Stable But Unpredictable |The Boy Movie|

Chapter Four

Ruby's first night alone at the Heelshire Manor went smoothly. She did everything she was told to do around the house apart from one thing. She had left the doll on it's bed. Ruby truly thought Mr and Mrs Heelshire were crazy for keeping a doll and treating it like their son. Therefore, she didn't want to waste what time she was here looking after a it. The one rule she made sure to follow was locking her door at night. Mr and Mrs Heelshire seemed insistent on her locking the door; They both had a scared look in their eyes when telling Ruby this causing her to feel obliged to do so.

One thing Ruby did pick up on was that there was a strange feeling within the Manor. It  almost felt as if something or someone was watching her every move. Picking up on the way she did things or listening in on the noises the simple things in the house would make. Ruby had put in down to the fact that Manor itself was probably older than her great grandfather.

Ruby's first morning had followed by well. Nothing out of the ordinary. However, everything began to change when she was on her way back to her bedroom in order to have a nice long shower. Passing Brahms's room Ruby looked in on instinct, which was a bad habit she had, looking in things she didn't need to. Upon looking into the room, Ruby's eyes met the dolls own eyes. Her own began to squint as a deep frown drew on upon Ruby's face.

"That... Is not where I left you?" Ruby questioned the doll after finding it sat in a rocking chair with a piece of folded paper under his porcelain arm.

"Must've moved you before bed last night." Ruby concluded after a few seconds of debating just how the doll got there in the first place.

Ruby lifted the doll into her arms where the folded paper fell to the ground. Slowly picking it up, Ruby began to unfold it while walking to single bed. Upon opening the paper, Ruby's eyebrows furrowed seeing it was the same piece of paper Mr Heelshire gave her the day before. The same one she left on the kitchen table.

Ruby stopped scanning the paper when she felt eyes watching her. Looking towards the doll she found the doll facing the other way. Slowly turning around Ruby was met with the door... Closed. She didn't close the door. Or did she? Perhaps it was the wind? She thought to herself.

Shrugging her shoulders, Ruby began folding the paper once again and leaving it on the table beside Brahms's bed. Looking the doll in the eyes, Ruby wondered how the real Brahms passed away and why on earth his parents couldn't cope with the loss and resulted in getting a doll made to look like their little boy.

Every move Ruby made, she felt someone watching her. Moving her eyes around slowly she tried to pinpoint whether anyone could possibly notice her. It was as if the walls had eyes and were glued upon her small frame. Turning around sharply, she opened the door and began making her way back to the kitchen when her foot kicked something hard. Looking down, Ruby found a hardback book she had been reading yesterday.

Ruby was beginning to think that there was something sinister going on in the house. She knew she hadn't left it there, or shut the door and now she was starting to believe she didn't move the doll either. That was when she heard a tiny little knock on the wall next to her head. Followed by a child's voice.

"Ruby?"

"Who are you? Why are you in this house! This is not for vandalizing!" Ruby called out on instinct into the thin air having no idea where this child was.

Laughing of a small child down the hallway caused Ruby to stop looking at the wall, drop the hardback book and take off down the hall. Trying to pinpoint where the child went Ruby stopped at the end of the hallway walking ever so quietly Ruby listened.

Ruby listened for a good five minutes before she heard a crash in the kitchen. Taking off down the first flight of stairs Ruby followed the hallway until she came to the top of the next flight of stairs. Using light footing Ruby slowly crept down to the last step where she heard something close.

Finding her way to the kitchen entrance, she found herself stopping short of the doorway. What if someone's in there? Should she just call someone? Or maybe just get to safety? All these questions ran rapidly through Ruby's mind, causing her to be in a split decision on grabbing a weapon for safety or running to safety. In the end she decided to just go for it, After all, if there is anyone here all she heard was a child?

Grabbing the nearest heavy object, Ruby lifted it above her shoulder, holding it in what she thought to be a threatening manor. Slowly, she began to make her way into the room where the back door was wide open, wind blowing a draft inside.

Lowering her weapon and leaving it leaning against the door frame, Ruby let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Obviously whoever was here had decided to leave through the back door or so Ruby thought. However, she couldn't shake off the feeling that she was being watched, once again.

Looking around the kitchen with curiosity as to what anyone could have done, she found two very familiar items sitting on the kitchen table. The hardback book holding open the list of rules. Furrowing her eyebrows Ruby's heart began to beat at an abnormal pace.

"Hello?" Calling out Ruby thought maybe whoever it was didn't leave.

Nothing happened. No answer, No movement. Dashing towards the back door Ruby slammed it shut, locking it tightly, making sure there was no way it could be opened from the outside. During the next hour Ruby went around the whole Manor locking windows and doors that led to the outside trying her hardest to keep her breathing under control.

By the time Ruby was finished it was late and she felt truly drained. The only good thought she had was that no one was getting in from the outside. Little did she know it wasn't who was outside, she had to worry about. It was who was inside, other than herself.