The Battle of Goodwin's Grave

What the hell?!

I sit up, startled.
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
No response.
It could have just been residual energy...
"Or maybe it was something else," I say, standing up and wiping the tears from my eyes. "Either way, I've got to stop being so paranoid."
I shrug it off and blame it on my imagination. I pick up my bag again and finally take in my surroundings fully. The castle is surprisingly well kept, not a speck of dust in sight.
It's like it hasn't been affected by time passing...
I look up at the portraits and stuffed animals that adorn the walls and feel a strange sense of... belonging. Like I was meant to be here. I start to wander through the halls, humming along to Sleeping With Sirens song, "Heroin". I feel an urge to turn left and when I do, I come face to face with a set of the doors that are almost identical to the front doors, save that these doors have symbols carved into them. Upon closer inspection, I can make out a few words.

Vitae est mort

What the hell? I'll have to find out what this means later.
I reach out and grab the large brass handles and when I go to open the doors, they're locked. I just decide to move on, reminding myself to come back and get the door open. How, I don't know, but I'll do it. I'm stubborn enough, that's for sure. I decide to keep wandering around and I find a room that looks similar to my grandmother's hideaway on Dad's allotment, what she called the witching room. I decide that if I'm gonna stay here, I need protection.

I go over to the cupboards in the room and find them empty. I walk around the room when I hear a creaky floor board. Laughing, I pull the rug up and notice that the board is loose. I prise the board up and whistle.

Jackpot, I think to myself. Someone knew some pretty good magic.

I pull out the equipment I need and grab the knife from my bag. I stand and put my bag in the corner of the room and grab the salt from the pile of necessary supplies for the protection enchantment I am about to cast. I create the circle around me in salt and draw my knife around it to create the flames to burn all except me. I step out of the circle to collect the supplies and settle myself back into the circle and place the candles in all of the necessary positions around the circle and 2 in front of me as I start chanting and place a small dish between the candles in front of me. The wicks ignite and I start to cut the herbs with my knife. I pick them up, put them in the dish and pour some water in. I then pick up the knife and cut my palm, letting some of the blood drip into the dish before I wrap a piece of cloth around it to stop the bleeding and then make the dish levitate between both of the candles. As I recite the protection enchantment and cast the Shield, Binding the castle to me, I feel something tugging on the Shield, trying to fight it. I fight the unknown force, pushing the Shield outwards, making it grow in size. I close my eyes and imagine the Shield stretching, extending it past the trees and to the edge of the cliff, chanting louder to put more power behind my words. I push it past the cold, iron gates and will the Shield to descend. The Shield will alert me to anyone leaving or entering the castle's grounds. Once the Shield is in place, I try to slow my heart rate but the next thing I know, I'm seeing black dots across my vision.

I wave my hand over the circle, extinguishing the flames as I stand on shaking legs and walk over to my bag before my legs give way and I collapse against the wall in a heap. I pull out a muffin and a bar of Galaxy (Dad's favourite) from my stash of tinned food and packaged goods. I open the bar of chocolate and take a piece. As I eat it, I think 'Chocolate is the perfect pick me up. It gives you energy and it tastes good!' As I zip my bag up, the sight of the tins remind me of my 14th birthday.

********Flashback**********

I was going shopping with the money I had earned from my paper round that week. Mom's friends always managed to somehow slip $20 into my jacket but always denied having anything to do with it. They understood that on some level, Mom wasn't dealing with it but they never said anything because I said she had started working from home. If only they knew... I had seen a man outside the store, shivering under a thin blanket. When I was walking around the store, I saw a poster. It was asking for people to donate cans to the food banks. I had a slight understanding of how some people felt when they were struggling to make ends me and I wanted to help. I had $75 dollars, $20 being from my paper round and the rest being tips and secret tips. I decided that I would buy some food for the food bank. I went around picking up cans and packets, things that could be cooked easily or wouldn't need cooking. By the end of it, I had completed our weekly shop AND gotten some food for those who couldn't help themselves. I was proud of myself and I even had enough change to buy a hot chocolate. I bought a large hot chocolate and a hot muffin as I was waiting for Matthew, the shop assistant to load my cart with my shopping. I thanked Hillary, the shop owner and left.

As I walked out of the nice warm shop and into the cold wind, I saw the man again. I looked at my hot chocolate and muffin and thought, "He needs them more than I do." I knelt down beside him and shook him gently.
"Excuse me, sir?"
"Whaddya want, kid?" he answered groggily.
"These are for you." I handed him the hot chocolate and the muffin.
"Why are you being kind to me?"  he asked with tears in his eyes as he takes them.
"Everyone needs to be shown a little kindness in their time of need." I say, smiling a little.
"I'm not asking this to offend you, but could you please tell me where the food bank is?"
He smiles. "I'll show you. You really are a kind young lady. Just like your daddy."
"You knew him?" I gasp.
He nods. "He used to work in the soup kitchen. Charles, am I right?"
I nod, speechless.
"C'mon. It wouldn't be right to leave a young girl wandering around herself." he says as he hands me the hot chocolate and gets up.
He sticks out his hand. "The name's Walter. Walter Brown."
I shake his hand. "Nice to meet you, Walter. I'm Ruby."
I hand him back the hot chocolate and the muffin and we start walking.

He drinks the hot chocolate as we walk and nibbles at the muffin.
"So what convinced you to help people?"
"I saw you shivering and I just knew my dad would want me to help."
He nods. "He was a good man."
I smile weakly. "I remember when I was young, my dad would help around Christmas at the food bank. I just don't remember where it is."
"It's not far now."
We walk along the street, chatting about my father.
"And how is your mother?"
"S-she's okay." I stammer and smile.
"Good. It must have been hard... When he passed."
"It was, but we worked together to get past it. Not that we've forgotten him, we've just... learned to cope, I guess."
He nods and we walk in silence until we reach the food bank. I turn to thank him.
"Thanks. For everything."
"It's me who should be thanking you, Ruby."
I smile and we walk inside to hand in the food. 

********Flashback ends*********

I smile at the memory. Good old Walter. He got a job not long after that. I told Hillary all about it the next time I went in and she decided to help him get cleaned up. She had a load of her son's old clothes that she gave to him and some to the food bank. The food bank became more than just a food bank; it was a shop of sorts. People donated clothes, nappies, books, comics, batteries, flashlights, all sorts. Every time someone bought something in Hillary's shop, she told them about it. The food bank was receiving more and more donations by the day and people seemed happier. I smile at the memory every time.  I remember when Hillary and I hauled those clothes of her son's to the food bank and Morgan, the woman who was in charge of the donations, smiled at me and said, "Your father would be so proud."

I draw my knees up to my chest and close my eyes, letting all of my problems fade away for the moment and relive the memories of happier times.

AN - Sorry I haven't updated!!!! Please accept this as a peace offering! I wanted to give you guys some idea of who Ruby really is and a glimpse of her past. Food banks are a huge issue and every Christmas, my school does a non-uniform where you can donate a pound or a can of food for the food bank. Sure this is a great thing, but people rely on food banks all year round. I know people who have been homeless and have had to rely on the generosity of others, so I am trying to do my bit to help. There will always be people who struggle to make ends meet and so, there will always be a need for food banks or clothing banks, but I just wanted to raise awareness of this issue and show you guys how Ruby tried to help others because you never know what goes on behind closed doors. That is a key message throughout this story. Everything might look okay, but you never know what could be happening.

Just a little bit edited, not much but still. Will hopefully post another chapter tonight!!!!