Ruby's Dance

I am not yet finished with the story.

Written by Brandon Lee
Chapter 1 Darkness
"Have you ever just looked up at the sky and have been in awe over just how beautiful, and immaculate the universe is?" Andy asked his friend, Kile.
​His friend looked over at him with a disgusted look. "No, I'm looking at the immaculate fire that I'm in awe over, and I'm also wondering how all you guys are sitting out here because it's so fucking cold out."
​All of Andy's company snickered a little bit at what he had just said. "You know I go out of my way to have all of you over, get beer for us all, and start that fire. The least you could do is put up with my bullshit half-drunk questions just for tonight. You guys can hate me all you want after, or talk shit when I'm not present, but for tonight I just want some company for my twenty-first." Andy replied scolding him.
​Kile got out of his chair and stood tall next to Andy glaring at him in the eyes. His only reply to Andy were the two words Andy did not care about, knowing he wouldn't kill or mortally wound him over. "Fuck you." Kile mumbled.
​Kile began walking away, and a dead silence fell over everyone else. Another one of Andy's friends, Edwin, spoke up after Kile had gotten some distance away. "Are you two gonna be okay?"
​Andy looked at Edwin and chuckled. "Yes, we will be okay, he's just a little pissed off from some shit in the past. He will get over it soon enough. My old band kicked him out because he was lazy about practice."
​Edwin smiled, then laughed. "What ever happened to MaDjenta?" he asked. "Your name and logo was perfect, like the color magenta, but fused with Djent music."
​Andy rolled his eyes and quickly replied. "It's not important anymore." As he swirled his beer, then in a hesitated to put the bottle up to his mouth, then drank a large portion of the bottle.
​Andy asked Edwin about how his job at the police station was, and Edwin just replied by telling him it was fine. He did not go into detail about anything happening with wanted criminals.
​Edwin paused a moment and very casually took out his phone. Andy was staring into the fire with a blank expression on his face at this point in time. He began typing and then put his phone down. Edwin's girlfriend, Angel, then took out her phone no more than fifteen seconds later and blatantly looked at Edwin. Andy now glanced at Edwin, then at Angel. She began typing for a short period of time, then put her phone down. Andy went back looking into the fire, and drinking his beer. Edwin's phone went off and he glanced at it, then put it back in his pocket. Edwin stood up and stretched, then Angel stood up. Edwin began saying "Alright, well...". Andy then shortly cut him off and said "If you're gonna text your girlfriend about how you're going to leave without trying to make me feel bad, you just failed at it. Be straight up honest with me, and I can accept it bro."
​Edwin didn't know what to say, so he just told Andy the truth. "...Things are so fucked up right now with our friend group that I need some time away from it."
​Andy nodded his head. Edwin and Angel then left his house. Andy sat out on his porch for another hour, drinking more alcohol to the point of inebriation. The look of no emotion was prominent on his face. He didn't care everyone he used to know left him. The only ones to stay with him to keep him company were the broken beer bottles, and a smoldering fire. That was all he needed, himself. Andy decided he had enough of the cold and wanted to go in the house, but found himself lying in a puddle of beer, and broken glass, unable to move. His vision slowly transitioned from a cheery red blaze, to utter black. Suddenly he found himself submerged in darkness, alone.

Chapter 2 The Addiction

​Andy woke up the next morning with beer all over him, and a pile of ashes in his burn pit, still slightly smoking. Andy slowly got up to his knees but had a lot of trouble doing so from disorientation. Andy put his hand on his stomach and he buckled, falling down to his side. His body seized up and he began vomiting. The vomit was spilling out the corner of his mouth slowly while he was trying to get himself together. Once his stomach was purged, he felt much better and sat up slowly, wiping the vomit from his cheek. He spit two or three times in the fire trying to rid the awful taste from his mouth. After two minutes of sitting, breathing, trying to figure out what had happened, he felt better. His memories slowly returned to him. He stood up slowly and walked to his kitchen, which was littered with old bottles of soda, and various bags of half eaten chips. He then drew a glass of water. He had finished that glass yet still felt empty inside, so he drew another, then another. After about five or six glasses, he had stopped, and he stood in his kitchen looking out the window to his dirt driveway where he sees the fresh tire tracks from last night. He shakes his head in disgust. He remained quiet, and he sits down on his living room couch, looks around, and shuffles through his stand of old papers, and pill bottles then finally grabs the television remote, then turns it on. A documentary about Adolf Hitler came on, Andy wasn't paying too much attention to it. He was checking his phone for any missed calls or text messages. Andy sat there for about ten minutes and his home phone rang. Andy muted the television and calmly walked over to the paperwork ridden desk the phone was sitting on. He saw it was his sister, Eliza, calling. Andy picks the phone up and hesitates to press the button to answer, but he does eventually. "Hello, Eliza?"
​"Hello, Andy. I'm calling you because I need some help cleaning out my back room. There's stuff here that I can't lift myself." Eliza stated.
