"I hate it when people anticipate my sentences...", I grumbled, then I put my shoulder bag by the chair and sat down. "Yeah, that's why I'm here. Have they informed you?"

"Yes, I remember that..." Suddenly she sniffed the air like a dog. " You reek of gunpowder. Are you a hunter?"

Her presence here was definitely warranted. I hate it when people make assumptions about me; especially when they're pulled out of thin air and still true.

"No, that's my perfume. I'm not here to talk about me."

"You're here to talk to me about Ram." This time it was in a falling tone, as if it were a terrible realization. Immediately after, she showed the first signs of panic.

I quickly rummaged something out of my pocket, moving my chair around to block the overseers' view of her hands behind the mirror.

"I brought you some cigarettes," I said, placing the pack on the table.

"What am I supposed to do with these? I'm not allowed to smoke. I might set myself on fire."

"As long as I'm here, you are allowed."

"And what benefit is that to me? What good does it do me to smoke?" she asked with mild curiosity.

"Tell me about the raven, and I'll help you."

"How are YOU going to help me? You can't."

"Just trust me. I can help you," I said with confidence and grabbed her arm. "I know what women want," I followed up, stroking the scars on her forearm with my thumb.

"Do you really know that? And the man behind the mirror will watch us?" she asked, irritated.

"He will, but I ... can live with that."

"Ah... Can you?"

"I can. It wouldn't be the first time someone watched me do it."

"Then I hope you really know what women want."

I smiled confidently.

"Are you going to tell me what happened to you?"

"If I have to... I have a child. Do you have a child?"

"No, I don't."

"My condolences."

"It's not dead. I never had one."

"What a pity."

I sigh.

"It's better than dead. Now talk."

"I was at some point... At some point I wanted to go shopping because I needed food for the baby. I was on a road through a little forest, if you wanted to call it that. That was the way to the store. Grass was on the side. There was plaster missing from the wall. You could see the bricks. Between the bricks sat a beetle. It was fiery red with little bumps like stripes and had six legs. I had looked at it closely because it was interesting. When I came back up, I saw ... there was a raven sitting on the wall. He looked at me and cawed disgustingly. I was startled and went down on my knees, then he flew away. Nothing more had happened. That was all. That was my first encounter with the raven. I quickly forgot about it and went shopping. It was just a raven, after all. They are everywhere. Here, too. Out in the yard they always sit in the trees by the coal hut."

"I see, and then what?"

"After shopping, I went back home and then I fed the baby..." At that point, her breath caught.

"Then what?"

"The baby was crying and bleeding. I ran to the hospital. I dropped everything. I even left the door open. Glass was in the food."

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"And then?"

"The baby died. They couldn't save it. My husband blamed me. I cried alone in the hospital. Then... I tried to jump out the window, but it wouldn't open, so I broke the pane. Climbing out, I cut myself, but I didn't care. I jumped. But when I hit the ground it went black and I was back against the wall in front of the bug. When I looked up, there was the raven. He cawed again and again it flew away. I dropped my things and ran home. The baby lay asleep in the cradle, just as I had left it. It was as if nothing had happened. I was overjoyed. I thought it had been a premonition from the gods."

"Was there anyone else there?"

"Just me and the baby. My husband wasn't there. He was out of town a lot and only ever came back when he had time."

"You left your baby home alone and went shopping?"

"Are you trying to blame me? Do you know how much a baby cries? It won't sleep without porridge. Who else would get it?"

"I'm just trying to gauge how many people were involved."

"Why? Nobody remembers anything but me. If it were otherwise, I wouldn't be here."

"True, I guess."

