by Rue Volley
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Everyday seemed more comfortable than the last. We all seemed to settle into a pattern, William gathered, Grace cooked, Rue stuck with me, and I just relaxed. I can't tell you how many days went by before we opened the door one day, and the grass had started to change color. I looked out and yellow had started to mix with the green. I looked to Grace. She smiled. “Looks like the season is changing,” she said to me.
“Fall?” I asked. Grace grinned and looked down at Rue, who was holding my hand as usual.
“Yes…it's Rue's favorite time… She loves all the color.”
“I do too.” I squeezed Rue's hand and she started forward, dragging me with her.
Grace stood in the doorway and called out to us, “She will take you to see why she loves it so much!” Rue pulled me forward by the hand and I looked back with a grin. “I guess we'll be back!” I responded.
We walked through the grass, until we came to the huge tree that we picked fruit from everyday. I looked up and saw that all the leaves had changed.
Everyone of them a mixture of yellow, green, red. The leaves looked beautiful against the white bark. Rue smiled at me and pulled me toward the base of the tree with her. I looked up and saw that steps had formed, spiraling around the tree. I grinned at Rue.
“We can climb it?” I asked her.
She nodded and giggled. She took the first step and I followed her. The bottom of the tree had no railing, but as we climbed a railing formed. We made it half way up and I looked down. I almost got dizzy.
“I don't know if we should be up this high, Rue,” I said to her.
She gripped my hand and kept walking the stairs. I didn't hesitate to follow, because I could not let her go alone. I let my fear go and trusted in her.
We reached the top and both stood there staring at a door. It was just big enough for both of us to get through. Rue walked to it and turned the doorknob. I didn't know what to expect, but I still trusted that she knew what she was doing.
I stepped over the threshold and the door closed behind us. I looked around the room. It was beautiful, the furniture was simple, but adorned with silver etchings. I walked up to the table and ran my hand across it's smooth surface. I thought I heard a humming, almost like a song in the distance.
Rue had let go of my hand and was standing in the middle of the room looking up. I walked to her and looked up too. The light was coming through the roof, the ceiling was a beautiful stain glass scene. I had to shade my eyes to try to make out the shapes. It looked like a boy, dressed in white, holding his hand out to a girl...in a white dress, blue flowers in her hair. I tried to focus on the boy… His face was so pretty...I almost felt like I had seen him before. We both looked as we heard a voice.
“Beautiful, is it not?”
Rue ran to a woman sitting in a beautiful chair, the color of blue, etched with silver metal. The arms were large and the back of the chair was about three feet above her head. She had dark hair, loosely braided over her shoulder and she wore a white dress, flowing around her feet. I saw that she had no shoes on, but her ankles were adorned with silver chains, delicate and shimmering from the 247
sunlight creeping into the room. Rue held her hands out to her and the woman reached out grinning, pulling her onto her lap. Rue leaned against her.
“I'm sorry, but who are you?” I asked.
“I have many names…but „Elin" is by far my favorite,” she replied.
“Elin?” I asked. I felt a vibration in my hands and looked around the room.
Elin brushed Rue's hair behind her ear.
“You live here then?” I asked.
She laughed… “We all do, little one,” she replied.
I felt another vibration and I looked towards the ceiling. The sun had started to fade and I stared at the two figures etched into the stain glass.
“Who are they?” I asked her.
“Oh...” she said.
I looked back to her and Rue was gone from her lap. I scanned the room trying to see, but the light was still fading.
“I think we should go now, where is Rue?” I asked.
Elin stood up and stared at me.
“Well, she is right before me,” she said with a grin.
“I…I'm sorry, I don't see her Elin.”
She walked toward me, pulling a blade out of her sleeve. I backed away from her immediately.
“What is going on…? Where is Rue?” I stammered.
She stopped and tilted her head.
“Why are you afraid, little one?” she asked me.
“Listen...Grace and William are expecting us back by now, I don't want them to worry…so please, just tell me where she is and we will leave.”
She waved her hand and the wall to the right of us became translucent, I stared and saw bodies lying on white slabs…fire rings around them. I walked towards the wall and placed my hand on it. My hand started to pass through, so I stepped forward and felt myself enter the large white stoned room. I saw Grace lying still on a white slab and ran towards her. I leaned over her and her whole body looked like it shimmered. I looked back at Elin, who had entered the room behind me.
“I...I don't understand,” I said to her, in a panic.
I looked to see that William and the boy in the stain glass, were also lying on white slabs, close to Grace.
“What…what are they doing here...? I just left them at the house...! Where is Rue?!” My voice echoed out forever in this room.
I moved around to the other side of Grace and looked at Elin, who had a calm look on her face.
“Now…now, there is no need to get upset. I assure you that they are happy, at peace… Isn't that what you needed Rue?”
I staggered, my head started to get lighter.
“What did you call me?” I asked in a whisper.
Rue stepped out from behind her and Elin looked down at her and smiled.
“Oh my god…! Rue!” I called out to her.
