The red woman, Madeline, left as swiftly as she had come. But to Ruby and her mom, it felt like dragged years filled with a whole lot of stillness. Ruby felt like giving the clock in her room a slap to restart it, as if it was switched off. And her mom seemed to be shooting the clock daggers. Poor clock.

When they were sure that she had gone, Ruby trailed after her mom down the stairs. As they got to the dining room she gave a longing look at their forgotten meal and started clearing the plates as quickly as she could. When she was done, she walked into the dining and looked at her Dad. His face was twisted into a grimace, all trace of their usual smile was gone. He was gripping the seat in front of him, till his knuckles turned white and his eyes looked distant. She did a little mental double take. Her cheerful and nice Dad looked annoyed. That was shocking.

"Bill, what did Madeline want?" Her mom whispered behind her Dad.

Bill turned abruptly, having been lost in his world before. He looked at his wife, Bridget, and ran a hand across his face.

"Nothing serious," he muttered.

Bridget raised her brows and gave him a somewhat stern look. He sighed and took her hands in his own large hands.

"Let's talk in the study." He looked at Ruby and tried to give her his famous smile, but failed. Really failed. She wasn't buying it at all.

"You can go to your room," he said.

"Oh, come on!" She hissed. "I deserve to know too."

"Not now, Ruby. Listen to your Father," her mom said sternly. Ruby felt cheated. They'd waited together. It was only fair that they both heard what her Dad had to say together.

Defeated, she sighed and gave her Parents a fierce look. "Whatever." She turned and walked away.

"Young lady y-" Her Dad tried to stop her but her mom calmed him down.

She didn't bother to turn back as she made her way to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and grabbed a large carton of ice cream. As an after thought, she took a generous slice of the remaining chocolate cake and made her way to her room. Food helped her block out her overactive thoughts. And she sure had a lot right then. Who wouldn't, when their parents where keeping stuff from them?

Sitting on her bed, she sank her foot into the rug and looked around her room. The paintings she owned — the one she had left in her room before going to college had an order of arrangement. The bright ones where to one side while the dark ones where to another side. They merged at the middle.

Right then, she could relate to a particular painting she'd bought at an exhibition in her junior year. It was a painting of the sun shinning fiercely. Half of it was covered in darkness, while the other half in bright light. The darkness was seeping into the bright side and crossing the edge that separated it. And the background was filled with rocky mountains.

She felt like that sun. The darkness was slowly encroaching her bright parts, leaving no trace of light in its wake. The border between the two were being breached and she felt like it would soon consume her. Whole.

But at that moment, all she did was eat ice cream and chocolate cake. Her sugar cravings were to be satisfied. She took a spoon of ice cream into her mouth and moaned at the goodness of the strawberry flavor. At least she could count a few bright things in her life and at that moment, the top on her list was ice cream.

***

Amara came back from her outing in the evening, just as the sun was setting. Her room was opposite Ruby's so she decided to check on her and tell her the things she'd discovered. She found her staring into space, an empty carton of ice cream lying beside her on her bed.

"Little Gray! Are you alright?" Amara asked, concern evident in her voice.

Ruby turned to look at Amara and shook her head. No.

"Will you tell me what is wrong?" She pressed.

Ruby shook her head again.

"Okay. Will you write it out?"

Ruby shook her head yet again.

Amara was a very patient person so she moved close to Ruby and sat beside her, leaving a little space between them and looked up at the white ceiling. She could see that Ruby needed space but she needed someone beside her.

"My-" Ruby started. She shook her head and stopped. As if just realizing that Amara was in the room, she turned to look at her aunt as if she had grown a second head. People weren't usually this patient with her. Amara felt her staring and stopped her silent perusal of her niece's room. Ceiling, to be precise.

"You ready to talk now?" Amara spoke softly.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at her. "What do you want to hear?"

"Whatever you feel like telling."

"Oh stop it! You don't care. You're just doing this because my Dad sent you," Ruby spat.

"I'm not. I really want to listen to you."

"Leave me alone, Amara. I'm not going to talk to you about anything. Please leave my room." Ruby stood up and pointed at her door.

Amara stood and gave Ruby a long look. She wasn't one to force people to talk. "Sleep well, Ruby." With that, she walked to the room she was staying in and closed the door. Ruby had chosen her space over sharing her problems. She could relate, she was once a teenager like her.

Immediately Amara left, Ruby sank unto the floor. She felt weak. She didn't like telling people her problems. Telling only made them look at her with pity. She hated pity to the point that, if it were a living thing, she would hunt it down and roast it alive.

She stayed on the rug and grabbed her phone. She started playing a puzzle game to calm her. It was a futile attempt. Still, she stayed hooked in the game till the stars littered the sky like white objects on a dark surface.

°°°°°

A/N

Do you like the way Ruby acted towards Amara?

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Mackenzie the 2nd... Out...