𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐘 || 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳

✿ CHAPTER TWO ✿

After dinner, I had hurriedly rinsed my plate and showered before sliding into bed with a book.

Living at an orphanage, any personal belonging was a prized possession. We were allowed to select one present each at Christmas time, donated by Sofswick church's charity drive. Every Christmas since I was eight years old I'd picked out a book, meaning my bookshelf was
mostly bare, holding a grand total of seven titles. I'd read every book I owned at least twenty times over. Admittedly, it was tedious at times, but I took what I could get.

A loud knock on my door broke the silence, causing me to skeptically mark my page before setting the book down on my side table.

I creaked the door open, peeking out to see Alice-Anne, flanked on both sides by Carla and Jade. My stomach dropped to the pit of my stomach. Alice's eyes met mine and, despite my efforts to close it, she grunted as she forced the door open fully.

"Ruby, I don't know what you think you're playing at, but never try to pull something like that again. Ever."

"Okay, note taken. I won't. See you," I said nervously, trying to push her back out the door.
"Hang on," she said. "Why the rush? We're not here for trouble."
"Something tells me that's not quite true."
"Alright then," she said, beginning to walk towards the door, "clearly you're not feeling very hospitable, we'll get out of your hair."
"Really?" I said in surprise.
"No." She snarled. Rather than leaving my room, Alice turned to my bookshelf and pulled out a random book.

The book Alice had grabbed was a book of poems. I had each poem memorised, engraved into my brain.

She opened the book, grabbing a fistful of pages before ripping them from the binding.

"No! Stop it!" I protested, screaming loudly. I ran up to her and ripped the book from her hands, but she only grabbed another off the shelf and started tearing that apart, too.

Tears stung my eyes and it was impossible to stop them from pouring out. Salty droplets streamed uncontrollably down my face.
"Stop! No! Please! No!" I screamed again. It was like with every page she ripped out, she tore a piece of my heart away with it. My soul lived in that paper, in each little word and letter.

There was a crack like thunder, a flash of lightning, and a heavy stream of water fell from thin air. It's over in a second. Somehow, I was left completely dry, though Alice, Jade and Carla were positively soaked.

"WHAT?" Alice screamed, shivering. Her clothes were drenched and sections of her dirty blonde hair clung to her face. Her head swivelled around and round, searching for some explanation as to how she was drenched to the bone with water. The look of confusion on her face switched to one of anger. She grabbed a small cardboard box off my shelf and opened it, pouring its contents onto the floor. My heart plummeted into my feet. Not that. Anything but that.

The dainty chain shimmered gold, the heart shaped pendant attached off it reflecting my
tear-streaked face as I peered down at it. My locket.

My locket, along with a small white blanket, were the only things I had left of what must have been my family before the orphanage. Left at the orphanage's front step along with me when I was only a year old, my locket had been taken and stored, and given back to me when I turned ten, when they deemed me old enough to take care of it properly.

I'd never been able to open the locket, but I could see it had an opening where it should. I'd tried everything.

With a thud and a crunching sound, I watched as Alice's foot slammed down onto the golden necklace, shattering it. Tears returned, flowing more determinedly down my face than before. When she removed her foot from the floor, my eyes focused on the shattered remains of my heart-shaped locket. My vision blurred and I couldn't think straight. Turning back to face her, violent sobs started to rack my whole body.
"How could you..." I choked out, my voice filled with defeat.
"Bye, Ruby. Sorry it had to come to this." Alice said with a shrug. Her expression was smug, a smirk playing at the corners of her mouth. The three girls left the room and I wasted no time in  slamming the door behind them. I sank to the floor. My heart felt like it has been shattered into a million pieces, much like my locket.

The room was havoc. Wet pages littered the floor, ripped and torn like the parts of my soul they had held. A small pile of golden shards of metal say next to the bookshelf, which now held only three remaining books. Luckily, Pride and Prejudice was still on my side table, and had been spared of Alice's destruction. Puddles of water from the mystery rain pooled around the floor, my rug soaked through and my bedclothes drenched.

I walked over to my wardrobe, changing into my night dress before walking down the stairs to the bathroom, where I brush my teeth and wash my face. I combed through my long, red hair and tied it into a loose but neat plait, before washing the tear stains off my face.

I climbed the stairs back up to my bedroom and opened the door. When I turned to face my broken locket, I couldn't believe my eyes. The locket was once again fully intact. My books were safely back in my shelf, the torn and tattered pages that were littering the floor only moment ago disappeared. My rug was dry. My mattress, pillows and duvet, too. In disbelief and shock, I sat down on my bed, clutching the sheets so hard my knuckles went white. Was I going mad?

What was this day? First, Alice was forcibly blown off me by something I couldn't see, though Carla and Jade were sure it was me. Then, my soup spontaneously turned from boiling to freezing in the space of thirty seconds. Alice, Carla and Jade got soaked by rain inside, And then there was the books and the locket, completely ruined one moment and back to perfect the next.

I didn't know what was going on, but I had known one thing. I was weird. Maybe it wasn't a bad thing, maybe it would keep Alice and her horrible cronies away from me, but I certainly wasn't a normal girl.

☾☾☾☾☾☾☾ a.n ☽☽☽☽☽☽☽

Question of the chapter: Are you a writer or a reader on Wattpad? Are you both?
Answer here: ⇨⇨⇨⇨⇨⇨⇨⇨⇨⇨

I'm both! I've only started publishing my works recently though, and am having a hard time getting noticed. If you enjoyed this chapter, maybe consider giving it a vote or leaving a comment. It would help so much!!
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