Raven?” Catherine calls out.After a moment, the door creaks upstairs.“Yes, ma’am?”“Could you come down for a moment?” She nods at me and I flip the switch, turning off the lights.There’re footsteps on the stairs, and then Raven walks into the living room.“What’s with the lights...oh?” He stops in front of the little table with the round cake decorated with rows of candles that provide the only illumination in the evening gloom. He stares at the cake for a moment, then laughs. “Oh, how cute.”“Happy Birthday,” Catherine shouts, pulling the cracker. We all jump at the banging sound, and then a surprisingly dense cloud of confetti fills the center of the room.“Oh wow.” She steps forward to protect the burning candles from the flying pieces, and looks around, shaking her head. “It’s

       I sip my coffee, looking out of the diner’s window at the cars crawling along the highway. Even considering the bad traffic we still have enough time, but Raven wanted to be there before they open the gates, so we better get going. I squint up at the blinding afternoon sun, then down at the brown liquid in my cup, and finish it in one gulp.“Anything else?”The red-haired waitress is standing next to me again, smiling.“No, thanks,” I say. “Can I get the check? We’ll leave when my friend comes back.”It’s then that I see behind her back the door to the restroom open. At first, I don’t even identify the person coming out as Raven, but then I recognize the black backpack with the red stripes he carries on one shoulder. I gape at him, and the waitress turns to looks, too, following my gaze.I expected for his ‘special outfit&rsquo

 The moon stands high in the sky above the crowd exhausted by waiting when something starts changing on the stage. A good half an hour has passed since the warm up band has left, and their instruments have been replaced by new ones, including an impressive drums set with ‘Fake Drug’ printed on every surface. The air is filled with muffled music coming from the dynamics and the noise of thousands of people talking and shifting, stretching their tired muscles.First, I notice the lights. Instead of crawling lazily around the stage, they start moving in jagged patterns. The music from the dynamics gets replaced by a whining of a guitar, its volume gradually increasing. The crowd gets louder as people notice. Then, the screens over the stage light up, displaying what looks like still images from ‘Fake Drug’ videos and album covers. The crowd cheers, and, a few seconds later, four men walk casually onto the stage, waving at us.

 Raven, talk to me,” I say. “This is getting weird. Just say something.”I glance at him, unwilling to take my eyes off the road for too long. He’s still sitting with his head rested against the window, gazing at the night highway illuminated by the street lights and topped by the black cloudless sky. He’s been quiet since his brief encounter with Jared. He’s allowed me to usher him back to the car without a single word, buckled in when told to, but ignored all my attempts at conversations.At first, I assumed he just needed some time to digest the events of the evening, but now his state is beginning to bother me. He’s never struck me as a particularly stable person. Could the emotions of tonight have unhinged him even more?On the other hand, how much of a shock could an encounter with a washed-out rock band be?“Come on,” I say. “If you don’t talk to me now

 It’s about 11 PM when Catherine retreats to her room after a surprisingly cozy evening the three of us have spent sitting in the kitchen, talking about today’s game. She wanted to hear everything about it. Even though I strongly suspected she understood the rules even less than Raven did, I enjoyed telling her nonetheless, adding some explanations for Raven here and there to clarify a few things.I was most likely lecturing two people who were nodding and asking questions simply to make me feel good, but it did make me feel good, so I guess everybody got what they wanted.I go upstairs to shower, leaving Raven to take care of the dishes. The hot water is a treat, calming my sore muscles. The nervous tension that has carried me throughout the day is dissipating, too. By the time I climb out of the shower, dry myself and put on my pajama pants, I feel half asleep.In my room, I remove the damp towel from my head and spread i