Sunday, August 31st (Present Day)

“I guess it’s time to go,” I said quietly to myself as I stared at the two suitcases on my bed and took one last look at my bedroom. The old brass-framed queen-sized bed I had slept in for as long as I could remember dominated most of the small room. It was currently covered with one of the cozy patchwork comforters that Lydia had made for me. Sunny, the faded yellow stuffed rabbit that I had had since I was four, stood guard on the pillow until I was ready to return home.

Like the house itself, my bedroom wasn’t large, which was why the bed took up so much space, but it was comfortable, and the space was well organized. Beside the bed, there was a weathered nightstand with a lamp and my alarm clock. A worn oak dresser, containing some of the clothes that I wouldn’t be taking with me, stood beside the window.

More clothes hung in the small closet beside the bathroom door, and an old, padded office chair sat in front of the desk where I had done my schoolwork for as long as I could remember. Other than that, there wasn’t much in the room but a few personal items: trinkets that I had managed to collect throughout my childhood sitting on the dresser, my electric guitar and amplifier beside the desk, and posters of some of my favorite punk bands on the walls. Each item bore bittersweet memories of my life until now.

We never had a lot of luxuries when I was a kid, but we had always had enough. Lydia had always made sure of that by carefully managing the money from my parents’ life insurance policies. She had managed it well enough to pay off my parents’ small and ageing house, and now that I was eighteen and could access the trust fund that my mother had left for me, I would be able to go to university without having to get student loans. It was an opportunity that I didn’t plan to pass up.

As much as I wanted to leave, though, as much as I needed space, I could feel tears coming to my eyes. This home that I had grown up in was all that I knew, and, as much as I was trying to act as if I were ready for this, I couldn’t help but feel some uncertainty and fear of the unknown. I tried to comfort myself with the thought that I was only going to be a short drive away, just far enough to give me some space and let me live the life of a normal university student in the dorms at UBC. I let out a sigh and reached for the suitcases as I murmured, “I’m going to miss this place.”

“You don’t have to leave,” Lydia said from the entrance to the room. “You could take your classes online from home.”

“Just like I did with elementary school and high school? The only time I got to interact with people as a child was when we went shopping. Even my music and yoga lessons were done here with a private teacher,” I retorted as I turned to face the grey-haired and slightly overweight woman.

Technically, Lydia was my nanny when I was little, but she raised me alone since my parents died when I was barely a year old. She was the closest thing to family or a real friend that I had, except for Lilly, her niece and my childhood playmate, but Lilly had moved away when I was seven. I knew that my leaving was hurting Lydia, but I needed this.

“Yes,” was her soft reply, her tone pleading. “Stay here with me, where you will be safe.”

I rolled my eyes and then shook my head as I told her, “You’re doing it again. See, this is exactly why I need to leave. Ever since I was a baby, you’ve been going on and on about keeping me safe, and it’s suffocating me. The world isn’t as dangerous as you seem to think it is. You’re so paranoid about keeping me alive that you’re preventing me from living! I just want a normal life!” I was beginning to shout now, so I took a deep breath to calm myself before I continued speaking. “I want to know what it’s like to go to school, to have friends, and maybe even a boyfriend.”

Lydia looked as if I had slapped her, so hurt she appeared to be from my words. “I never prevented you from making friends, Raven. I gave you as much freedom as I could without sacrificing your safety.”

“You were always watching anyone I got close to, I wasn’t allowed to get a job, my phone has a GPS locator, and whenever I met other kids, you were so intrusive that it scared them off!” I grabbed my two suitcases, gripping the handles tightly enough to cause the leather to make an audible creak in complaint. “I’m going, Lydia; I’ll call when I’m settled in.” With that, I made my way out of my bedroom and stormed out of the house and into the garage.

Lydia followed me out, but she didn’t say another word as I placed both my suitcases in the trunk of my car. The black 1992 Corvette convertible had been my mother’s car, and Lydia only drove my dad’s old (and more practical) green Jeep Cherokee over the years. She probably could have sold one or both of the vehicles, but we had enough money to get by, so Lydia decided that it would be my decision to make when I was old enough and had made sure that both vehicles stayed in good condition for when I was ready to drive. The Corvette even shone from a recent wash and wax, and I recently got new plates and insurance for it in preparation for my time at school.

I wished that I could drive with the top down to celebrate my new freedom, but autumn in Vancouver means rain, and I could hear that it was coming down in sheets outside. I put my suitcases in the trunk, opened the garage door, and climbed into the driver’s seat without another word to the woman who had raised me. As I drove down the driveway and turned onto the street, I tried not to look in the rearview mirror, but a brief glimpse showed Lydia standing in the rain as she watched me leave.

