Ruby"Mr. Grassi filled everyone in about the scholarship," Abby took a detour from our conversation, which was an argument about the best type of pizza.Trust me, that is a scene you don't want to watch. If Abby hadn't gotten tired of Jack rooting for the barbeque chicken flavour that she detested for some reason, a cooking war might have been introduced at a point."Who on earth is Mr. Grassi?" Jake was still pissed at Abby for murdering his taste in the best thing he knows as food."My art teacher?" She gave him a duh look and as she turned to face me, I wondered if she would have attacked me so easily had I had the same taste as Jake. "The scholarship program is huger than I thought. "" Weren't you filled in on the program before deciding to go for it? " I asked her." Mr. Grassi just threw it into the air at that time, he didn't exactly delve into the contents and now that he has, I have to make sure I get that scholarship. "I couldn't agree more. "Let us know if you'll need an
Ruby"Where do you think people who die go?" I asked the question that found a place in my head that particular day.And Abby gave me her signature blank look in response before going back to rummage through my wardrobe for any cloth that could be party-worthy."I have no idea." She finally paused her search, her nonchalant expression relaxed and she found support against the wardrobe door. "Truthfully, no one knows the certain details, we just embellish the little we know to make us feel less scared about the reality of the life cycle."" Mmm... " I pondered on her words, my fingers exploring the pack of gummy bears in my hand. "It is indeed a mystery.""What is a mystery... " Abby's loud voice changed the atmosphere to what it was before. "... is how you don't have any cloth worth wearing to a party." " Well, my good friend, I have never been to a party."" Wait, where is the cloth you wore to that boring party your Dad took you to? " Abby's eyes wore their investigative look and s
RubyAdonis had dragged me along for quite sometime before my brain finally woke up and remembered that I wasn't supposed to let him pull me like that. I was about to snatch my hand from his grasp when he stopped walking. As an effect, I bumped into his back which gave me more of his nice scent."Let's stay here," he simply said and I noticed the space was quiet and empty. I had no idea whether to be relieved or scared. "Are you going to say something?" his thick voice dragged me out of my thoughts and he turned to face me, a wide, gorgeous smile on his face."Why did you bring me here?" I finally found my rebellious tone." You didn't stop me. " His response shut me up without stress and I blinked toward my left. I was already training my eyes on the white wall opposite me when he said, "You look gorgeous."What on earth is wrong with me?My cheeks were growing warm at his words. I bet I could make chilled water turn warm with them.Hopefully, I wasn't looking as red as fire."List
Ruby"Ruby... Please get up."It made no sense to me. Who would wish Diane so much ill that they'd go as far as separating her arms from her body in a brutal way? And her eyes...Within me was the urge to throw up coupled with the extreme sadness growing inside of me and that was not a great thing.Maybe, it would be safer to get up as Abby suggested, I might see less of the gruesome sight.Well...I didn't see less of it. Even though I tried to look away, I kept seeing those bloodshot eyes which said a lot about the pain she must have been in."Ruby, we need to leave." Abby pulled at my arm but I refused to budge." I can't just leave. She's-" I swallowed hard as the whole thing crushed me with greater intensity. "She's my mother..." I whispered into the tense air." That's why you have to leave. This is not a helpful sight. You need to go somewhere else. "" But what if she has no one to claim her? " I retorted. "What if she just ends up at some place because I couldn't stay with he
AdonisThe urge to punch through something, preferably a wall, was coursing through my veins. But I couldn't do that when Ruby was still very much around.So, after a quick look at Ruby who was being dragged away by her Dad who most probably was having doubtful thoughts about me, I knew I had to leave for somewhere where I would be able to punch as much as I wanted.Two places actually came to mind. One was just less dangerous than the other.But, after a quick look at the familiar card in my hand, I knew I had to let go of the thought of punching through things in the less dangerous place.I had to go back to that insane place. It was probably part of their plan to lure me anyway. But the fact that they would do it in such a gruesome way angered me and my fists soon figured they might be doing more of punching humans instead of the bags they were getting used to.The fear in Ruby's eyes earlier flashed through my mind and I cussed. Why on earth would they think it is okay to drag
RubyI had a dream.And in that dream, Diane's face was all I saw. And that made my heart ache a lot more. It ached so much, I couldn't help the tears. As they rolled down my cheeks, I knew I would never be able to recover from the guilt of not being friendly to my birth mother.As my head tossed in the idea of opening my eyes before someone could walk in on me shedding tears, I felt warm hands on my skin, cleaning off the evidence of my pain.Curious to know whose hands were so warm, I opened my eyes and they landed straight on Zion whose face was almost kissing mine."Hello," he gently greeted and relaxed his protruding body. "Hi," I croaked. He blinked. "You are awake." "Hmm." As much as I loved the few-words conversation, my throat hurt as much as my heart did. As I tried to prop myself to a seated position, my eyes not ignoring the slim tube attached to a patch of my skin, Zion beat me to it and placed a cup of water to my lips.After an appreciative smile, I began to down t
