The Raven Gang (Noble Animals Book 1) Read online

  He felt a rush of adrenaline and confidence. “You know, you ask a lot of questions for someone who seems to know all the answers.”

  The figure laughed again. “It seems you always were the little ignorant fool.”

  The figure was about to continue, but Patrick interrupted “Stop filling my head with worries and lies. Tell me who you are!”

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. But alright, I am not completely without empathy. I will answer you just one question.”

  There was a pause as he tried to recompose himself in the complete darkness.

  “Well go on, shoot.” ordered the figure.

  Patrick took a couple steps forward, unafraid. “What do you have to do with me?”

  “I am your own personal demon, in some manner of speaking, and in only a matter of time, I am going to come out of hell.” the figure laughed maniacally for the final time.

  At this moment, Patrick rushed back in the direction he came in. Luckily he found the opening and jumped through it on the first try. He sprinted and swatted away the tall grass that stood in his path. As the world began to fade he heard the figure speak one more time.

  “You won’t be fast enough, Patrick. You will not be without me. Nevermore!”

  He tripped on a vine and fell and his side. He caught a glimpse of the dark sky. It was coming closer to the ground. He was now supinated on the ground staring wide-eyes at the sky. As the stars began to fall, he heard the sound of the mystery man echo into infinity. Nevermore. Nevermore. Nevermore. Nevermore

  Patrick shot up as if thousands of volts surged through his body. He had a piercing headache and his whole body was drowned in sweat. He took several deep breaths hoping to calm himself down. He picked up his cell phone lying next to his pillow. The bright light did not bother him in the dark, as he was wide-awake. The clock just struck 4 am, and he was the farthest thing from tired. He tossed the sheets off himself and put his shoes back on. He was already wearing the rest of his clothes so he just walked out of his dorm, deciding to take a short walk to gather his thoughts. With each step he took the inhuman voice of the stranger still haunted him. Nevermore. Nevermore. Nevermore. Nevermore.

  When he returned to his dorm he was able to fall into a dreamless sleep. It was a short sleep that would take him to about nine in the morning. Now that he was once again wide awake he proceeded with his morning routine as any normal human would. He took a short shower followed by a change of clothes and responses to several ‘Happy Thanksgiving’ texts from various overjoyed family members, which he completed in time to be out from the dorm at nine twenty-five in order to be at breakfast at nine thirty.

  Patrick was happy that the morning had blessed him with a cloudy day. Even late into the month there had been an excess of ultraviolet rays being massively fired by the sun upon the unfortunate students. It was at times like this in he longed for a heavy snowfall. He had really only experienced snow once in his life. It was several years ago when his family spent Christmas and New Years in New York. He took great advantage of the falling white dust to throw snowballs at complete strangers for which his mother demanded he apologize. But that didn’t ruin any of his fun.

  As he proceeded southward towards the main dining hall he passed by the gym and Nabbock Hall. The latter was in the years before an exclusively freshmen hall. The college changed its mind though, and now it was a dorm for all years to have the opportunity to drunkenly thrash. The rooms in Nabbock were probably the most spacious of any other hall on campus and had the nicest lounges and laundry machines. It was Patrick’s first choice for a dorm, but he and Johnny ended up getting in the Lewis Annex. Lewis Hall itself was a pleasantly nice dorm. However, they were living in the Lewis Annex, which was a small, two story and cabin-like dorm behind it’s better half. It was recognized as the worst dorm anyone could have the misfortune of being placed into. Cracks lined the walls and windows were sometimes too broken to open. It was initially built back in the forties as just temporary housing, but the college saw a more financially stable option in letting students suffer.

  Before pulling open the door to the dining hall he caught sight of an advertisement for a night at some fraternity house located on campus at which they would be showing Disney’s Frozen at eight o’clock. The event was cleverly named “Brozen”.

