Blood Red (2)

Chapter 18

Ruby's POV

Light...it's bright and uncomfortable. I squinted against it, my eyes burning. Golden light spilled around me, and a slight groan escaped me. The air around me was bitterly cold. I held my comforter closer to me, my hands feeling for another body.

"K-Killian?" I trembled when I feel no one's there.

"I'm here love." My eyes were finally adjusting at a slow rate. I scanned the room and came across my husband to be, standing next to the bed. "Good morning."

"There's nothing good about it," I moaned quietly, still not fully awake. "You're leaving on my day off."

"Yes, but not for long." Killian's lips pressed against my temple.  His hands cupped my face. "I love you Ruby."

"I love you too," I could barley prosper, the heat leaving me as soon as he did.

I passed out again, leaving a muffled thump under the mattress.

I woke from sickening dreams about Killian and I. The last one being the one about Graham, Peter, and Killian again. A headache had created a war in my mind, breaking my skull with a hammer like pounding. I groaned into my pillow, my hair sticking to my mouth.

I got up, threw on some normal clothes, wrapped my neck in a black scarf, and put on a causal fedora. After eating a light breakfast, I went to the library. "Where's Belle?" I asked when Mr. Gold peered up at me.

"That's none of your concern...dearie," he growled lowly.

"What's with you?"

"I'm doing research. You should be on your way now."

I moved closer to him. "What the Hell?"

"Are you reading my notes!?" He made the papers disappear in swipe of purple smoke.

"No," I lied, crossing my arms. "But just know anything about Cora concerns me. She tried to kill me."

"Yes I remember," Mr. gold sighed with a roll of his eyes. "I was there for the stitches."

The stitches...

The painful process of my ripped flesh being sown back together, like when Granny sowed my clothes when they were torn. I could still feel every time the needle pierced me. The feeling of the thread running through me, weaving in and out.

I turned away, and felt that Gold knew he hit a nerve. A deep one. A chuckle escaped from him. "So what do you want with Belle?"

"Why else would I be at the library looking for the librarian? I need a book."

He glared at me. "What book?"

"The book about how to get Mr. Gold to mind his own business...it's a personal favorite of mine."

"Get out Ruby."

"Excuse me?" My jaw went slack.

"Get. Out. Do you speech English?" He didn't look at me as he said it, instead he shuffled around with some random papers.

"Coward," I muttered, loud enough for him to hear.

"Monster," he snapped in return when I turned to leave.

I gave him a certain gesture and slammed the door behind me. I smiled when I head the bell sling uneasily against the glass. I shook my head and crossed back over to Granny's, almost hitting David as I burst through.

"Ruby?" He buzzed, looking at me over his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," I grunted and moved past Emma and Henry.

"Did something happen?" Demanded Mary Margret.

"No." I made my way to Whale, who was drinking, no surprise.

"Was it Hook?" Grilled Emma. "I'll throw him in jail."

"It wasn't Hook." Before they could follow me any farther, I jumped over the counter and hid in the back room. I took the back door and ran up the stairs.

I climbed to my window seat and gazed down at the town. My eyes trailed the road to the docks. Then the pet clinic where David works. Killian was in there somewhere...I just knew it.

I swear...in that second...I saw a dark flash below me. A human. The thought of Peter passed through my mind, but in the next second...I couldn't think at all.

There was a bang...

The shattering of glass...

Air blowing all around me, surrounding me in a cold blanket...

Suddenly pressed against the thick concrete...

My bones exploding at the same time...

Darkness...