Hush

FOUR

SHIELD had left Ruby on the doorstep of her apartment complex at midday and she was still standing there as the sun began to set and a warm evening breeze had begun to sweep the streets of Queens. Sitting on the doorstep, hands framing her face, she watched the sun setting over the apartments and reflecting off her mother's orange car. It hadn't moved all afternoon so she could only assume her mother had booked some holiday off work.

Around nine o'clock her stomach began to grumble, although she only felt the vibrations, when she looked up two pedestrians were giving her amused looks but it was the hand waving in front of her face from behind that made her jump to her feet. On the step behind her, clutching their hands to their chests was her parents. She could see her father's thin mouth moving but he must have been talking so quietly even her hearing aid couldn't pick it up.

Standing apprehensively, she approached them, wringing her hands.

"Ruby?" Her mother reached out and took her face in her hands, her voice barely audible through the ringing. "We didn't know you were coming back, that strange woman-" she glanced over at her husband, "Hill, she said?- told us you were under investigation after the Spiderman incident. We had no idea if you were injured or- is that..." she gently touched the hearing aid and moved Ruby's hair from her face. They fell into a stunned silence that was filled by a ringing only Ruby could hear.

"Can we go inside? I'm starving."

They didn't talk much until after a long, quiet, dinner of Mrs Radcliffe's spaghetti and meatballs. Ruby had missed home-cooked meals while on the Helicarrier and the presence of her parents, no matter how uncomfortable her father seemed to be, was readily welcomed.

Although, they were talking lowly, so low that Ruby could only hear her father's rumbly vibrations.

"It's rude to whisper," Ruby mumbled, although she could tell her quiet voice was now the same volume as her old voice. Her mother winced and looked down at her place. "You know I can't hear much anymore." This time, her father looked down and her mother looked up and placed her fork down. She leaned forward, giving Ruby her full attention.

"Can you tell us what happened?"

And so she did. Ruby told them everything from the moment Reginald stepped into the shop to the moment Zoe and Auburn wished her luck as they left her standing outside her apartment complex. She shed fresh tears for old wounds as her mother did at learning them. Mr Radcliffe, upon hearing the damage that had happened to his daughter's health and the unsuspecting people who had tried to help her, had excused himself with tears on his cheeks.

She wouldn't say so, but his leaving wounded Ruby deeper than any cut.

That night, in her familiar bed, she left her window and curtain open a crack and lay on her side, watching the moon set overhead. It shone through the window and into her brown eyes as the wind shook the curtains. Queens had never been so silent. Without the sounds of the city at night her box room was alive with spirits and figures in the darkness. She could've sworn she felt a breath on her neck but, upon turning over, there was nothing there. Turning to face the wall, she watched a shadow grow tall on the wall above her and, without the familiar hum of the fan turning, she had to check it was still on.

She was beginning to feel her breathing stutter and, before her chest could tighten anymore, she sat up and turned the light on. Fumbling with the hearing aid, she put it back in her ear and lay back down on her left, watching as an owl landed on the tree across the street.

Counting her breaths, she watched the bird twist its head, observing the street. It opened its mouth and closed it as a tear rolled onto her pillow. Her heart yearned to hear its call but all there was was that godforsaken ringing. And when she woke up late the next afternoon, the pillow was crushed over her right ear and there was an ache on her head where the hearing aid had been pressed into her skin all night.