  The aroma of fresh eggs and hash browns hit him hard as he walked through the door to the dining hall. He was going to hurry up the stairs to secure a portion of the delicious smelling food when he noticed that way over passed the circular fireplace was a humble band playing Christmas tunes. The holly jolly band’s instruments consisted of an acoustic guitar, a flute, and a keyboard in the tune of sleigh bells. They were playing “Jingle Bells” with a lovely harmony. Patrick thought they were rockin’ the song with the appropriate merry-along gusto, which lightened him up quite a bit. A hat rested at the foot of the keyboard stand that was labelled “tips”. Patrick had some excess change so he figured he could afford to hand them a crisp Lincoln.

  Taking a few steps forward, he zipped his backpack open for his wallet. The sudden force of something shoving him from the side made him fall like the final domino of a set. He tried to keep a good grip on his backpack for security as several small items splashed out of its top pocket. Quickly he picked himself back up to get a look at who caused a rude pause to his otherwise happy morning. Patrick wasn’t the least bit surprised. Standing over him with an expression of annoyance and not even an ounce of sympathy was Gary Frost.

  “Man, you need to watch where you’re going.” Gary grunted condescendingly. “You could have hurt me.”

  Patrick wobbled uneasily from having stood up a little too quickly and almost fell back down. Several of Patrick’s backpack contents were still scattered on the floor. He felt he had so much to say at that moment of anger, but he kept his cool. Somewhat.

  “Me? You’re the asshole who knocked me down! I was taking my time while you were walking like thirty miles an hour.” he exclaimed, still slightly dazed from the fall.

  “You’re right in the middle of the walkway. There are so many other places you could loiter.”

  Patrick crossed his arms irritably. “I was about to move but I never got the chance.”

  “Listen guy, it doesn’t need to be this complicated.” Gary bent down and picked up his wallet, pens, pencils, and handed them all back to him. “Just go about your day, maybe give a couple dollars to the band, get a nice breakfast, and live out the rest of your merry little life, but just stay out of my way.”

  Gary was gone down the staircase before Patrick could even give a small response. As a rabbit isn’t bothered by the feelings of a wolf, he wasn’t going to let the sour encounter bother him, hard as it would be. So he went on to do what he was going to do. The five dollars was dropped into the hat, which gave him nods of approval from the members of the band. Then he decided to get a large breakfast to celebrate Thanksgiving which consisted of chocolate chip pancakes, hash browns, eggs, bacon, and a biscuit. He took his time in case anyone would come to join him. No one did. When he finished he snuck a couple packs of sugar for coffee back in his dorm.

  Turning over his backpack to find the small pocket, he noticed that two of the zippers were still wide open. At first he didn’t think much of it, but then realized that one of them was the one he kept his prized watch inside. Panic quickly consumed him. He reached into the second smallest pocket and swished his hand around.

  His father’s watch had disappeared.

  His heart sank. He looked all around his table, but it was nowhere to be seen. He traversed the dining hall from the salad bar to the breakfast stand, even all the way back to the Christmas band. It was nowhere. A thought entered his head. He paused. One thought led to another which created a swarm inside his mind. The pockets were probably open as he fell when Gary pushed him. He also bent down and picked up some of Patrick’s things. One
of them must have been the watch. The way he was eyeing the device at the coffee lounge was completely suspicious. Gary took the watch, was the thought that kept replaying repeatedly inside his head. Terrible uncertainty suddenly turned into anger. Patrick had become angrier than he had been in years.

  6

  “Doom and Gloom”

  Hours after the watch went missing he was still seething with rage. Patrick had spent those hours searching around campus trying to find Gary, but it was a lost cause. Trying to find someone on campus was harder than finding a needle in a haystack. Hardly anyone was on campus, plus he had no idea where Gary lived. Wanting to have time to think it over, he headed over to Slate’s single dorm in Anderson Hall to tell his friends of the heinous theft. Lindsey opened the door after he knocked and they exchanged greetings. Slate was sitting on his bed using his laptop while Johnny was sitting on the floor shaking an Xbox controller staring intently at the screen and muttering curses. Slate was the second to greet him.

