Ruby Rising

by Leah Cook

  “That was so much more than I’ve ever experienced. Don’t get me wrong Scott, I enjoyed it, a lot, it’s just…” I let my voice trail off.

  “Ruby, just be honest.” I could feel his touch setting fire to my arm, the feeling travelling right through me.

  “Did you leave a rose by my bed?” I looked him dead in the face and watched as confusion spread across it.

  “No, I didn’t.” For a second I thought I saw anger on his face but it was gone faster than it had come.

  “It was a black rose, Scott.” I saw the flash on his face this time, he took longer to put his mask back into place. It was surprise I saw, he was surprised but not shocked.

  “That’s unusual Ruby, so who are you flirting with behind my back?” He leant in and nuzzled me in the neck, kissing and breathing warm breath over me. I felt my face heat, then I felt something else heat.

  “Scott, are you trying to distract me?” I said, suddenly feeling breathless and had to remind myself why we were having this conversation in the first place.

  “Is it working?” He murmured into my ear.

  I pushed at his chest, and he grudgingly sat up. “You can’t do that, you know what you do to me and I am trying to talk to you without getting lost in you and completely turned on!” My anger flared suddenly and my lunch box went flying across to the small grass patch across from me. I must have kicked it when I pushed Scott away.

  Without missing a beat, he smiled at me, beaming. “I turn you on?”

  “Can’t you see I’m trying to talk to you? Don’t you understand that I think there is something more going on and I just can’t work it out?” I yelled at him and his smile faded. My arms waving wildly as I continued to yell, none if it making sense to Scott who was too shocked to react at my outburst.

  “Look out!” Scott jumped up and slammed me into the wall behind me. There was a loud smash and I fell to the ground with Scott, a sharp pain from my back stealing the wind from my air. We were covered in a cloud of dust. Coughing I managed to sit up and looked towards where we had been sitting.

  “Scott? Are you okay? Scott!” He sat up coughing, small amount of blood trickling down the side of his head.

  “I’m okay, are you?”

  “I think so. I hurt my back a little when we fell. But…look.” I pointed to where we had been.

  A pile of bricks sat there, smashed and broken.

  “Lucky I came to find you then, huh. Here stand up, I need to look at your back.” He gave me his hand and I stood, my legs shaking. I reached around to where my back was stinging and when I brought my back hand around it was covered in deep red blood. Looking up at Scott whose hand rested on my cheek, I could do nothing to stop the blackness that pulled me under.

  “You’re okay Ruby, you fainted.” I could hear Scott’s voice, but he sounded so far away. “Ruby, open your eyes.”

  As his voice became louder I opened my eyes, groggy and sore. “Hey.” I said. I sat up slowly with the help of Scott. The stars along the wall orientating me to where I was. Scott’s house.

  “You faint at the sight of blood much then?” he asked. When I nodded he smiled and kept talking. “I’ve patched up that little cut on your back, it looked worse than it was. Once you’re feeling better I can either take you home or back to school. I rang your Mum and she said it was your call.”

  “You rang my mother?” I sat up and pulled my legs over the side of the couch. “I’m fine, I just don’t like the sight of my own blood I guess.” I’d never had trouble with it before and I thought it was odd that it would be something I’d suddenly develop. It also felt odd to lie, when I wasn’t even sure why I was lying in the first place.

  “Why did you bring me here? Why not just let the school nurse patch me up? Did you at least tell them about the bricks? Someone needs to fix it before someone gets hurt!” I pushed at him, not even sure why I was so angry but the feeling was almost overwhelming, filling me completely.

  He didn’t say anything, but grabbed me in a bear hug, his arms circled around me. “Just calm down, stop getting so worked up.”

  I pushed against him but he refused to let me go, after a few minutes I felt myself give in to him and I melted against his chest, relishing in the warmth, my anger fading.

