Raven Saga 01 - Raven

see me, I thought, sighing. If only my parents knew what I was going through. I didn't blame them, of course I didn't. I just wished they had been more forthcoming with so many things. And now... perhaps they would never get the chance.
    On the other hand, had they not disappeared, I would have continued on that same path. The same boring road with no twists or turns. The only 'fun' I had ever had was with December, and even then that was only ever at school. There had never been any excitement, unless you count the day when some kids had tried to blow up a school toilet. That was the extent of the excitement in my world. Until now.
    Not even the stories from the fairy tales I was so fond of could match the magic that could be found here in British Columbia. Even though I'd only been here a day or so, I hadn't even realised I was in British Columbia. I had noticed it on the licence plates of some of the cars in the area... 'Beautiful British Columbia'.
    So I'd found an atlas in Gabriel's huge book collection and pinpointed Canada and discovered how vast a country it was. A country that was divided into a number of different provinces. British Columbia was the one the furthest to the west of the country and Powell River, I discovered is right on the west coast, right by the Pacific Ocean. I was also amazed how close it seemed to Asia and how far from England.
    Clearly, had I known when I was younger, I would have taken a lot more notice in my geography class. Now though, I would simply have to learn myself. I decided that I would start with Gabriel's ample book collection, once I had settled in.
    As I admired the giant oil painting that surrounded me, I took a deep breath, breathing in that lovely scent of the fresh country air, the ocean and the pebbles around my feet. I could hear the faint squawks of birds in the distance where they flew from tree top to tree top and then soared overhead, eye-balling the fish below. But the breathtaking scenery could not stop my thoughts from once again returning to my parents, and I felt a little pang of guilt. Guilt for enjoying myself.
    Shivering, I stood up intent on walking a little more to warm myself up. I continued along the same stretch, carefully climbing over gigantic pieces of driftwood, clueless as to how such immense logs of wood could find themselves washed up here. Where had they come from? Had they drifted for hundreds of miles, thousands of miles? Or had they just come from around the corner? Probably the sort of question that every Canadian would know the answer to.
    Canadian. That was me now. Actually, that had always been me. My father was Canadian, I didn't know about my mother. I was just born in the UK, wasn't I? Suddenly I had doubts about everything. I remembered that photo Ben had shown me at the airport. I was just a baby. I had never seen it before and if I recalled correctly, the background certainly didn't appear to be London. Could I have been to Canada before? Could I have been born here? These were questions that needed answering.
    Yes, I had an English accent that everybody absolutely loved here (they couldn't get enough of it, which was difficult for me, being such a quiet girl) but I was Canadian.
    Another splash revealed yet another jumping fish to my side as I turned away from the water and headed towards a dirt track that I presumed would take me back to the main road to lead me back home. Home. Weird that it didn't feel wrong to call it that after so little time.
    I was just a few metres down the track when a grey cat suddenly appeared from nowhere. It approached me and began to purr gently at my side. I bent down to stroke it and it stayed put for just a moment while it stretched regally before it began walking away from me, towards the sound of some softly playing music that took me by surprise as I hadn't noticed any houses nearby. Although the music sounded foreign, it was beautiful. Slightly eerie.
    I approached, tiptoeing towards the sounds. Leaning against a huge tree almost twice the width of me, I carefully peered around it to get a better view of the property. The cat had left me alone and had wandered up towards the house.
    Even though it was the chilliest day since my arrival, on account of the cloudless sky, I guessed, I saw an older lady standing outdoors with her back to me. She was painting. What she was painting, I couldn't quite see. She was humming loudly to the music as the cat positioned itself at her side.
    Her grey and