  “Hello, Patrick. How has your Thanksgiving been so far?”

  “I’ll tell you how it’s been. Gary! It has been Gary! He bumped into me today. He literally bumped into me! Knocked me to the ground and I dropped a few things. I thought I had everything, but it turns out my watch is missing!”

  This statement got the attention of everyone in the room. Slate plucked off his headphones and Johnny looked away from the screen.

  “You think he stole it?” asked Johnny.

  “Well I don’t see any other possibility! I’ve been trying to find him for the last few hours but he’s nowhere to be seen!” He turned Slate and Lindsey. “You guys remember he was looking at it last night. Tell me I am not making some wild accusation.”

  Lindsey pensively brushed her hair to the side. “Well, yeah. But that doesn’t mean anything. It’s still a wild accusation because…why? Why would he just up and steal it from you?”

  “That may be so.” Slate interjected. “But you should still find him as soon as possible. Even if he didn’t take it, he could still know something. Perhaps you could find out why he had an interest in it in the first place.” He bounced off his bed to get closer to Patrick.

  Johnny turned off the Xbox and gave his full attention to his despairing friend.

  “At least you now have a reason to go to that party.” Johnny gleamed.

  “What does this have to do with your ridiculous party?” asked Patrick, advancing towards Johnny.

  He kept his smile despite his friend’s harsh tone. “You don’t know? Gary is going to be there tonight. Not only that, but word has it that he’s apparently the only person who was actually invited. Eventually some beans were spilled and the party began to attract other people in biology related fields and the ones who are going for the free alcohol. Like me.”

  “Wow. The guy gets invited to a party whose host is a biologist and he even gets to take advantage of the free booze. That’s the dream.” Slate commented wondrously.

  Lindsey smirked as she wrapped her arm over her boyfriend’s shoulder. “He uses that word loosely. Yesterday he said that a loaf of bread with the crust already cut off was also the dream.”

  Patrick silently thought everything over again. Going to a party surrounded by drunk morons was not a way he wanted to spend his Thanksgiving night. Though at the same time he knew there were no signs of it getting any better. He could still be productive in catching a thief and having a priceless memento returned.

  He declared, “Okay. I’ll go.”

  Johnny’s smile widened “Great! You’ll settle the score with Gary, and hopefully I’ll hook up with a girl from San Francisco State.”

  “Are you sure you want to do this? You’re basically crashing a party you weren’t even invited to just to confront a guy who could be innocent.” Lindsey countered.

  “No one was invited!” responded Patrick with volume, and promptly regretting it.

  “Oh. Yeah it’s probably okay then.”

  Slate slipped between Johnny and Patrick, standing with solidarity as if they were a band of revolutionary comrades. “I’ll go with you guys. I can’t just leave a friend hanging in a situation like that. I’ll be your backup.”

  He then turned to Johnny. “Mars, you’ll be his backup as well.”

  “But… but the girl from San Francisco State-.”

  “Johnny-.”

  He sighed and turned off the TV to give them as much attention as he could. “Yes. The two of us will back you up.”

  Lindsey stood up next to Slate “I could drive you guys there. It’s okay if I’m a little late to the family dinner. My dad is probably going to be busy working anyway.”

  Patrick now felt inspired and victorious even though the meeting between him and Gary had not yet occurred. It was at times of anger and confusion like this that he always realized how great his friends could be. He was certain he would see that watch again.

  He went around, giving each friend a grateful embrace. “Great, you guys. Thank you so much. So let’s be on our way.”

  “Uh, Paddy boy, the party doesn’t start until seven thirty. It’s only One.” Johnny added anticlimactically.

  There was a brief pause.

  “How about lunch?” Slate proposed.