It took me a while to find Totem Park, the co-ed residential area that I would be staying in, and even longer to find my assigned parking space and then my actual residence, Haida House. It was almost eleven o’clock and it was still raining hard when I entered the residence, picked up my room key and welcome package from the front desk, and then found my room. The room I would be sharing on the third floor wasn’t very big, barely large enough to fit two people comfortably, and was divided in half with each side having a bed, desk, dresser, wardrobe, and closet. I didn’t see any suitcases or personal items, so I could only assume that my roommate hadn’t arrived yet.

With a shrug, I placed my bags on the bed on the right side of the room and, after removing my soaked UBC hoodie and brushing my long, now wet, black hair out of my eyes, I began to unpack. My clothes went to the dresser and closet, my toiletries, makeup, and purse took their places on top of the dresser, and on my desk went a framed picture of me with my parents. It was one of the few such photos I had.

The photo was taken at home in the living room and showed my mother cradling me in her arms as my father sat beside her with his arm around her. They both looked so happy, and tears came to my eyes as I once again wondered what they were like and what things would have been like if they were still alive. Lydia always told me that they were two of the strongest, bravest, and kindest people that she had ever had the pleasure of knowing. But that was all I had to know my parents by; Lydia’s second-hand memories and a photograph. I suppose you could say I had their looks as well, but that was a small consolation.

My mother had been Scandinavian and had light blonde hair, pale skin, and strong but attractive features. She looked to have been in good shape, and in the photo, she had the most piercing blue eyes I had ever seen. My father had been attractive with a square jaw, he seemed muscular without being overly so, and he had jet-black hair and hazel eyes that almost seemed amber. I took mostly after my mother, having similar facial features, skin tone, a slender but well-curved body, and her eyes. I didn’t know how tall my mother was, but I imagined that she was tall like me as well, and I was tall for a girl at five feet and eleven inches. My hair, though, was the same obsidian shade as my father’s.

I sat there at my desk for a long time, just looking at that photo, until I heard the door to the room open and close behind me. I turned to see a slim girl who was a good head shorter than me with shoulder-length wavy brown hair at the door wearing a wet black windbreaker. She put down her bags and removed the windbreaker, under which she was wearing a mint green midriff-baring halter top and tight jeans. She took a quick look around the room, and as soon as she saw me, she smiled. “Hi, I’m Jamie Harris; it looks like we’ll be roomies.”

“Raven Demarco,” I replied as I placed the picture back on my desk, “it’s nice to meet you, Jamie.”

Jamie took her bags to her side of the room and started to quietly unpack. The silence didn’t last long, though, and I thought that Jamie was probably the talkative type as she asked, “Where are you from, Raven? What’s your major? I’m majoring in Psychology, and I’m so excited to be here in Vancouver. Fort St. John is such a small town, and I’ve always wanted to know what living in a big city is like.”

“I haven’t really chosen a major yet,” I admitted shyly before adding, “I grew up here in Vancouver.”

She completely ignored my lack of a major and jumped on my other admission. “That’s awesome! You can show me the sights and all the good clubs and stuff!”

I couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm. “I don’t really know many of the good sights to see. I lived a kind of sheltered childhood, I was homeschooled and such. I’d love to check out some of the sights with you, though, once we’re settled in.”

“Overprotective parents?” the other girl asked as she abandoned packing to pull her chair from her desk to sit closer to me. Nodding to the picture on my desk, she inquired, “Is that them? I can see where you get your looks.”

“I guess you could say that,” I replied as I thought of Lydia, and then I sighed as I looked at the photo again. “Yeah, those were my parents, but they died when I was a baby. I was raised by my… nanny.” Lydia claimed to be more than that, but it was probably the best way to explain Lydia’s role in my life.

A sad look passed over Jamie’s features. “I’m so sorry. That must suck never knowing your parents. Your nanny must have really cared for you to raise you after your parents died.”

“I guess so, but she can be a pain at times,” I admitted. “She raised me, and she’s the closest thing I have to family, but she’s way too overprotective. I just want to live a normal life, that’s why I’m living in the dorms instead of at home.”

The other girl shook her head. “Trust me, normal is overrated. I came here to get away from a so-called normal life and make something of myself. My parents own a gas station and wanted me to work for them, find a boy to marry, and take the business over someday. I don’t want that boring small-town life, I want some excitement and to be something more than a glorified gas jockey.”

I nodded at that. “It sounds like you were as trapped as I was. I want to live, and a bit of excitement once in a while makes life worth living.” I looked at the welcome package on my desk and turned back to her. “Our floor doesn’t have to be at the dining hall for dinner until five-thirty. What do you say we go off campus to get some lunch, get to know one another better, and see the sights once you’re done unpacking?”

She responded with a grin as she said, “Screw unpacking! I can do it later, let’s go. Do you have a car? I don’t, so we may have to use public transit.” She took a jacket from her suitcase as she waited for my reply.

