A Valley of Shattered Hearts

Chapter 4

Chapter song - Real In Rio by Music From The Motion Picture Rio

Ruby ran, her 5'2 legs hitting the mud every step. It reminds her of when she used to forget to tie her laces and they would get soaked through with dirt.

Her ears start to ring, she can feel the pain, but I don't know where it's coming from. She starts to breathe heavily as her knees collapse to the ground. What's wrong with her? Her headache has become too hard to bear and her hands now covered in splinters from the strenuous tree she climbed earlier.

It was on a dare, she's not a psychopath. She felt like she had to please someone, anyone to show them that she's just like them.

Her blonde wavy hair blew in the opposite direction. She wasn't scared. She wasn't afraid. She was free. She ran, she ran as fast as she could. She felt the salty air reach her mouth before she could form a reaction.

She loved it here because her family wasn't here. She wasn't going to be laughed at for not brushing her hair or yelled at for speaking out.

The tree branches brushed past her and the river whispered to her. She felt alive, she was finally able to breathe, to scream, to cry, to do whatever she wanted to. The freedom was too much for her to handle. She could live her life with zero caution, however she wanted to. There's no more wishing to forget or forgetting entirely.

"That's what you think happened?" Evans repeated.

Maybe if I repeated it one more time, it would start to become true.

"It's just one theory, I have multiple."

"Trust me."

"I am going to regret this April Wren," he replies.

"Thank you," I replied.

"So she sees something she's not supposed to, perhaps this is the way it went down."

"She was always treated poorly by her family then this happened and well- this was the breaking point."

"So they killed her?" He asks.

"No," I respond, "they try to, but she gets away and she's in hiding."

"Someone out there knows something."

"And I am determined to find out who."

"By the way, do you know where Jade wandered off to?" I ask, switching the conversation to a far less serious one.

He laughs, "I can never seem to find her these days."

"I almost forgot!"

"Study hall," he replies.

"Right."

"Study hall," I say.

He cleans his glasses with the front of his shirt. He starts to recite a piece of literature that I'm not familiar with. I look at the ground then look up and see he's gone.

He's a mystery.

I looked at the sky in achievement, this was the closest I was going to get to the full story. Not until I had the chance to speak with Ruby herself but who knows how long until that may be.

Light shines through my glasses, making me change my position and sit more upwards.

*

"Too bright?" Ruby asks.

"Hmmm," I say, closing my eyes once more.

"Try this," she says as she takes my glasses off and puts them on herself.