Ruby

Chapter 1. Janus

Before I tell you the story of Ruby, I must first tell you the story of Janus.

And although Janus is the villain of our story, without Janus, there would be no Ruby, or at least there would be no story of her, and she would undoubtedly go by another name.

Janus was only five years old when he fell into the sea.

He was a small boy, dressed modestly in hand-me-down clothes, for his family were not high earners. They worked the lands and sold what they could. But they were happy together and Janus was well-loved.

It was a warm evening, the sun only just setting, and he had been let out to play only an hour before. He was bored of waiting for his mother to call him in for supper and eventually he wandered over towards the cliffs which skirted the boundary of his home. He knew he wasn't allowed near them - his mother had warned him of the danger many times, but he loved to watch the swoop of the seagulls as they dipped and bowed into the breeze, swirling across the sky, the orange of the sunset changing the colour of their white feathers. Sometimes he pretended he was a bird like them, his arms spread wide as he imagined himself soaring through the clouds.

He had approached the cliffs carefully, sitting down before he reached the chalky, white edge, shuffling forward on his bottom carefully. The water wasn't really very far down, but he knew it could be cold and he hadn't yet learned to swim. He had been in it often enough, approaching it from the beach further along the coast, splashing through the small waves with his mother, father and older brothers. His brothers sometimes pushed him in and tried to make him swim, but he never managed it. He was scared you see, he felt that he would drop like a stone if he took his feet off the ground, couldn't quite grasp the motions needed to stay afloat. His father would tell him he couldn't live by the sea if he couldn't swim but his mother would just ruffle his hair and tell his father that Janus would learn in his own time.

It wasn't Janus's balance that betrayed him on that summer evening long ago. The chalk of the cliffs was given to crumble, usually only a lump or two at a time, but on that evening, on the very spot Janus had chosen to sit, a large part of the cliff gave way and a whole shaft of chalk, Janus sat atop it, slid quickly down the bank and into the sea.

Janus barely had time to register what was happening when his body was plunged into the cool water. He spluttered, trying to take a breath, sinking below the surface. Kicking his legs and feet frantically, he managed to push himself back up to take a blessed gasp of air. But it wasn't enough and he went under again. Each time he sank, he would push himself up, desperate to get breath. Then a voice, one that seemed to come to him from very far away, spoke to him softly. It was the voice of his mother. You must relax to float, Janus, his mother said softly. As his head breached the surface, he looked around, believing he would see her standing there, wading through the water to catch him. But when he saw how far he'd drifted, how far away the beach and the cliffs now were, he realised it was the voice of his memories. I must relax to float, he thought, and with all his will Janus stopped thrashing. He stretched out his arms, he slowed down his breathing, and with the memory of the voice of his mother still trailing in his ear, he finally began to float.

After a while, when he felt more calm, Janus tried to call out. He called to his mother, to his father, even calling the names of his older brothers, asking them to help. Every time he did, he would falter and stiffen and his body would start to sink once more. To float, he though, I must be quiet. So Janus stayed as still as he could and as quiet as he could, in order to remain afloat. He watched as the colour drained out of the sky, as the darkness crept into its place, and as the gentle, slow tide gradually pulled him further out to sea.