“Don’t worry, I have a car,” I answered with a grin as I picked a light jacket from my closet and put it on before grabbing my purse and shoving my keys inside.

We were both pretty hungry, so we stopped for lunch at a café with an outside patio not too far from campus. The air still had that strong ocean smell that always seemed to accompany heavy rains, but at least the rain had stopped. Since the sky was starting to clear up, and it was warm for early autumn, we sat outside to eat. The Caesar salad with grilled chicken that I ordered was pretty good and very filling, and I sat back contentedly eating it and sipping at my orange juice while Jamie and I talked. Some of the more adventurous pigeons and a couple of seagulls watched us expectantly, seemingly waiting for any crumbs that Jamie might lose from her chicken sandwich, and one, in particular, seemed to be watching us intently.

As we talked, we were getting to know each other better, and I was a little disappointed that we didn’t have very many similar interests. For one thing, Jamie liked to party and was much more social and outgoing than I thought I would ever be. The way we got along, though, made me think that we would at least be good roommates even if we didn’t end up best friends like I had been half-hoping.

After lunch, we made our way towards downtown Vancouver. We spent over an hour walking along Granville Street and checking out the stores and the various street performers. When we were tired of that, we made our way down to the waterfront to see Canada Place and then Harbour Centre. On impulse, I convinced Jamie that we should take the glass elevator on the outside of the building to the top of the Vancouver Lookout Tower. I was pressed up against the glass, watching the people and cars beneath us get smaller and smaller, when Jamie asked, “How can you do that?”

I took my eyes off the view for a moment to regard my roommate. “Do what?” I asked her, a bit confused.

“Stand so close to the glass and look down like that. I get vertigo just thinking about it,” she replied with a slight shiver.

I shrugged as I looked down at the world beneath us once more. “I don’t know, I guess that heights don’t seem to bother me, though I haven’t really been to a lot of high places.” Soon, we had reached the lookout at the top of the fifty-story tower. The view was amazing, and I looked around in wonder at the views of the Northshore Mountains, English Bay, and all of Vancouver stretched out before me. I moved from spot to spot, spanning all 360 degrees of the lookout, drinking it all in. I didn’t want to miss a single bit of it.

Jamie seemed to find my excitement very amusing. “Which one of us is new to Vancouver again? I have to admit it is one hell of a view though, just so long as I don’t look down.”

“Sorry,” I said with a blush. “As I said before, I lived a very sheltered life.”

“Don’t apologize for enjoying this, I am too, it’s awesome to see all of this on my first day here. It’s insane how big this city is, I’m glad we came up here to see it. Besides, if I were in your place, I’d probably react the same way. I’m seeing a new city for the first time, but this is your first time really seeing your home laid out like this.” She shook her head as a seagull flew by the window. “I can’t believe how many pigeons and seagulls we’ve seen today, it must have been thousands. They’re all starting to look alike; I could swear that one that flew past just now has been following us all afternoon.”

“Maybe it likes us,” I responded with a laugh. “Seriously, though, there are a lot of them in Vancouver. It’s a big city with millions of people if you count all of the outlying connected cities like Burnaby and New Westminster, and Lydia told me that with that many people, you get a lot of garbage or other possible food sources for the birds and other pests. They constantly get into garbage and places they shouldn’t.”

“We get crows and migratory birds at home, but I think I’ve seen more seagulls and pigeons alone this afternoon than I saw birds at home all summer,” she replied as we walked back to the elevator. “The crows get into garbage, but I can’t imagine ever having this many around.”

“You’ll get used to it; they’re probably all over the campus too.” I glanced at my watch as we stepped back into the elevator. “Speaking of which, we should get back there if we want to be on time for dinner.”

Traffic was light on the way back to campus, and we made it back to Totem Park with twenty minutes to spare. Jamie went back to unpacking once we returned, while I sat on my bed. “So,” she said as she was placing things in her dresser, “you said you haven’t decided on a major yet, Raven?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “I’m hoping this semester I’ll find something that sparks an interest.”

She nodded as she folded a pair of jeans and put them away. “I’ve heard that a lot of first-years do that. What courses did you choose this semester?”

I went over to my desk to get my course schedule and looked over it before answering. “I have Introduction to Anthropology, Introduction to Modern Biology, Introduction to the Theory of Music, Calculus, and Vikings and Norse Mythology.”

“That’s a pretty broad spectrum; I was considering taking some of those. What field of study is the mythology course in? History? Literature?”

“It’s in Scandinavian Studies,” I replied. “I was thinking of taking that or music as my minor. My mom was Scandinavian, and I’d like to learn more about her culture. I figured that mythology would be a fun place to start.”

