It was Drake.

The boy had draped his jacket over her shoulder. It felt warm and homey, helping Laura calm down a bit though her wailings refused to stop.

The moment Raven stepped closer to them, the young woman instinctively took a step back towards Drake until she could hide in his arms. One of her trembling hands reached for the sleeve of Drake's tee. She shook it with all her might, hoping that her friend would understand what she meant to say.

And he did. Immediately, he guided her out of the dance floor and out of the club.

Laura needed to stay away from the buzzing crowd and from Raven -- him most of all.

A taxi stopped in front of the two. As they sat inside, Drake held Laura close to him.

"Thank you." The young woman was finally able to speak a word. Just a few meters away from the club and Laura's wailings came to a halt. Her visions were also gone and she wasn't feeling anything weird anymore, but she was still afraid of Raven. Quickly, she checked the rear windshield. Not that the boy could match the speed of a car. She just had to check.

"He's far now. You're okay here." Drake eased his hold on her and gave her space. "Damn, what happened to you, Laura? You suddenly bawled your eyes out there. Did Rave do something to you?"

"No!" was her quick reply.

"So everything's cool with him then?"

At that, she couldn't respond. She took a deep shakey breath then shook her head. "M-may-- Maybe it's just... me."

"It's just you what?"

Laura didn't know what to say. What happened to her was really strange and frightening: suddenly crying -- wailing -- and having visions.

Wait.

She suddenly remembered.

One member of their family did the same. When they were outside, her grandmother would sometimes suddenly do the same.

She told this to Drake.

"You think that what happened to you was also happening to your grandmother?" He was all ears on her, listening and giving his full attention without judgement.

"Yeah. Maybe it's some kind of a disease or I don't know. Must be genetic."

"Maybe you're angels." Drake clasped a hand on his mouth as he said, "Or devils! That's why you-- Aw! Aw! Ouch!"

Laura mercilessly pinched her friend's cheek, her hands leaving it only when two red marks were drawn on the skin.

They arrived in front of her house. "We're here, Drakey. Now pay the nice cabbie."

Pouting, the young man did as told and escorted Laura to her home's doorstep. Before she could knock three times, the door had flung open. Her mother had a worried expression etched on her face. "Good gracious! Thank goodness you're already here."

Knitting her brows, Laura let her mother lead Drake and her to the living room. "We're you actually waiting for me?"

"Of course, honey."

"And you haven't moved near the door since I left?"

"Well, I cleaned the dishes after your dad ate. But, mostly, yeah."

Her mother hadn't eaten yet, and she looked so distressed.

"Why?" The young woman asked.

The old lady took her hands in hers. "Because I know how much grandmama means to you. You may not have been close to her when you became a teen, but the two of you would always hang out when you were younger. You were inseparable. I'm sure losing her left you devastated. That's why you went out with your friends, right? You wanted to ease your pain. I'm sorry I hadn't realized it earlier."

What was her mother talking about?

She? In pain and devastated?

Because her grandmother and she was close and always together before?

No. She had no memory of it. But her mother wouldn't lie to her. She has no reason to.

There is something Laura needed to know -- should discover, and only her grandmother could give her that.

"Mom," Laura steadied her voice, becoming nervous of something unknown to her. "I want to learn more about grandmama. Can Drake and I go through her things in her room? We'll clean it afterwards. I promise."

The old woman nodded. Standing up, she headed to the kitchen. "Would the two of you like lemonade and some apple pie?"

"No. We're fine--"

"Apple pie sounds good."

Laura, mouth gaping, looked at Drake.

"What?"

The girl rolled her eyes, stood from the couch and took Drake by the arm. "Come on, we've got things to do." She dragged him towards her grandmother's room. Its old wooden door isn't locked so they just head inside.

It's clean -- the clothes all hang tidily in the open closet, the desk filled with neatly placed water bottles and snacks that her grandmother always liked, and the bed made as if the elderly would soon sleep on it again. Laura's mother had always done a good job ensuring that it's neat.

