Ruby

With fear within me, I walked toward my Mom who was still trying to decipher the issue on ground.

Everywhere was already chaotic as murmurs filled the air and all eyes fell on me. But that didn't bother me. The woman in front of me is more important.

"Mom.." I carefully called after I found my stance in front of her.

"What is going on, Ruby? What is this?" She pushed the paper in her hand toward my face and I sighed. I didn't want her to find out in such a way.

In fact, I didn't want her to find out at all.

"Mom..."

"What is this supposed to be?" Her forehead creased as she took another unbelieving look at the contents of the flier. "A naked you?"

"I-"

"This is not how you look naked," she protested, her frown getting deeper. "I am sure of it."

"You know what I look like naked?"

"I am your mother, of course, I do. That is not the point here. " She quickly changed the topic before I could ask the question that instantly entered my mind. "Why is this happening, Ruby? Is something going on that I don't know?"

"Uh..." Her brows lifted and I felt intimidated. How on earth would I tell her everything? She will certainly freak out about the whole Bryan issue. "First, I wish you didn't find out about it this way."

"I bet you didn't even plan on letting me know. And that makes me more curious. I am so sure now that something is going on and I need to hear about it."

"I-"

" Don't leave out a single detail, " she warned and I sighed, great heaviness befalling my chest.

"This started after Maddison died. There is this guy who acted suspiciously with her just before she was pushed or fell off the rooftop. And I reported what I noticed to the cops."

I bit into my lower lip and my hands pressed into each other so hard, I could draw blood if I went even further.

"The guy got angry at me when he found out that I was the one that told the cops and he kind of threatened me."

" Kind of?" Mom's arms crossed, giving her chic look a touch of dangerous sexiness. "Kind of threatened you, Ruby?" She made the flier dance in front of my eyes again. "This is supposed to be a nude picture of you. Do you know how implicating this is for your future?"

"I-" I was beginning to feel tired. I guess I really hate being put on the spot.

"You will be going to college soon. What if this happens to be the reason you don't get considered? I don't wish it happens but if it does, what will you do then?" Mom scoffed and I could feel tears stinging my eyes. "Were you seriously going to keep this from your Dad and me?"

"I was-"

"No, you weren't. I know you didn't think about telling us at all. I know you, Ruby. I may not be your real mother but I have been taking care of you for so long that I know how eager you are to share stuff that makes people around you happy.

You only hold back on things that are threatening to your relationship with people and that is not a good thing. You don't call some people family or friends if you can't confide in them even when you are going through extremely tough times. You need to realise that it is okay to share problems. It doesn't kill you."

My throat felt heavy as tears threatened to fall.

" Gosh." Mom's voice lowered, and regret filled her voice. "What am I doing? We should be finding a solution to this issue. Instead, I am going on about nonsense."

"No, I guess I needed to hear those words. I feel so tired now that all this is happening. I really should have said something. I should have realised how insane the result would be. Mom..." I looked up at her. "Please help me."

She sighed and pulled at my hands which were still trying to strangle each other. "Come here," she said and pulled me into her chest. "I am sorry you are feeling so tired."

Her embrace radiated comfort, so I forgot that we were right next to an interrupted memorial and broke into tears.

"Oh, my baby," she cooed and pulled me even closer, her hand running through my hair. "You must have felt really, really upset. Who is that bastard who is hurting my baby with such rubbish posts? I'll crush his legs into powder and feed it to him as a solution."

" Mom..." I found a space to laugh at her threat and she chuckled with me.

" Let's go home, Ruby. I know you need to sleep."

"Dad will be so furious with me, won't he?"

" Let's talk about that tomorrow. I need you to rest right now. Do you want to say bye to Abby and Jake?"

" I'll text them," I held firmly to her sides as she slung her shoulder over mine.