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She looked at me and smiled. I started to step around the slab that Grace was lying on and reached out a hand to her. She took Elin's hand and I stopped.
I reached my arms out to her. “Rue, come here,” I whispered. My voice almost sounded distorted in my ears.
Elin pushed her out one step towards me and she tried to drag her feet. I stared at Rue and she had a look on her face like she didn't want to go.
“Rue?” I asked.
I looked back to Elin.
“Seems she doesn't want to be with you, she prefers to stay right where she is,”
Elin said with a laugh.
My heartbeat quickened. I started to feel a vibration in my hands, growing stronger with each breath I took. I started to see flashes of white light in my head and I reached up to rub my eyes.
“Listen...you need to tell me what is going on here!” I yelled at her.
Elin leaned down to Rue and she started to walk to me. I felt her pull on my clothes and I looked down. She grinned at me and I knelt down to look into her face. She placed her little hands on my face and I cried out. Flashes of memory started to flood my mind... I fell backwards away from her...my eyes closed. My head had sharp pains flowing through it. I opened my eyes and Elin stood before me, no sign of Rue.
I pushed myself up and ran to where the boy laid still on the white slab. I leaned over him, with tears welling up in my eyes. “Johnathan,” I whispered. I touched his face, it felt so cold under my fingers.
“Where the hell are we?” I said, as I shot a look at Elin.
She held her hands out. “This, a storage for memories Rue. Your parents sent your earliest ones here long ago and now they store their own.”
“So where is my body?” I asked.
Elin smiled and I felt the floor start to vibrate under my feet. I turned to see a white slab rising from the middle with a girl"s body lying on it, dressed in a black and white striped dress. I stood there feeling like I was disconnected, as I realized it was
me. Only I was a child…little Rue.
“Oh my god,” I whispered.
I turned back to Elin, with anger in my eyes.
“I want you to release us all Elin!”
She walked towards my body, I stood still, not knowing what to expect.
She pulled her blade across my bodies small palm and I saw the blood trail into grooves that were etched around it, the blood trickled until it reached the side and traveled down into the floor. It pulled against normal gravity, as it pulled across the floor in more grooves dug into the white stone. The blood climbed up the sides of William, Grace, and Johnathan's slabs. They shimmered brighter as it made contact with them.
My eyes were wide. “You just cut me?” I said to her, talking about myself in third person was so weird.
She grinned at me as she turned with the blade in her hand. I could see blood on it. “Why yes, little one…you are the life they are living now.”
“Release us now,” I said, in the most stern tone that I could muster up.
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“I'm afraid that is quite impossible Rue…without you they will not exist.”
“What?” I said.
“These lives they are living, are generated by you.”
“I don't understand…what have you done?” I asked her.
“Without your blood…they will simply fade,” she replied.
“Listen to me…we are all leaving here together…with or without your help… I swear.”
Light started to glow in my palms and I pushed light at her…it went straight through her body without any affect. I stood there staring at my hands and back up to her.
“You have no power in the state you are in, Rue.”
My mind raced as I looked at everyone I cared about lying still on the slabs. The fire licked around the slabs in a horseshoe shape. I lunged at her and knocked her to the ground. We rolled together across the floor. I grabbed at the blade in her hand, she gripped it tightly, but in my fury I wrestled it from her. I held it out in front of me, looking like a wild animal, I am sure.
She stood up and grinned at me. “What do you plan to do Rue?” she asked, still calm. It pissed me off.
I ran over to little Rue on the slab and started to pull her off of it. She felt like she weighed a hundred pounds, until I had her in my arms. She laid lifeless against me. Elin stepped forward with the first look of fear I had seen from her.
“Put her back!” she yelled at me.
I pointed the blade at her. “I don't think so Elin,” I said.
“You have no idea what you are doing Rue, put her back!”
Elin dropped to her knees and held her stomach.
“I don't think you care about anyone here but yourself,” I said.
“No...no, that is not true,” she said, as she seemed to be getting weaker.
I looked at Rue, her small face so angelic. She had her eyes closed, like she was taking the most pleasant nap. I raised the blade above her and brought it down into her chest. Elin cried out, I looked at her and a red pool started to form in her chest. I looked back down and Rue was gone, the blade was wedged into the white stone floor. Elin continued to groan and cry out. I stood up, the floor had started to shake violently, I ran to Grace and pulled the ring off of my finger and placed it onto her"s. She opened her eyes and placed her hand on my face.
“Rue,” she whispered.
“I love you Mom,” I whispered back. I hugged her and looked over to William, who had sat up. He jumped off of the slab and ran to us.
He hugged me… “Rue…! I love you, I always will,” he said.
The floor continued to shake violently, pieces of the ceiling had started to fall all around us. I held onto my Dad with my hand in my mother"s.
William grabbed my arms and pulled me back… “You have to take Johnathan with you now Rue...run!” he yelled at me.
“Come with me…please!” I yelled back. We all ducked as stone fell all around us.
“No…Rue…you can only take one… Take Johnathan and run now,” Grace said to me.
“I…I can't leave you both here!” I yelled at her.