RubyHis scent led me right into the principal's office. The one place that is rumoured to exist but never seen.And why is that?Because our wonderful principal makes sure to never show us her face nor does she care to see ours. Everything in here is just weird. This school, its management, the students, the dramas, everything was just wired in an odd manner.After tearing my eyes off the medieval-like painting that welcomed me into the room, I landed them on the broad back of Mr. Klaus who was staring at the mauve-coloured curtain that shielded the room from the sun."Why are we here?" I queried. "I'd like to believe the principal wouldn't like it if she finds us here."" Don't worry." He turned to face me. " She is letting us have this space."I frowned. "What is that even supposed to mean?"His arms crossed over his chest. "Let's just say your principal owes me a favour or two."That statement brought up more questions in my mind."Is that favour the reason you are working in th
Ruby"Uh..."Her response surprised me, I won't lie. I was expecting her to claim that it was all a misunderstanding. A little part of me wanted to hear that Bryan was being accused wrongly. But then..."Ruby I-"I pulled Celery's hand. "Let's go somewhere else. We can't discuss this here."She nodded understandably, wiped off the wetness on her cheeks, and followed my lead as I searched for a space where we could talk without the chance of being eavesdropped on.After a while, a fairly large space where cleaning supplies were stored appealed to me to be a safe enough place and after peeping out of the door to make sure no one had their eyes in our direction, I closed the door."Okay, Caitlin. Talk to me. What do you know?"It is quite weird how I ceased calling her Celery. But I didn't mind. Caitlin is her name at the end of the day."Uh..." Making sure we weren't having eye contact, Caitlin began to dig her manicured fingers into the skin of her left hand. I could tell that she was
AdonisI resisted the urge to smile as I studied her face the moment she closed her eyes. My arms crossed and I let out a shuddering breath. I was slowly being pulled into some kind of trance, I needed to remind myself that I was not dreaming.I needed to remind myself that I should be alert, and waiting to hear her response, but I couldn’t help myself.Apart from a few times when I managed to send one of the men to check up on her, I had no particular idea of what she looked like in person. Definitely, the pictures sent did no justice to how beautifully grown she was.My head tilted as I observed her entire face. Her lips kept twitching as she delved into her thoughts. Her forehead wore some kind of frown and I realized once again how selfish it was of me to suddenly show up and ask her to choose from painful options. Options that make my heart ache as well.But I have no choice. I had to do it that way. Hopefully, she chooses to…“I have an answer,” I heard her blurt out, her soft v
RubyStepping out of the airport, my bag rolling with me as I walked towards the taxi I had flagged down, it hit me more that I was back in Manhattan on my way to see my parents and… him. And my mind became more confused.Thankfully, it was the mid-semester period and we have a one-week break which I will extend to a three-week holiday because I seriously need the break.Soon, the taxi moved and began the long journey that would lead me home.And towards Adonis Klaus.Two weeks after our unexpected reunion, I finally contacted Adonis, telling him I had an answer for him.I sounded so determined that I already had an answer but as the moving car sped and allowed some cool breeze to come my way, as I rested in the seat some more, I realised that my heart was still confused.Of course, I want to be with Adonis, I wish for nothing more. But thinking about the present only is such a short-sighted and risky thing. There is a strong need to think about how any decision I take would affect m
RubyThree years.I have been waiting for three years.Time flew past so fast while I was waiting for Adonis to show up in front of me again. While I managed to go on with my life, I always paused for some seconds to see if he was anywhere around me.He never was neither were there traces of him in his two homes.I graduated high school, took a year break before heading to the university to find out what appeals to me the most in life and now, that I am finally in the university, I am still waiting for him.At first, all I wanted was just to see if he was alive. I placed my hopes on the numerous searches embarked on by the police but, after a while, everything was futile. I watched the cops pack their bags and give up on searching for the man whose existence had become a mystery. Occasionally, I felt anger towards Adonis Klaus, but I always managed to cloud that anger with my need to see him alive.But, as three years passed, I felt anger and many more emotions. Some days I hate him,