"Okay baby, let's go home."

~~~~~

I am not going to lie or sugarcoat how I am feeling.

It is as though I am between two heavy rocks which are closing in on me. I am trying hard to separate the two before they crush me, but it is so hard to stop them. The rock on top feels so heavy and the one below keeps tugging at my leg in a bid to drag me all the way to the bottom of the earth.

I don't care if the analogy is trash, it's just the best way I can describe how terribly insane I was feeling.

I have often read books about people who have been bullied. Of course, I sympathized with them but at the same time, I always wished they could be strong enough to fight back.

I am not trying to say I am not able to fight, I am just feeling tired already, a voice is already telling me to give up.

So, I kind of understand why some of those characters never fight back.

Once I looked to the side because the fact that I was depressing myself depressed me even more, I noticed it was just a few minutes past midnight.

As I grabbed my phone, I was greeted by tons of calls and texts from Abby and Jake. After replying to them with the simple statement- I'm fine- I tossed my phone to a corner and got off the bed to get some water as my throat felt parched.

While my feet lazily dragged themselves to the kitchen, the scene from Maddison's memorial came back to me and I just had to wonder why on earth Bryan would go so far.

Why did he have to do that much when the nonsense on the internet had already turned my life upside down?

Once I stopped my lazy steps, my hands crawled to the roots of my hair and they clutched as hard as they could. A groan left me and my knees formed into a squat. Then my mind pulled out the image of Bryan while he insisted that he wasn't responsible for the insane thing that was happening.

Argh! Why does my life suck so much?

"Ruby?" My Mom's voice called from the kitchen entrance and I froze. "Come here, baby," she called further and the softness of her voice pulled me towards her.

Once I got to the entrance, I noticed that she was not alone. My father was standing behind her, his blueish eyes studying me intently, his silence reminding me why I should never mess with him.

"Dad..." If I had failed to reach for a support, my legs could have failed me at that moment.

"You know what, let's have our seats. That way, we can talk better." Mom said and I followed her steps towards the island, but not without feeling conscious of my dad's silence.

Once we were all seated, I adjusted on the seat to obtain as much comfort as I could and that was when I caught a glimpse of a piece of paper in my father's hand. I could tell it was that forsaken flier.

Seeing that paper in my father's grasp gave shame a chance to crawl into my soul. My head found it difficult to stay up. And my hands resumed their strangling.

My Dad sighed and my eyes shut in preparation for his statement.

"Ruby..." He made a smacking noise with his lips. " I need you to tell me what exactly happened."

A shaky breath escaped me because I found it difficult to do what he asked. "Ruby... Look at me."

"Look at your father, Ruby."

My head bounced as though I was nodding and I finally was looking straight into his eyes.

"Tell me, Ruby," he urged with no pressure hidden in his voice.

The fact that he wasn't showing any signs of anger made me a bit relaxed and I finally found the strength to tell him about everything just as I had told Mom.

When I finally let it all out, he said nothing and that silence brought the fear back in. I began to worry he would bring in his idea of changing my school.

"Miss Sands?" My father called and I frowned at my father's use of Mom's maiden name.

"Yes, Mr. Powers?" She played along and that made me more confused.

My father's eyes wore a smile. "Does Ruby have to go to school tomorrow?"

"Hmm." Mom stroked her chin quite dramatically. " I believe she needs a break."

"Then..." He faced her, his left hand resting on his thigh to angle out his elbow after. "Can you take her shopping tomorrow?"

My head tilted to the side as that moment increasingly made no sense.

"Of course, I can." The fact that my mother was going with it made me lose it even more.

What on earth were they doing? Shouldn't I be receiving a lecture already?

"Good. Have our daughter ready by eleven am. We have somewhere to go."

" An outing?" My brows cocked at my mother's question.

And as my father smiled and replied in the affirmative, I couldn't help but conclude that I have parents that are one of a kind.

But at the same time, I smiled within myself. And as my parents got up and wished me a good night, I felt grateful for how they were handling the issue on ground. And I became more curious about how my Dad's plan.

Well, I guess I'll have to wait.

And why not, waiting is my specialty.