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William cupped my face in my hands… “Rue…listen to me, we cannot leave…but both of you still can…leave now… We will always be with you little one, we love you.”
Tears had started to stream down my face, I looked over to Johnathan's body and let go of my parent"s hands. If I wait any longer, we may never be able to leave here...ever. I fell onto Johnathan's body as the floor swayed. I felt him groan under me. He opened his eyes and had a look of happiness for a split second until he realized the room was crumbling all around us. He sat up and yelled at me. “This way!”
He grabbed my hand and we started to run, he was pulling me along and I looked back for a split second and caught a glimpse of my parents facing each other. My dad had my mother"s hands up to his mouth and they hugged each other as I lost sight of them, from the falling rubble.
I kept running with Johnathan until we reached the tree door and he jumped through, pulling me out with him. We both fell until we hit water and I lost his hand. I tried to push myself upward, but I felt it pulling my down, the pressure made my ears pop. My lungs started to burn and I felt a blackness enveloping me.
******
Suddenly I felt a hand grip my arm and jerk me forward. I had my eyes closed and I opened my mouth, but could not get any air. I felt a hard thump on my chest and I started to cough up water, I was rolled on my side and felt heavy thumping on my back. I sucked in air, it burned and I coughed, blinking my eyes.
I looked up and Josh sat over me with a terrified look on his face.
“Rue?” he yelled at me.
I coughed up more water, and started to push myself up. I looked over to see Johnathan sitting up, Theodore leaning down to him. I looked on the ground next to me and saw the mirror, with a crack at the top, where Johnathan had broken it with his head. Sam lunged forward and came down on it with a blade, shattering it. I blinked a few more times and shook my head. I wanted to talk, but when I opened my mouth to do it, my throat burned. I held my hand up to it and talked anyway.
“How long were we gone?” I said, as I tried to clear my throat.
Josh brushed my hair behind my ear and I closed my eyes, remembering my Mother.
“You just fell in...I thought I'd have to jump in after you!” Josh said.
“What?” I said.
“Minutes, Rue...at best,” he replied.
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Chapter 12
Who I Am
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The last thing I remembered was the fact that Josh told me that we had been gone for minutes. My mind swirled at that point and I felt like I had to lay back down. I could hear voices and I think I even realized that someone had picked me up and carried me. It's a curious thing, when you feel your will leave you. I had flashes of memory, but I kept letting it get away from me. I would settle on that chair, with Rue sitting in my lap, grinning about the explanations I would give her about the multiple books she had given me to read to her. Slowly, these thoughts left me one by one. I didn't know how, but I gladly surrendered them.
Eventually, I started to blink my eyes and I rolled onto my side, stretching my arms out with a yawn.
I looked over and saw Theodore sitting in a chair in my room.
“Hello…” I tried to say. My voice cracked and my head felt like I had taken cold medication.
“Ahh…” He stood up and leaned over my bed. “Are we going to stay this time?”
he asked me.
“I…I don't know what you mean,” I said, as I rubbed my head.
“Well…seems you had every intention of leaving us…in „there".” He tapped my forehead with his finger.
“What?” I said, as I pushed myself up into a sitting position in my bed.
“Oh, dear.” He walked over to my window and looked out.
“How long Theodore?” I said with my eyes wide… “How long h
ave I been out this time?”
He turned back to me… “Well…school has started…in fact we are somewhat through the year.”
“What!” I said. I started to pull my legs off of the bed and touched my feet to the ground. He walked to me, offering a hand. I looked at it and waved it off.
“I've slept more than people do a whole lifetime,” I said as I rubbed my thighs. He sat down next to me.
“You are so stubborn, little one… You did not want to give me the memories, but over time I started to get them one by one,” he touched my arm
“I didn't give you anything Theodore… I remember everything…well, everything up to Josh telling me that we had been gone only minutes…but that was not true… I'm sure you saw that.”
He had stood up with surprise on his face. “You remember?” he asked.
“Of course I do…I own it, Theodore... I must of just let you see, that's all.”
“But I thought that I was taking it from you…! It was a burden, weighing you down Rue.”
“No…not a “burden” Theodore.” I pushed myself up and took a couple steps towards my door. “My memory is not a „burden"…it's who I am,” I said.
“Curious,” he said, as he crossed his arms. “I don't think that I have ever seen anyone like you, Rue Volley.”
I turned around and walked up to him. I placed my hand on his head and closed my eyes. I felt energy flow easily from my hand to his body. He grabbed at my arm and I opened my eyes to stare into his face. His face relaxed and he had a slight grin.
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“You…you are welcome Rue,” he whispered. “How…? How do know how to do that?” he said to me.
I lowered my hand. “Rue taught me, she knew a lot of things that I did not know I could do, but she gave the knowledge to me through touch mostly.”
“Where is everyone at Theodore?” I asked.
“Oh...well Kai and Sam are at school. Josh is probably out making sure that the protection spells are holding.”
I stood there…waiting. “Where is Johnathan?” I asked.
“Oh,” he responded, without wanting to explain any further.