​"Hey sis you caught me on a busy day, I would love to hel..." Eliza interrupted Andy and insisted. "Andy, it's eleven o' clock on a Monday, and I called the house. That means if you answer, you took a sick day from work because you're hung over. Please, for your own good, come help me clean my back room."
​Andy paused for a moment and gave in. "Alright, I'll be down within ten minutes."
​Andy got in his car and started making his way to his Eliza's house. He zoned out for a majority of the ride. He took turns just out of muscle memory. He noticed the radio wasn't coming in as clear as usual. Andy tried changing stations but there were strange ambient noises in the background. He just passed it off as being too hung over, and turned it off. He arrived at Eliza's house, the house was comprised of old cream siding that needed to be replaced, shingles with a substantial moss growth on them, and a porch so old it had broken boards all throughout it's structure. He noticed two more cars than usual being there. He wondered why whoever was there couldn't help her. He walked onto the broken ancient porch, then up to the paint chipped door and knocked casually. He heard Eliza's voice. "Come in!"
​Andy walked in to find eight people there, most family, a couple friends, and a ninth chair that was empty. Angrily, Andy asked "The fuck is this shit?".
​Eliza replied quickly. "This is an intervention for your alcohol dependency, and shutting us all off from you."
​"I don't fucking need this right now!" Andy screamed. "You think any of you are better than me? You've all done shit. You're not innocent!"
​"Andy, please, we only want to help you." Eliza said trying to calm Andy down.
​Andy paused, put his hand on the wall and leaned trying to take it all in. "Why?" he asked.
​"Because we love you." Eliza said without meaning.
​Andy snickered, even chuckled a bit. "Love?" Andy said mocking Eliza.
He turned around looking into their unpowered television, only to see the reflection of a man they did not recognize anymore. "I know what this is all about. You all just miss the shit I do for you, and my money. I always liked alcohol before that, I've had a problem with it ever since high school but it was never a problem back then because I had a job that pays well. All you welfare junkies have been feeding off me like fucking leeches. The only reason my alcohol is a problem now, is because I shut all of you off, and I don't give you handouts anymore. All of you get a fucking job!"
​Andy was enraged. He threw the chair across the room at a window. The chair had broken the window and during that time, the old television turned on for no apparent reason, having absolutely nothing to do with Andy's fit of rage. Very confused he slowly approaches the television, witnessing it's strange display of colors and ambient noises. Everyone in the room is quiet, watching Andy and the television. Andy unplugged the television, only to find that the display is still on. After about fifteen seconds of strange colors and noises, the television goes black without a noise indicating its power off.
​Andy turns around to what he used to consider his friends and family. He hesitates, then says to them "I'm going home.".
​Andy leaves the room, the family and friends still in silence over what had happened with the television.
​Andy got in his car and left the premises. He turned on his radio, only to find for some odd reason it doesn't work. He keeps trying to change stations however it's just ambient noise with no music. "What the fuck is wrong with my radio?" Andy asked himself.
​Andy drove home messing with the radio the whole time. Ten minutes of no music, but noise. He turns his car off and briskly walks to his house, and turned on his television to see if there's any reports of towers or satellites down. The reception he was faced with was of poor quality and could only make out from the news everything was normal. Police brutality, gang violence, and shootings intact. He heard from his pocket interference with his phone, but he didn't notice anything that could have interfered with it. He pulled it out of his pocket and examined it. He hit it a few times, but the interference noise didn't stop. His laptop in the other room started the same interference noise. He ran to his laptop and examined it. At this point he was worried about what was going on. His television cut out in it's entirety and began the same noises and display like at his sister's house. Andy ran to unplug it, when he did the noise still did not subside. The noise began coming through his surround sound setup at full volume. Andy jumped at the noise, he didn't know what to do. He heard a crack of thunder from the next room over, his band room. The noise spread to his band's sound system on every possible amplifier. The noise was unstoppable and loud. He covered his ears and fell on the floor with tears in his eyes. "Make it stop!" he screamed.
​His scream could barely be heard over the noise. "Please God make it fucking stop!"
​"Make what stop?" said a mysterious voice.
​As soon as Andy heard that voice, the noise instantly subsided. It was silent, peaceful. He didn't know what to think about the noise, he was thankful it was over. He looked around to see the face of this voice. It was his best female friend, Amber. Andy was calmed by her silky blonde hair and small in stature, and also her pleasant aroma of lilac of which seemed to be her natural smell. The sight of her designer clothing gave him comfort, but he didn't know why. Her fair toned skin was smooth, without any imperfections. He felt as if he had just looked into hell's flames, and then suddenly been put into a bliss where he cannot feel pain. "Andy..." she said getting his attention.
​"...Yes Amber?" he replied.
​She looked at him, and walked over slowly with a smile on her face, but with a hint of concern for And. She knelt by his side and took his hand. "Andy, I've heard some things lately, and you know I worry about you, a lot."
​Andy sighed quietly. "Amber I just have people problems. People don't want to act like people, they just want to use you and act like some kind of sociopathic alien."