  They all agreed that a little food would do them well. Patrick’s phone began to vibrate inside his pocket, quickly earning his attention. He excused himself and walked out into the hall to take the call. The cell’s screen let him know it was his mother calling.

  “Hello?”

  “Patrick, hey! I hope you’re having a happy Thanksgiving!” his mother rejoiced, her voice glittered with holiday cheer.

  “Well, it’s certainly been interesting.”

  “That’s great to hear. We all miss you down here. Me, Uncle Jack, Aunt Helen.” The list of family members went on for a while. “We’re all here to wish you a happy day of thanks! It’s just not the same without you being the one to slice the pumpkin pie.”

  “No argument there.” he chuckled. “Tell everyone else I wish you all the very best as well.”

  “Oh, I almost forgot, even your cousin Jane was able to come today and stay for a couple days.”

  Patrick’s cousin Jane was currently working as a medical intern at a hospital just outside of San Francisco, making her very close to Weller. She was hoping to become a licensed doctor in just a couple more years despite her younger age.

  “That’s fantastic, Mom! Tell her I say hello, and that I still want a scrabble rematch!”

  “I will! Please be sure to give her a call soon. You two were so close when you were kids. You know she would do anything for you?”

  “I love her just the same. Listen, I got to go.” he lied. He was still stressed out and preferred not to get involved in any conversation he didn’t have to. “I’ll call you back later.”

  They gave loving goodbyes before hanging up. He went back inside Slate’s dorm to find everyone patiently waiting for his return. He picked up his jacket and they all made their way outside, still blissfully ignorant of what was to come.

  No one interesting ever showed up to a party right on time, so by arriving late Gary couldn’t be missing much. The time was 8 PM. According to the invitation there would be a good amount of time to let people settle in and have a few drinks before the host came out and gave his presentation. The host, at the moment, was nowhere to be found.

  Gary was eager to hear what Dr. Black would have to say. A couple hours before arriving at the San Francisco house he did some more research on the man and found out he was quite an impressive geneticist. He had lately been working with some other famous company who had devoted many funds and time into research on curing genetic diseases with more technological means. Not a lot of information was available, but his methods certainly turned the heads of others in the field of biology.

  The man
’s house was quite the spectacle as well. If he didn’t know any better he’d guess the house was owned by some big-time Hollywood screenwriter. The first floor was well designed with a living room to the right of the main doorway, the entrance to the extensive scientific and literary library to the left, and passed the staircase with the sofa in front lead to the kitchen where under aged students were pouring themselves alcohol.

  Even the garage looked well-kept enough to just be another room. Many chairs were set up, all giving focus to the center podium with a projection screen lined on the wall.

  What stole Gary’s focus the most was a wooden table in the back with a camera connected to a computer monitor. Gary wondered if it was configured properly for a live broadcast. Must be some pretty impressive work he thought.

  Returning from the unpopulated garage he went back into the kitchen which had been cleared of most people. Many found themselves back in the welcoming living room or outside to the backyard, which had neat features like basketball hoops and a swimming pool. No one was actually swimming, but a sizable cluster had formed a ring around it. Everyone looked like they were at least on their second drink.

  Gary never liked to be among the first to drink at a party. He had a ritual of observing the faces in the crowd and pointing out certain ones that could be suspicious. Over by the shed was a guy who was easily a second year grad student, but had surrounded himself with nineteen-year-old girls and had a high-pitched voice that made Gary assume he had not yet reached puberty. If he couldn’t find anyone interesting in the crowd he assumed he was by default the most interesting, then leave.

  Over by the hoops some people were already stumbling over to the cooler to get another drink, as if they were something on the Discovery Channel. So he decided to get one for himself. Before helping himself to one he walked through the door on the right. It was the bathroom. He locked the door behind him and flicked on the cold water, allowing it to flow into his cupped hands and splashed it onto his face. Gary looked in the mirror and quietly watch the beads fall off him and onto his clothes.