“Cool, let me know if it’s interesting, I’m still trying to figure out a minor.” She checked her watch and grinned at me, “Looks like it's dinner time for our floor, roomie, let’s head down to the dining room and meet the others.”

“Sounds good to me.” I took my purse and we both headed out the door and down to the dorm dining hall. With it being our first day in residence, we were supposed to be using dinner as a chance to meet some of the other girls on our floor. Later, at eight o’clock, there was to be a floor meeting with the same purpose, where we could get to know more about dorm life and ask any questions we might have.

Once we made it to Coquihalla Commonsblock, which housed the dining hall, Jamie and I made our way through the line to order our meals. The special for the evening was beef stroganoff with a side salad, and it sounded as good as anything else, so I ordered that and a Diet Coke. With trays in hand, Jamie and I found a table with two empty spaces. Jamie immediately smiled at the four girls already seated and asked, “Are these seats taken?”

One of the girls, a very pretty redhead, smiled back and gestured for us to sit. “They are now. I’m Kendra, this is my roomie Asako, and these two are Jennifer and Erin.” A quick flick of her finger was made in the direction of each girl as she spoke their names.

“I’m Raven, and this is Jamie,” I offered as we sat down. Once we were seated, the talking began as we all tried to get to know one another. Kendra McAllister was even taller than I was and seemed to be in very good shape. She was attending UBC on a volleyball scholarship and planned on majoring in History. When she had been offered the scholarship, she had jumped at the chance to leave her small town of Cache Creek behind and try to make something of herself. She and Jamie seemed to become fast friends as we spoke.

Asako Sato was possibly the most good-natured person I had ever met. That small girl wore a constant smile beneath her glasses and wanted to work with children someday, so she was taking Early Childhood Education as her major. With her innate friendliness and her funny stories, I thought she would be very good at her future chosen profession. Her parents were Japanese, but like me, she grew up in Vancouver and wanted to be on campus and away from her parents while she pursued her studies.

Jennifer Howe preferred to be called Jenn. She came to UBC from a small farming community in Manitoba to attend the Nursing program. She was not much taller than Asako, with shoulder-length ash-blonde hair; she wore a loose-fitting UBC sweatshirt and seemed a bit self-conscious. She was constantly tugging at her sweatshirt and didn’t say much. I found out later that she had been bullied horribly by some of the other girls in her community about her looks and her weight, though I didn’t see a problem with either; she was very pretty, and I figured that those girls were just jealous.

Erin Ross was a Native and wore her long, dark hair in a French braid. She was from Haida Gwaii and was planning on majoring in Computer Science, with a minor in Environmental Science. Other than me and Jenn, she seemed to be the most reserved of the group. She seemed to take to me pretty quickly, though, and she seemed to find something humorous about me for some reason. She would look at me occasionally and giggle.

It was when we were all relaxing in the third-floor lounge as we waited for the floor meeting to start that I caught Erin doing it again. I turned to her and gave her a stern look, “Okay, Erin, spill it. Just what is it about me that you find so funny?” I could feel butterflies whipping up a whirlwind inside my chest as I worried that I had made some major social blunder and nobody was telling me.

She seemed to sense my concern and took my hand to squeeze it reassuringly. “Sorry, Raven, it’s nothing you did; I’m just trying to picture you as Raven.”

“But I am Raven, how could you not picture me as me? Do I remind you of somebody else?”

That just made her giggle again as she gave my hand another squeeze. “No, I’m trying to picture you as Raven. In the stories of my people, Raven is one of our central Gods. He created Haida Gwaii; disguised himself to enter the house of the Sky Chief, and stole the sun, moon, and stars to give to humankind; and there are various stories about how he brought humans into existence. He’s usually seen as a trickster, but everyone sees him differently. I’ve always thought that it’s like there’s some reflection of the true self of the person seeing him. Some see him as a magician with the power to create and transform and as a teacher for our people, while others see him as the greediest, most lecherous, and most mischievous creature in existence. I guess you could say that I’m trying not only to see him in you but part of myself as well.”

Jamie broke out laughing once the explanation was made. “Oh, that is funny. I haven’t known her that long, but I really don’t see our Raven as greedy, lecherous, or mischievous; so, I guess that makes her the other side of the coin.” The others joined in the laughter at that, and even I got a good laugh out of it. I couldn’t see myself as either a selfish and mischievous lecher or a magical transforming entity.

We kept talking until the floor meeting began back at our residence. The meeting was basically just a get-to-know-one-another event, and our RA, Allie, explained to us some things about living in the dorm, the rules, and where we could find her if we needed to talk or needed a hand with anything. Some of the other girls were as nervous about starting university as I was, and most of them seemed pretty nice, but the six of us were pretty happy to stay in the company of our little group for the most part and learn more about one another. We stayed in the lounge after the meeting was over until after midnight, when we finally headed to our rooms.