"That night my husband came home and I told him everything. He didn't believe me. He thought I was lying to him. Why would I do that? What reason would I have to? I showed him the scar from the window." She opened her right hand. The fingers and palm were scarred. "He still didn't believe me. He thought I'd hurt myself differently. Did he think I was crazy? He got angry. He hit me, with his fist. I lost a tooth. Then I ran away. Outside I came back to the wall. The raven was no longer there, but it was still scary, so I took another path. I ran. I didn't know where I was going. I would probably turn back when I had cried myself out, I thought. But in the end, I hid against a tree and slept there. The next morning, I was still lying there. But I couldn't stay forever. I went back home and hoped that my husband was no longer there. When I arrived, the door was still open. Blood and broken shards were in the hallway. The blood was dry. My feet left no prints. My husband had tripped while running after me and hit his head on his own glass. He was dead. He had simply died. Just like that."

"Was your husband an alcoholic?"

"He was a stupid bastard and it's a good thing he's dead."

"Were you doing any drugs yourself at the time?"

"Not that I know of."

"What happened next?"

"'What do you think happened?' The doctors picked up the body and asked me a few questions. Then they left me alone and I was happy with my baby. We got money from the state. I didn't have to do anything except to take care of my baby. Months went by. It was the best time of my life. Then one day I was going to pack us a basket for a trip, I took the baby and went downstairs, but on the way I tripped on the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs is our garden door. I fell through the glass and hit my head on a rock from the flower bed. Then I was back at the wall. Again I saw the beetle. It was years before. Time had been turned back. I heard the croaking and in shock and trembling I fell to the ground. When I looked, the raven was not on the wall. He was sitting next to me, and chopped off my fingers." She raised her left hand. Two fingers were missing. "With a bloody beak he flew away. He gathered up the fingers with his claw and took them with him as if they were his. What do you think it means?"

"You've lost two fingers. You had died twice."

"I have eight lives left? That wouldn't be right."

"Tell me the rest."

"I didn't think about it at the time. I was too shocked. I ran home, but the front door was locked. I didn't have my key. I had dropped my purse on the wall. I was going to run back to get it, when I saw the raven sitting on the gutter. I could hardly move from fright. Why had he followed me here? Then he suspiciously turned his head to the side, as if he wanted to show me something. I took a few steps back and could see the window upstairs was open. Did he want me to climb into the house through the window? Before I could do anything, he flew into the room himself. Then I heard the baby crying. Then I ran around the house. I wanted to break the garden door, but someone had already done it and I could get in. But there was no one in the house. As I ran up the stairs, the baby went quiet. I came into the baby's room. The raven was not to be seen. The baby was no longer in the cradle, instead it was on the window sill. I ran to it, but before I could reach it, it moved and fell. It hit the flower vase in front of the house and then it was dead. The raven sat on the neighbor's roof and cawed as if it was laughing at me, then it left me alone."

"In which direction were the shards of the garden door? Were they more outside or more inside? Do you remember?"

"How would I know that? Does it matter?"

"No, not that important. Go on with your story."

"All of it?"

"Yes, please."

"When my husband came home, it was late at night. I heard him staggering in the hallway and crashing into the dressing room, then he came up. I was sitting in the baby's room with the baby. My husband joined me. He didn't understand. He didn't understand what was with the baby." Dark spots appeared in her blindfold. She was crying. "I stabbed him in the neck with a shard. Then he hit me with his fist. I couldn't breathe and he got away before I could stab him again. But he didn't get far, ha-ha-ha." She laughed as she cried. "He died in the downstairs hallway like some mutt. The raven was sitting on the wardrobe. He saw it happen, and he laughed, too."

"You had taken a shard from the garden door up to the baby's room?"

"Yes. I did. It was premeditated. I did it on purpose. Is that so bad? He would have died anyway."

"If that's how you feel about it. Personally, I pretty much don't care about him. I just wanted to know where the shard came from."

"I like you. You are insane."

"If you say so. Could your husband see the raven, too?"

"He... I don't know. I stabbed him when he came through the door. I don't think he could talk anymore."

I nodded, but in truth her statement didn't quite add up. At first it had sounded like she had confronted him. I still made no comment.

.../ End Part