Laura's hand brushed over her the desk, feeling guilty that she'll search through her things and wanting to turn the place outside down just to find explanation to what was happening to her. "I'm sorry, grandmama," she whispered. Then, she looked behind her to say to Drake, "Let's start. You look over the closet there and I'll look over here."

The young man stepped into the room and went near the closet. "And, what are we supposed to be looking for?"

"Ah..." Laura opens one of the wooden drawers, seeing old combs, mirrors, and baby powder. She rummaged through the things. "Anything that contains information. Like a journal or a diary or something. You'll know it when you see it." Without seeing anything that would be useful, she closed the drawer and opened another one. There should be something in there but... what if there isn't? Worry cast a shadow inside Laura.

"Like this one?" She heard her friend ask.

Her head snapped at Drake's. The boy was showing her a brown leather notebook, dusty and worn. Instantly, Laura hurried towards him and took the notebook from his hand, opening it to see what's written inside. "This! This was her diary! Back when she was still healthy." Her grandmother didn't have entries for every day but she wrote during special occasions -- birthdays, graduations, family trips, and the like. As Laura read the pages, her hands trembled and water started to form within her eyes. The old lady had written how close they were when she was still a little kid, always listening to her grandmama and asking for tales that, now, she couldn't remember.

Why had she forgotten them? Those precious precious memories?

Drying her tears, she continued reading. The entry was dated sometime when she was in sixth grade. There, written, was her first instance of uncontrollable wailing. "Here! Drake! It's written here!"

"What does it say?"

Laura's index finger skimmed through the words. "She wrote that she had feared that someone in her family would be like her. And that she should protect me. Or else, Douglas will come."

"So there is really something that's happening to you. And your grandma knows it. You think your mother knows too?"

The girl shook her head. "No. I don't think so."

"What else is written in there?" Drake peeks into the diary. "Looks like nothing more."

"Yeah."

"So... what happened to you? And who's Douglas?"

She had heard of it many times from her grandmother... Right. Right when she first cried without knowing how to stop. Right when she started having visions of... death. Like how she saw the woman in club and how she could die.

Like pieces of a difficult puzzle, Laura fitted each memory of hers into place, trying to make sense of what was happening to her.

Uncontrollable wailings... death... and Douglas.

Her grandmother was always saying that name... That time... And that time... And... The old lady once shielded her from one of her friends back in elementary. Who was it? Their face... She could not recall. Wait... That time... If she was right... Then it was...

Raven.

Yes.

He wasn't her first love. She was afraid of him. In her fright, she had altered her memories about him and her beloved grandmother.

Now she remembered. Raven was always chasing after her and giving her chrysanthemums, not for affection, but to signify death. How creepy is that? No matter how much she ran away from him, he'll always try to be close to her until...

Then, her grandmother gave her something, saying it would protect her from Douglas.

"Earth to Laura. Earth to Laura." Drake was waving one hand before her. "So, what do we do?"

"Honey, you have a visitor!" Laura's mother called before the girl could answer the boy's question.

But she already knew who it was.

She grabbed Drake's arm and led her to the window. Opening it, she asked, "You have your bike with you?"

"Yeah, but why--""

"No questions. We're going to the cemetery."

With Drake's motorbike, the two had quickly reached the cemetery. Laura, in her heels and party dress, walked through the muddy ground and dug through her grandmother's grave using her bare hands.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Drake is using his phone's flashlight to serve as Laura's light.

"I need to do this, Drake. I need to get back my ring. It's my only protection from Raven." She breathed in and out, gathering all her strength to dig.

"Why the hell would you need protection from Raven?"

"I also don't know, but grandmama is scared of him and scared for me."

Making sure that the light still showered upon the girl, Drake walked closer to her to help, his white shoes getting dirty as he used his feet to dig.

Just then, they heard a male's voice. "Digging for your grave early, I see." It was Raven. In Laura's eyes, he wasn't the handsome angelic boy anymore but a gangly frightening creature with a devilish grin. He strolled towards the girl, but before he could go near her, Drake blocked his way.

"What do you want from Laura, Rave? Maybe we should talk first."