  “We weren’t supposed to be around there Rubes, I didn’t want to get into trouble. I’m already on their radar watch list, remember I’m repeating. I’m supposed to be on my best behaviour!” He pulled me slightly away from him by my shoulders looking straight into my face.

  “Oh, I didn’t think about that.” I didn’t drop my gaze from his.

  “No, you didn’t need to. I was just telling you why I didn’t want them to know. They’ll see the bricks eventually and fix it up. Are you really okay though? We need to head back if you’re feeling up to it, otherwise I can take you home.” He picked up his keys and headed for the front door.

  “I’m fine, really. That cut hurts like nothing else but I feel fine. It could have been so much worse. I’m lucky that you found me. Thanks, again.”

  He looked at me and looked confused for a minute. “Again?”

  “Yeah, the speaker from that first night I went to youth group, remember?” I smiled at him, trying to put him at ease but he still seemed on edge as he drove back to school.

  “Oh, coincidence I guess. Look I have to go, but I’ll see you later?” He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and left. I wandered off to my class, expecting to see Mikayla there waiting. She wasn’t there, I almost sighed with relief, not wanting to have to explain my absence.

  The rest of the day went blissfully fast and I walked home alone. Scott’s car wasn’t in the parking lot so I figured he’d bumped his last class.

  I still didn’t get my answers from him about the rose though. He’d just presumed it was from some other guy. Maybe it was nothing after all, it just didn’t feel like nothing.

  The rest of the week went slowly. I spoke to Scott every night on the phone and got through my ever growing list of homework, research and assignments. I walked with Phoenix every night and went for a run twice. I felt better, nothing weird had happened, Scott was back to normal and Mikayla was in all her classes and was the same as always; quiet but intense. My parents were happy and I was starting to think that everything was in fact a coincidence, just like Scott had said about speakers and the bricks. Even my mother had stopped looking at me with concerned eyes when she thought I wasn’t looking.

  I felt like I had a real boyfriend in Scott, we spoke about sex again, he was more open and honest then I’d ever expected a boy to be. I blushed just at the thought of some of the conversations we’d had. I wanted it to be right for us. I needed to wait for a little while longer, we hadn’t been together that long at all. He had answered by telling me that time didn’t matter, that it was about how we felt and no matter how much time passed he would still feel the same. He would wait. He also knew when I was blushing, despite the fact that he couldn’t see me.

  I felt calm and happy on Friday after school as Scott walked me home, hand in hand, we smiled and laughed. He picked me up and put me over his shoulders and smacked me on the backside. I giggled and laughed and squealed for him to put me down. I felt like my life was finally free of drama and coincidence. When we arrived at my house he spoke with my mother while Phoenix jumped around and whined for his affection. I enjoyed the way he interacted with her so easily, and remembered that his own mother was no longer around. It saddened me to think that he had only Mikayla to lean on.

  Not anymore, I thought, now he had me too. I smiled as I poured us all some iced water and went back outside. I stopped short at the sight of him with his shirt off digging a new patch of grass up for my mother to extend her ever growing veggie patch. The sun gleamed off him, he was physically very well developed for an eighteen year old. I wondered how he got his body in that shape. He never mentioned the gym or anything that would give him such amazing definition. After I got over my drooling I took over the
iced water, feeling more like I needed a cold shower.

  “Thanks honey,” my mother’s own face was a mixture of sweat and dirt. I often came home to her tending to her garden. “I really appreciate your help Scott. I was having trouble getting the shovel through the top layers and I need to start getting the soil ready for the autumn veggies.”

  “No worries Mrs De Grey. I love being in the garden just as much as you do I reckon. My mother loved gardening.” Immediately he realised what he had said.

  “Loved?” she said concern etched all over her face.

  “Um, yeah, she died a couple of years ago.” He turned his back and started to dig again, ramming the shovel in harder than what was necessary.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you Scott.” She looked at me questioningly, excused herself and went inside.

