5.

As Emma Osmond got older, beyond being an infant, beyond being a toddler, old enough to be at a point where she could refuse to eat her vegetables, old enough to dispute a bedtime, it most certainly became obvious and clear that she had a connection with blackbirds. But why only those kinds of birds? Why not any other kind of bird, like seagulls and pigeons or all kinds of birds in general? It would be Sarah who would speculate especially with the developing attitude in her adoptive daughter.

Yeah, Emma Osmond disputed everything but only to a point. The speculation is that if the dove belongs to Heaven then the crow belongs to Hell. No matter any talkback Emma threw out, she had yet to hurt anyone so could a goodness or badness really be speculated upon? When she didn't want to eat her vegetables, when she didn't want to go to bed, blackbirds gathered outside the Osmond family home, they could come beak tapping to the windows and would caw deafeningly loud as if in support or of the beckoning of a young girl. How much information does anyone really need in order to speculate?

Indeed, no harm ever came, not until Emma was six years old. At six years old she knew the name Emma did not belong to her, it had been given much later than when a name would usually be given though she would not fight her mother or father over it. The name Raven, now that did seem to belong, it belongs to her. In school, she would only answer to Raven. If she were called any other name she would not respond.

At the school playground there was this other child, there were lots of other children but one child in particular, another little girl who so happens to have a doll that Raven liked, a doll that Raven wanted to claim as her own. Even at six years of age it felt good, she felt powerful, even at six years of age Raven liked what it was and is she can do. A child should not enjoy darkness so much but then again, this is no ordinary child.

That other little girl was not going to hand over her dolly. It was hers and not anyone else's. She could share but not with someone who is not at all being nice. A blackbird comes to land on the little girl's right shoulder once her refusal to share becomes clear, then another blackbird lands unto her left shoulder and relentlessly they begin picking at the little girl's face.

She runs, screams, and roars and there would be a battle to save her from such an odd and relentless attack. Other children scream, run and cry. The sight thrust upon them is something no child should ever have to witness or be a recipient of. The sounds made by the attacked child, the inability to bring her aid, the despair ... enough to have lasting effects upon any adult who so happens to be nearby.

The little girl with the dolly would never fully recover from this attack; she is to be forever scarred by it, forever to be haunted by this one event. In the moment of attack adults indeed struggled to help her. There is blood though any damage done, physical damage at least, would heal to a certain degree, mental damage ... well that would last a lifetime.

Sarah feared so much, she feared for her life, she feared for her husband's life, she fears for what the child she is supposedly rearing might do. Every day has become a torture, a waking nightmare still Emma does not make demands of her mother. She does not take advantage though the fear that she can do such at any moment does exist. Emma could lose her temper at any time and the effects of such a thing could be disastrous.

Emma, or Raven as she indeed wants to be known, is eight years old when a priest comes to visit. This priest has specifically come to talk with Emma ... Raven. This priest, his name so happens to be Jason Alveron, a priest doubting his fate though still at a point where is willing to stick with it. His work on uniting a family close to eight years prior did not completely end with that unification.

Again, and with a stranger's arrival, Sarah is fearful, as she has been for so long now. She fears having to explain to Emma as to why a priest has come to the Osmond Home. Maybe it is just as well that when Father Jason Alveron arrives to the Osmond home he is accompanied by Frank Osmond. Upon that arrival Father Alveron does take notice of a single crow cawing away as it rests upon a wall at the bottom of the front garden.

Father Alveron right away sees how run-down Sarah looks. Sarah Osmond looks so tired and poorly that Father Alveron fears for her health and wonders why Frank isn't paying her more attention and why is he more concerned with having a priest see his daughter rather than having a doctor round to see his wife. There really must be something about this young girl and as it is the priest is no stranger to strange things.

Emma is in the living room watching videos on a tablet and as she does so she pays no attention to anyone.

'Emma ... honey' speaks Frank having only just entered the family home.

'She prefers to be called Raven and you know that Frank ... anything else just ...' Sarah says, preempting a possible reaction from the little one.

'Emma is her name. She needs to accept this ... now, Father Alveron here has come to talk with Emma, isn't that right Father?'

For the first time in recent moments Emma, Raven, pays attention to her surroundings and she does not look happy. She is not happy at all. Unknown to Frank and Sarah, there has an unseen presence around Emma. It is with her now as it always has been and it does not like the arrival of a priest and this dislike has passed onto Emma without a word being spoken, as if the dislike is her own.

From birth she has heard a voice, and this voice has always been with her but more so in recent years. The voice, its owner indeed is always with her as he is in this moment. He has distain for this priest and his distain indeed has become her distain. Despite her own anger with which is directed at he who is always present Raven trusts him, she will listen to him, especially at times she feels it important to listen.

He does not want for the priest to be here therefore she does not want the priest to be here. She does not want to talk to him though Frank will not allow an opportunity to pass. He nods to the priest who despite all he has witnessed in his own past is skeptic of all Frank may have told him prior to this moment.

Father Alveron moves towards the girl and grabs a stool as he does so. Before he even has the opportunity to sit, he feels something odd. He feels hot as if he has opened the door of a working oven and is being blasted by the heat within. This almost knocks him to the floor though he does manage to sit on that stool and right away he reaches to undo his top two shirt buttons.

He attempts to speak and struggles and only manages a cough. He takes a second or two and attempts to speak once more and again he only manages to cough.

'Are you alright Father?' asks a slightly worried Frank Osmond.

'Eh ... ahem ... yeah ... ahem ... or at least I will be.'

There is a sudden crash to the living room window which is only a few feet from where Father Alveron had come to sit, and this crash does make him fall off his stool. The crash has made everyone jump, everyone apart from Emma and her not so visible companion.

Frank moves to the window without helping Father Alveron up. There is a crow lying motionless on the ground outside. This crow, even though it has yet to move since crashing into the window, is not dead and Frank is sure of this and sure enough it is not long before the crow does begin to move then fly away as if nothing had happened at all.

Seconds pass and soon Frank has no option other than to step back away from the window for a number of blackbirds have come to rest on the ledge outside the window. Father Alveron sees this too as he gets up off the floor. He can't help but see it. He looks towards the girl who is staring an unnerving hole into him. More and more birds are arriving by the second.

The window had not broken, it had not cracked. The thud of an incoming bird had been a heavy one, not heavy enough to break through. Father Alveron's looks turn from the girl to her foster parents.

'Does she know?' he asks. There is no immediate response, so he asks again. 'Does she know?'

The question comes with an element of panic. He has done his homework; he knows the origins of the child. I can't stay here the priest says to himself before long and soon he is making his way to the front door. Once the front door has been reached and opened, he realizes that he is not going anywhere for the garden is swarmed by crows right from the door all the way to the gate about twenty feet or so away.

He doesn't want any part of this, this right here or what is going on in general though as it would appear Father Alveron does not have the option to walk away for all this has found him or will find him in one way or another. He has long since been pulled into all that is, whether he wants to be or not or even to if he even understands as to what he has been pulled into or even as to if he been pulled into anything at all. Even, in years to come when he thinks he has moved away from it all, he'll be pulled right back in.

All of what he has been a part of since being given the word at the Vatican, up to now at least, he sees as singular events. He has yet to see the bigger picture. Perhaps he refused to see the bigger picture. Whatever picture there is, Father Jason Alveron is certainly in it and there will be no getting away from it.