the claw machine and I was secretly glad for the alone time I was finally going to get with Klaus.

        My shoulder clashes with Klaus' as I give a teasing smile. "What's up with you? Your mood is all...meh!"

       "Just tired, I guess." He answers, nonchalantly, which is an obvious tell he's lying.

        "My mom..." I begin, absolutely out of the blue. Klaus reflexively turns to look at me in awe and I almost choke out a laugh at his facial expression. "She was big on crowds. Me? I hate crowds. Gag."

      My tongue sticks out and he gives out a weak smile.

         "I always found something or someone that annoyed me in the crowd and my mind just went all bonkers. I'm just not this kind of person," I continue, gesturing towards the environment I was in now. "If I ever run away, which is a very important point to note since I do that shit a lot...don't ever look for me in the crowd, come find me in solitude."

           "Solitude? Really?" He's on the verge of getting into his good mood again.

       I repeatedly nod my head, giving a toothy grin. "Yeah, I never fit in, was never supposed to...you know."

         He finally has his breakthrough, chuckling as his arm wraps around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him.

         "That house is a trainwreck now," he sighs, revealing the real reason behind his glum mood just as I had expected. I had to share something personal before he could do the same. "You're the only break I get."

      I feel appreciated, hearing those words from him. High striker comes into view at that moment and I giggle, pulling on his hand to go try out the game.

       "I want to go first." I eerily say, grabbing the hammer. Klaus stands by watching me and I give out a wink before giving it my best hit. It rides up but not high enough.

        "My turn." Klaus chuckles, grabbing the hammer. He points to a huge stuffed purple hippo and the dude running the game nods. The game immediately goes wild when Klaus' hammer goes down on it and I'm unable to keep the surprise off my face.

     The guy hands Klaus the hippo which he hands to me. "I definitely look like a stuffed animal kind of girl." I sarcastically say.

         "Oh, guess Kat can have it then." He teases, grabbing the hippo.

        I reflexively smack his hand. "Hands off!"

          A smile drops on to his lips once again as we head towards other games.

              
                                        ×××

      It's dark when Klaus drops me back home. River and Kat had been dropped off first and then me. I felt so fucking exhausted and just had the huge need to meet my bed at the moment. I leave Klaus a with a small peck on the lips before trailing inside my house. It is unusually quiet. No Jenna walking around or binging on any stupid show. No waiting around for me to get back so she could yell even when I had gotten her permission in the morning.

       My first visit is into the kitchen where I wash up my face and grab a glass of water. I liked the house this way, dead silent...well, that's what I thought until I got on the stairs and caught a sound as I got closer to the rooms. Sounded like moaning?

      I am brought to the sight of my dad and principal Ella. My vision is instantly blurred with rage as I take in the open room, my father's scattered bed and my spoilt principal underneath my dad. My dad swiftly moves away from his bitch, running over to me, who had started down the hallway, towards my room.

        "Raven!"

     My door is slammed shut in his face and I turn the lock, making random movements round my room. Memories of my mom begin fogging my mind in that moment. Unable to take the bizarreness of my state, my fists and legs crashes with everything good in my room. My lamps, my desks, my book shelf...There's only so much a person can take and for me, this seemed like the end of it, tears streamed down my face as I slump against my door, crashing to the ground. My room looked so fucked.

       I had no idea how long I spent on the floor but I was up once again, not thinking of shit, grabbing my backpack and stuffing as much clothes as I could in it. I'm about to get out the door when one of my novels come into sight. A brief memory of my mom giving this very one to me, the last Christmas we had together has me tossing it into my bag as well.

         Pulling open my door with as much force as I can muster, almost ripping it from its hinges, I make my way out the room. I can hear Jenna and my dad having a heated argument downstairs at this point and I ignore, rushing my steps as I stalk past them in the living room and straight into the kitchen. I pull open about three cabinets before finding my dad's stock of liquor. I pop one open and begin downing it when Jenna steps in.

        "Are you out of your mind?!" She screeches, coming towards me. I lift a finger to stop her but she obviously doesn't get the hint as her approach doesn't stop. Finishing up the bottle, I smash it against the island, directing the pointy tips at her.

         "Stay the fuck where you are or I'll make a decision I promise you, I won't regret," I threaten, grabbing another bottle of liquor.

          "Raven...I agree your dad's made a mistake but you acting out this way is probably why he hadn't told you yet." Jenna says, trying to reassure me.

       "Cut the shit," I yell. "Mom just died last year...how fast could a man get back into a relationship if he really loved his wife? He was cheating on her, wasn't he?"

            "Raven..."

    I laugh out, without humour at her lack of response. She knew about this? "Tell him I hope this time, he doesn't get a dead wife and a daughter he isn't so proud of."

        I'm unable to stop the tears from spilling as I brush past Jenna and run out the front door. I hated drinking but not as much as I hated my father.