  “Scott?” I put my arm on his back and he flinched. “I’m sorry”

  “For what? None of it is your fault. It just hurts that’s all.” He didn’t look at me, just kept shovelling away at the grass and dirt until he had dug up the entire patch that my mother had marked out for him.

  He gulped down his water and kissed my forehead like my mother had done only a few nights before. “I’ll see you later, I’ll pick you up around six thirty.”

  I stood there and watched him leave, pulling his t-shirt over his head as he walked. As he lifted his arms I saw a small scar on his right hip, just above the line of his pants. I made a mental note to ask him about it later.

  “Mum?” I went into the kitchen where she was busily cutting up a pile of various vegetables for stir fry. “Are you okay?”

  Putting her knife down to look at me I saw anger on her face. “Why didn’t you tell me his mother was dead? I felt horrible when I put my foot in it out there!”

  “Because it’s not my story to tell! I didn’t realise you needed to know every single thing about him the second I do!” I regretted yelling at her the instant I started, but it bubbled over almost instantly. “He mentioned his mother not you, so why is it suddenly my fault?”

  “Ruby, was his father home at least when you went over there the other night?”

  “What is this? Have I ever given you reason not to trust me? I get good grades and keep out of trouble! What more do you want from me? I’ve got nothing left to give!” I yelled in her face, so angry and yet I had just easily lied to her. I was shaking I was so worked up. Suddenly the knife on the bench flew off, and landed in the fridge door, right up to the hilt.

  “Ruby?” My mother was white as a sheet.

  “I didn’t touch it, I swear!” I backed away from her, some of the puzzle pieces moving closer together. “I didn’t touch it!” I repeated and ran from the room.

  I paced in my room, my head full of questions that I didn’t have any answers for. I heard my mother come up the stairs and gently knock on the door. I ignored it and continued to pace.

  “Ruby, I just want to talk to you.” She came into the room and stood in the doorway. “Can you stand still for a minute?” She asked after a few seconds of watching me pace.

  Sighing, I plonked myself on the end of my bed and gave her my best whatever! normal, not saying a thing.

  “I know you didn’t touch the knife, but that doesn’t change the fact that it flew off the bench all by itself. We both know that can’t happen.” I watched as my mother began her own pacing in my room, and she was right, it was annoying. “So, what happened down there?”

  “Maybe it was a big gust of wind.” I suggested, I just wanted her to leave me alone for a while, I was still angry at her for not trusting me, even though I had done the wrong thing. I hadn’t meant it, I hadn’t known until we were nearly there, and I didn’t want to ask him to take me home.

  “Has anything else odd happened lately, honey?” I slowly shook my head, not wanting another lie to come out of my mouth, but also not wanting to tell her about the DVD player at Scott’s. I definitely didn’t need to tell her what we were doing when it decided to smoke up half the lounge room. She paused for a second and considered my answer. She didn’t looked convinced but didn’t say anything. “If anything else happens, even if you think it’s not important, will you let me know?” Her eyes pleaded with my own but it was a promise I knew I couldn’t keep.

  “I’m pretty sure nothing like that will ever happen again Mum. It was just an accident.”

  “Hmmm, like the window.” She left the room without another word and I lay back onto the bed and looked at the ceiling.

  After a few minutes I pulled on a black t-shirt and pants and pulled on my combat boots. I was going out, I needed to see Scott. To feel him against me, feel his current that runs into my skin.

  I grabbed my purse and my phone and walked downstairs, I found my mother in the kitchen trying to pull the knife out of the fridge.

  “I’m going out, to youth group. I’ll be home by eleven.” Without waiting for an answer, I looked away from her and walked out.

  I kept walking, not paying attention to the direction I was walking in. My head whirled with different scenarios for what was happening around me, none of them were my idea of a sane person’s explanation. Maybe that was it, maybe I was actually screwed in the head. My hands were still balled up in fists to stop them from shaking when Scott pulled up alongside me sometime later. I had walked right to the edge of town, the last of the houses just behind me.

