prologue / euphoric

RAVEN MONROE LOVED THE FEELING OF BEING INTOXICATED. It was something about the way she felt mentally. It gave her a certain sense of relief from everything she had ever been through.

Since that night, all that had been in Raven's head was nightmares about the accident. When she started having these dreams, she would mix it up with alcohol or some intoxicating substance. The accident happened a while ago, so no one knew except for Raven and her family. It seemed like the safest option to not tell anyone. She did anything and everything she could to protect her family from that part of her world just so they wouldn't have to deal with it, too.

May 27th, 1975, the last day of school before summer was when it happened. Ted, Raven and Lisa's father had just gone to go pick them up from school. That day turned worse for him. He had just been fired from his job at the firm, seeing as they had been letting people go. He went to the bar a short time after he left. Which made him late to pick up his daughters.

The ride home felt a little strange to Raven, but she didn't want to worry her sister, so she just left it alone. Ted had been on and off asleep, driving down the one-way bridge home. When he closed his eyes, dozing off onto the dashboard, the car spun out of control. The railing of the bridge wasn't supportive at the time. When the front of the car hit the metal, it tilted, falling into the water.

The feeling of dying was the only thought she had at that point. She would have been in the water so long, not knowing what to do in a situation like this, wondering why this had to happen to her.

The last thing Raven could remember when she woke up was the sense of the car falling down into the ocean.

A man with white hair in a white lab coat approached her. She hadn't seen this man before. What did he need from her? A few others walked in behind him, nearing the sides of the hospital bed, rolling it out of the room she was in. All she could think about was her family. Where were they anyway?

"Don't be alarmed, I am Dr. Brenner," the white-haired man spoke.

"Were just going to do a few tests," he continued.

Raven felt she couldn't speak, the words registering in her mind but just not coming out of her mouth. They put her in a room as the bed stopped. The men and the one with the white lab coat stood outside of the room, watching her from the windows as he gave some sort of command. A huge white light took over her senses and put her to sleep.

That was the first time Raven Monroe felt euphoric.