𝐫𝐮𝐛𝐲 & 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 ✩ 𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐝𝗼𝐧

🆂🅸🆇

𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈: 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒓

✩✩✩

It had been two weeks since the incident.

Ruby, at first, had written off the strange woman as a hallucination due to the drugs she had taken, but even days afterwards she was still seeing her.

She was doing a late shift at the diner she worked at, cleaning glasses and serving regulars who had come after work.

Ruby had become less on edge when the woman appeared, as she had found that she wouldn't harm her, simply rant at her in angry Russian.

Which she had figured out after a while, after checking through a linguistics book.

The diner was quiet, only a few people dotted about it finishing off their food or trying to choose what to order.

Ruby stood behind the bar, polishing glasses and stacking them underneath in the cupboards.

The woman, who she had named Vera, for the soul reason of it sounded like an old lady name, stood staring at her from the other side of the counter.

She was speaking slowly, as if trying to explain something very important to Ruby, but she wasn't able to translate it.

Ruby ducked down to store away some forks, and when she stood back up Vera was gone.

It didn't distress her, it always happened.

Now she was convinced she had developed some sort of mental illness that was making her see things.

It was the most reasonable explanation she could think of.

The door's bell chimed and her eyes trailed over to the new customer.

Her heart stopped and she had to do a double take.

Gabe?

It wasn't. Just some random guy with blond hair, he didn't look at all like him.

Although, Ruby did vaguely recognise him; from where she couldn't recall.

Maybe she had seen him at one of her friend's parties?

"What can I get you?" She said politely, taking a notepad and pen out her pocket.

"Coffee, black." He said, before he saw her weary face and added an apologetic, "please?"

She sighed and scribbled down the order. "Anything else?"

"No."

"Bit late for caffeine, don't you think?" Ruby said as she passed him his order.

It was now reaching ten o'clock and there wasn't long left of her shift.

He took it gratefully. "It's never too late for coffee,"

"It's never too late to realise the apathy," she muttered, not really directing it at him.

As the diner began to close up, he stood up to leave.

"You've not paid." Ruby said.

He sighed and looked at her.

"I don't have any money on me,"

She rolled her eyes. "Why buy something you can't pay for?"

"In case someone feels pity and decides to let it be?" He replied.

Ruby grumbled and waved him away. "Don't tell your friends,"

"What friends?" He grinned as he slipped out.

Shortly after he left, Vera appeared again.

To Ruby's disturbance, she was able to make out a word she was repeating.

Satan

That's what it sounded like. And she kept saying it in a vile tone, as if she was spitting on the concept of the word.

✩✩✩

She gradually missed Gabe less and less, although the feeling never fully went away.

And she dreaded the day Kaleb returned. Apparently his parents had got him a therapist.

But to talk about what?

Talk about how Ruby was playing him and basically bullshitted him into it?

There was nothing wrong with him, maybe he got a bit overly emotional sometimes but he didn't really need therapy.

Ruby finally decided, after finding out her dad had only had three beers in the past ten hours, that it might be an idea to tell him about Vera.

So she strode into the living room, trying to be brave.

Her dad was sat, his skinny frame hunched over, watching a game of football.

"Hi," she said, taking a deep breath and sitting down across from him.

He looked at her, his face unchanging. "What do you want?"

"I smoked some weed a few weeks ago, dad, and I've been seeing shit ever since." She explained. "Was wondering if that's normal, as it's been happening a lot and I only smoked it once."

To her surprise, her dad actually seemed to be listening.

She realised their was only one small can of beer on the go, and very few fresh ones discarded by him.

"How much'd you have?" He asked, sitting back and turning down the volume.

"Like three cigarette's worth?" Ruby replied, her hands cupping her knees with apprehension, worried that at any moment he could go ballistic.

He chuckled. "That shouldn't do shit, Ruby, now piss off before I have to hit you."

"But- dad, then why am I seeing stuff?"

"I don't know maybe you're just a bit fucked up? You've always been a bit weird, talking to walls when you were tiny- what a weirdo." He retorted, getting visibly agitated.

"What would you know? You've not spent a lighthearted minute with me in the past eight years." Ruby spat, standing up to leave.

Her dad enflamed, spotting an abandoned plate and throwing it at her as she left.

It caught Ruby's left arm, before smashing against the door.

"YOU'RE A LITTLE SHIT- TALKING TO ME LIKE THAT!" He hollered.

Ruby gripped her arm as she raced to her room, locking the door behind her.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck..." she crumpled onto her bed, her arm gushing with blood.

And then Vera returned. But it wasn't just her anymore. There were more.

✩✩✩