​She laughed a little, and that laugh made Andy smile. "Let me help you up Andy, you look like you've had a rough night, no offense."
​Andy laughed and replied with a generic "None taken.".
​Andy and Amber sat on his couch for a while talking about people they used to hate in high school for various reasons. Their conversation eased Andy's mind from the day, he was lost in conversation with her. He asked her "Have you had any technology problems today?".
​She very eagerly replied. "Yes, I don't understand why, I've been getting interference noises with my phone, the radio was just static, and my TV doesn't work right, how did you know?"
​Andy paused, and told her "For some reason, now don't think I'm crazy, but I think all my devices are haunting me."
​Amber thought about it for a minute and sat back in the arm of the couch. "I have an idea, how about we have a party here tonight? I'll introduce you to all my friends, they will love you! It will get your mind off everything." Amber proposed.
​Andy nodded his head, and as much as he didn't like people, he liked Amber. "Okay." He accepted. "As long as you set it up tonight, I'm all for it."
​Andy smiled at her. She smiled back then slowly moved to the side of the couch he was sitting on. She gently wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She got off the couch and went to the other room making sure to glance back at him just before leaving to acknowledge the fact of what she just did, and that she did not regret it. Andy sat there amazed she would do that. He put his hand up to his cheek where she had kissed him. He felt the area of skin, still just slightly wet from her lips. It was the best feeling he had in months.
Later that evening the house was prepared with beverages such as various soda and wine. The large plastic bowls that were in disarray in his cabinets were filled with chips, and sour cream dip. Andy's television was tuned to the game that was on, however was not coming in quite well at all. He had also turned on his vinyl record player with some old time jazz on. The trash that once littered Andy's house was now gone. Andy felt as if he was ready to socialize once again.
​Andy was in the kitchen sipping on some wine when he heard a car pull in the driveway. He heard the engine stop, then two doors close. A few moments later he heard a knock on the door. Amber went to greet the guests that had arrived. They were both females. Andy smiles when he hears everyone greet with a kind hello. Those next moments Andy zones out from conversation with Amber and the guests, the minutes that followed were just kind of a blur. From then on, Andy did not notice any cars pulling in his driveway when more guests showed up. Andy was laughing, smirking at every inappropriate joke. His house had about ten people occupying it, most of them females. He did not count, he was just happy he had some company.
​Andy heard his name called from the living room. He approached Amber's friend of which he did not know the name of. The man was asking why his reception on the television was not coming in well. Andy replied with a simple shrug of his shoulders. The man asked him if he knew anything about any satellites or towers being down, because he has been having problems with his devices. Andy thought it was strange because it seemed everywhere people have been having problems. He passed it off to this unknown man as being a problem he will call about tomorrow. The man gave Andy a cigar to congratulate him on having a smooth party. He thanked him for the cigar.
​Andy left the living room and came back to Amber only for her to ask where he has been. He states that he was in the other room talking to one of her guy friends about the television. Amber noticed the cigar in Andy's hand, and she asked him where he got it. Andy replied to her by saying the gentleman that was asking about the television gave it to him. Amber asked if he could point out the man that gave him the cigar and he accepted to do so.
​It became later and later into the night and Andy had not noticed that man at his house. The guests started leaving one by one, and as each of them left he did not recognize any of them as being the man he sought to point out to Amber. Instead he saw all women leave the party. Soon enough, all the guests had left the house and it was just Andy and Amber left. "Who was the man that gave you that cigar Andy?" Amber insisted.
​"I don't know his name, he had to be one of your friends. What's the big deal, it's just a cigar." He replied stating how he felt about it.
​Amber gave him a concerned look. "...None of my friends smoke."
​Andy also then gave her a concerned look. He replied "Maybe he thought it would be a nice gesture for the host.".
​Amber was holding back a tear, and very bluntly said "There were no other guys at the party. Just you Andy.".
​Andy chuckled a little. "You're messing with me right? You know, one big sick joke." Andy didn't want to believe what she had said.
​Andy was convinced there was a man there that indisputably gave him a cigar. He grew more anxious as he looked into her eyes and saw she was being serious about the entire thing. He quickly grew angry because he didn't want to accept what she had told him. He stood from his chair and screamed "This is one big sick fucking joke! Stop fucking with me Amber!".
​She instantly burst into tears and said nothing. It was a silent cry that she hung her head into her own hands to wipe away the tears. "Get out of my fucking house Amber! I can't look at you right now! This isn't fucking funny!" Andy screamed.
​Amber got out of the chair slowly and walked to the door. She was about to say something on the way out and decided against it. After she had left and closed the door, he sat back in his chair at the kitchen table where a wine bottle lie on top, opened, half empty. Andy begun pouring a glass but stopped after the wine glass was filled a third. He hesitated, and looked at the wine. He slowly raised the bottle to his lips, and began raising it. The wine poured down his throat. He thought it was dry, and bland. However he didn't care what it tasted like. He just wanted to inebriate himself.