Ruby“Did you hear that Bryan was arrested? Even Mr. Grassi! I wonder what the deal is with this school.” My ears caught the loud whispering from one of the girls who were in front of me as I dragged my feet sadly out of the last class for the day.Well, it wasn’t exactly the last period in school, but for me, who was already tired of the talks about Mr. Klaus resigning and how they miss him, I was already done with school for the day, I just wanted to go stay in a lonely place.All I want to do now is stare into the air and pray fervently for Adonis’s return.I might seem hopeless for banking on the idea that Adonis is still alive. Given the fact that it has been almost two weeks since the incident and no traces of him being has been found, my prayers seem useless.But, at the same time, traces of him being dead were yet to be found. Unlike others, evidence in form of pieces of burnt body parts belonging to Adonis has not been found.Yes, they are yet to fully get rid of the rubble,
Ruby This time, I slept for a longer period. I could tell that much as I grudgingly sat up. I was rubbing some sleep remnants off my eyes, when I felt a hand on my head, its fingers pushing back the strands of my hair in a very loving way. I know that touch! With happiness instantly overriding the sadness that had followed me into my long sleep, I fully opened my eyes and smiled widely at the man whose eyes watched me with affection. My throat felt heavy and tears threatened to come again. My eyes squinted and my forehead creased while I tried not to break into another bout of tears. But I was just so happy to see him. I was so glad that he came back to me. I was glad that my bad thoughts didn't come to pass after all. Filled with more and more emotions as seconds went by, I held onto his hand which sent soothing waves down my spine “Adonis…” I called him, my voice cracked as I couldn’t disguise the tears anymore. “Hey, Peanut.” His other hand leaned against my cheek and I rest
RubyWhile some men tended to Mark Lumber’s injury which didn’t have a good look, old man Matt circled the three hostages that were in the room. I was back on the chair, tied down as well. Adonis and Jake had been forced to kneel and some men were placed behind them. Those men watched the duo keenly as did their guns which were pointed at their heads.I sighed hard as my health situation got even worse. At intervals, my body shook, due to fear and the terrible state of my headache. At that point, my system had gotten used to the loud banging but that didn’t mean I wasn’t in pain.I was trying so hard to hide it but my entire body felt like it had been hit with a huge rock.“Where on earth are the fools that went to get the ropes?” Matt hollered as his annoying footsteps came to a halt and his eyes fell furiously on the entrance which was now destroyed thanks to the earlier exchange of bullets. “I need to make sure that these bastards don’t escape. Especially Adonis."”I’m sure they ar
Ruby I woke up from my long sleep and had a tight grip restricting my wrists and ankles. It was hard for me to move, my entire body felt like it had been pulled into sudden stillness.I finally opened my eyes which I closed to ignore the crazy headache I was still having. It had magnified its effect, and my head was practically about to burst at that point. My opened eyes made me fully aware of the dangerous situation I was in. While my nose tried to get rid of the yucky smell the strange building was oozing, I saw the number of men that were guarding the entrance that led to where I was. The strong, weapon-carrying men looked so unforgiving, it would be hard for any uninvited individual to make his way in or out peacefully.And… it would be harder for me to plot a possible escape.I sighed, my mouth feeling somewhat heavy as my entire soul felt like breaking down and crying.As I took another look around the tall building, the rusting machines surrounding me and especially at the u
AdonisIt was a Saturday evening.That meant it was a busy evening in the den. The wild party I walked into told me two things. One, a certain part of the gang wasn’t aware of the plan that involved taking Ruby. Two, the longer I stay in that environment, the more likely I was to attain an unforgivable height of anger- The kind of anger that could make one turn into a complete beast, with all sides of the face drawn into ugly wrinkles, with a voice coarser than sand, and with energy so negative, the world could turn to chaos.I don't want to be that angry. All I want to do is get the possible location of Mark Lumber or whoever the fuck kidnapped her. Then, I can spring into action.So, I hurried my steps towards the executive lounge of the hideout. As usual, the executive lounge was where the real party was always happening. There was hardly any noise but you can tell each person is having fun, one way or the other.As my eyes scanned the entire span of the room, I noticed Maximus
RubyIt happened too fast.One second, I was adjusting the towel covering my wet body while I stared at the food Adonis made for me. The next moment, glass shattered around me and these hefty men dragged me out of the apartment, ignoring my cries.It seemed like the building was empty as well. The people that heard my shouts were the security men who were mere souls in front of the tall, angry-looking men.Looking down at my chest as the jeep raced some more towards the highway, I let out a sigh. I then noticed that one of the men seated beside me had his eyes glued to my body."Listen," I started talking, my eyes furiously eyeing the pervert beside me, "I did as you said, I have not made noise since you guys kidnapped me.""We did not...""Get me some clothes before someone eye-rapes me." The tone of my voice was intentionally raised on the last statement, and my head tilted slightly towards the man on my right. The man seated beside the quiet driver let out a sigh. His hand rubbed