  “Going without me?” His eyes twinkled and his dimples seemed deeper than ever.

  “It’s not even time to go yet!” I kept walking as he drove slowly next to me.

  “Ruby? What’s wrong? I just went to your house to pick you up and your Mum said you’d already left. She said you had a fight.” He stopped the car, got out and stood in front of me to stop me. I pushed against him.

  “Trust me, you do not want to make me mad Scott.” I pushed harder on his chest and he stumbled but kept his balance.

  “Ruby! Just stop!” He yelled in my face, the shock forcing me to stop. He quickly grabbed hold of my shoulders to stop me from pushing him again.

  This time I felt it coming, building from my toes, through my legs, into my stomach. Growing, intensifying, until I pushed at Scott to get him out of the way and held my hands up.

  Scott tripped over his feet and landed on his backside as the street lamp from above fell in between us.

  “I told you not to make me mad!” I fell to my knees, tears streaming down my face, my hands still pulsing. “Just stay away from me Scott! Don’t you see? There is something seriously wrong with me!”

  I felt Scott behind me pulling me into his lap and let him gently rock me back and forth. The steady rhythm helped calm me down. We sat on the side of the road for a full ten minutes before he spoke.

  “There’s nothing wrong with you Ruby, you’re just different.” He turned me in his lap and tilted my head up to face him. “There is nothing wrong with you, trust me.” His eyes were shining with concern, but I could tell he was holding back.

  “You know don’t you? You know what’s happening to me!” I stood up, looking down at him, trying to keep myself calm.

  “If you get in the car, we can get you some answers. I only know a little.” His answer was honest and I decided that walking away at this point would leave me with more questions than answers. I silently walked to the running car and slammed the door.

  I looked out the window and realised that I’d walked at least four kilometres from home, yet I felt like I had just walked out of the driveway.

  “Why didn’t you call me?” Scott asked as he got in the car and drove off. “I would have come and got you.”

  “What do you know?” I asked quietly, ignoring his question. When he reached for my hand I roughly brushed it off.

  “Ruby…” His voice was pained, unsure, I’d never heard his voice so full of what seemed like fear. “You need to understand, that I didn’t know at first, when I fell for you. I just put it together at school the other day.”

  �
�What do you know?” I growled at him, repeating my question with barely disguised anger.

  “There are legends around here, apparently passed on to every generation.” He pulled up outside the youth group hall and turned the car off. Taking off his seatbelt he turned to face me. “That one day a girl would come and she would have abilities, passed onto her from previous generations. The story would change from Superman talents to ESP and mind reading, depending on who was telling it. There is even a version that features angels from heaven and demons from the pits of hell.” His eyes gazed out the window thoughtfully for a few long minutes. “My mother told me that one day I would meet someone special. I just didn’t realise how special.” He reached for my hands and I let him take both of them between his own.

  “And you think I’m that something special, huh?” My voice was both incredulous and flat, I started to have trouble breathing.

  “Calm down Ruby, it’s okay! Everything will be okay.” He kept talking to me until my breath became even again. “And yes, I do think you are special, I think that you have gifts that you are only beginning to see the depths of.”

  “You call nearly stabbing my mother with a knife that I never touched a gift? I could have killed her!” Tears streamed down my face, I wiped them away angrily I’d cried enough tears since moving to Primfield. “Ever since I got here, it’s pretty much been one drama after another.”

  “You need to learn how to control it, to know when you need to back down. Does it only happen when you’re angry?” He asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe, but how will I know for sure? I don’t want to just randomly try making myself feel something to just see if anything happens. Someone could get seriously hurt.” I sighed not sure if I really wanted to be here. “What is this legendary girl supposed to do, anyway?”

  “I never really heard that part, only the part where I was told I’d get to meet her, that she would mean something to me. Just come inside for a little while, I can always take you home if you want to a bit later.” Scott got out of the car and walked around to my side, opening the door for me. “Madame.”