"Ha! Talking. Talking. Talking. I'm tired of always talking! What I want is... is..." His mouth drooled. Suddenly, he lunged towards the young woman. Drake tried to tackle the creature to prevent him from getting closer to his friend but it just easily pushed him out of its way.

Drake was thrown to ground, now unconscious.

"Drake!" Laura screamed. The monster gave off an evil laugh that frightened the girl and caused even more panic. "G-go away!"

"Not before I eat you!"

She should do something. Laura stood up, got some muddy soil in her hands and threw it to the creatures face. It grunted as earth got into his eyes. The girl stepped back and felt her back touch something soft. She turned around, and, in the dark barely saw the silhouette of a young woman with long white hair and dressed in a long white gown she knew her grandmother wore as she laid down inside her coffin.

"You're safe now, dear child," the woman said. She could imagine her smiling. "And you! You have no place here!" The woman showed a ring -- Laura's ring -- to the scary creature. Cowering before the ornament, Raven was soon gone. The woman faced Laura again and gave her a tight hug. "I'm glad you're safe now. Never lose your ring again."

"W-who are you..."

The woman gave her a heart-warming smile that reminded her so much of her grandmother. "You know who I am."

Could it be? "G-grandmama? Is that... really you?"

The woman patted the girl's head. "Clever Laura." She nodded to say yes.

"But you're so... young except your hair. And you died. How can you?"

"I'm not human, child. I'm like you."

Like her. "What?"

The rain started to fall once again. Laura's eyes had already adjusted to the dark. She could see her young grandmother and notice that her eyes were red, like she had never stopped crying.

"It's time for you to know the truth," she told her, "I am no human. I'm a banshee, a creature who sees the end of humans' lives, forever mourning and wailing for their death." Her hand cupped Laura's cheek. "And you're one, too, dear child. My sweet Laura. I had hoped that no kin of mine becomes a banshee, because it is a long tough life. But here you are."

Memories visited Laura's mind as she listened to her grandmother speak. Her visions when she was still a kid were all about someone's death and she would wail uncontrollably as soon as she saw them, only stopping when she was away from the person she had a vision of.

Something deep within her believed the woman -- her grandmama.

"But how can it be possible? D-did grandpapa know?"

"Of course, he did. But our children don't."

"And Raven? He's Douglas, right? The ring was to protect me from him, right?"

"Raven is a wendigo. He feasts on human flesh and his favorite is that of a human with other creature's blood. Such as you. Douglas is a term used by banshees in the magical world meaning death for a creature. You are no longer human, Laura. Do not let Douglas come to you." The older banshee opened Laura's hand and placed the ring on her palm. "This is an enchanted ring. Wendigos cannot stand silver and powerful enchantments against them. But this ring does not only protect you from Raven, but it also protects you from yourself. This ring suppresses your visions and wailings. As long as you wear it, you are human. Until you die a mortal life."

Laura wore the ring around her finger. "Was this yours grandmama? That's why you lived a mortal life?"

"No, my dearest, I'm an old banshee, I could fake aging. But, you, you're still a child. It was enchanted by one of the stronger elderlies in the magical world. So take good care of it."

The magical world. Twice she heard it from her grandmother and now she longed to see it. "Are you going back there?"

Her grandmother's hair danced beautifully despite the rain. "Yes."

"But I don't want you to leave. And I want to see it too!"

"Someday, child, someday." Then she slowly disappeared, leaving her words that said, "I love you, Laura. Very much."

"I also love you grandmama! Thank you!" She stood under the rain, on the muddy ground, for minutes, thinking about her grandmother and her being a banshee. It was scary and unbelievable but she needed to deal with it alone. She should be as brave as her beautiful grandmother.

She heard a grunt and looked at Drake, now awake and holding his head. "Oh, hell, great. You're okay." Quickly on his toes, he looked around to make sure there was no lurking danger. "What did I miss?"

"Magic, Drake, magic." Trembling but never wanting to lose to her own fate, Laura smiled at her friend. "Magic."