Sunny and Moon - New Claws

Chapter 6: "Carson" - Part 1

Ruby shuffled in her bed, rubbing her eyes and then slowly opening them, squinting at the little light that managed to reach her eyes.

After her view cleared up she took a look around where she was. It was a little place, a dome, actually, with vines and tree branches for walls, which had little gaps that let some light come in. On the far left corner was a small desk with some papers spread around and a bitten cookie. Ruby looked at the floor, which was made of polished stone. It was a pretty empty place, but it looked enough for the person who lived in it.

The person who lived in it. Who was not her. She was not in her house! Ruby jumped, now fully awake, and remembered what happened the day before. Or was it the day before? She remembered she fainted after she saw a boy. What if Ruby had been a week unconscious? Maybe it was just a day. And the boy. Who was he?

Ruby was so immersed in her thoughts that she didn't realise the brown-haired boy had come inside the dome. He gently tapped her shoulder, getting her attention.

"AH!" She staggered backwards. "Who are you?"

"Calm down."

"No! Why am I here?"

"I brought you water."

"What is this place?"

The boy sat down next to Ruby (which made her crawl farther away) and placed a glass of water on the nightstand.

"I asked, where are we?" Ruby broke the silence.

"I said, I brought you water." He mocked. "C'mon. Just drink a little. It will make you feel better."

Ruby weakly took hold of the glass and took a sip out of the water. It definitely made her feel better, although she didn't know how. Ruby got comfortable and asked again:

"Who are you?"

The boy frowned and sighed before saying his next words. "Look. My name's Carson." He said seriously, "And that's all you need to know. Now what's more important, who are you? And why were you on the woods alone?"

Ruby didn't know if she should answer that. What about the deer? And she couldn't remember half of what happened. But she sort of trusted the boy with this. He made her feel like it was OK to tell him. He would understand.

"I... Can't remember." She said. "But... I was... I... Um... Found a... Dead... A dead.... Leaf. Yes. And I cut myself with it. And then I ran, and I..."

Ruby face palmed internally. She lied. She didn't find a dead leaf, she found a dead deer. But she couldn't make herself say those words aloud.

Carson looked at her with an understanding look, that also seemed to feel kind of puzzled.

"Fine." He finally said. "Do you know where you live?"

"Of course I do. Mooncalf Hills."

"Mooncalf Hills?! That is extremely far away! How did you manage to get here?"

"I..." Ruby couldn't think of an answer. "I can't remember. Wait! I got something." She got a flashback of herself looking at the moon, and then everything went black.

"What is it?" Asked Carson.

"I saw the moon. That was it. I was at my house, I saw the moon, and then I passed out."

Carson's expression changed instantly.

"The– the moon?"

"Yes, the moon. What about it?"

"N–nothing. Nothing." Carson thought for a second and let go of the subject. "Anyways, I burrowed some clothes from someone. Why don't you put them on? Yours are pretty dirty, so it would be... better. Yeah. Uh, I'll leave the room. You change." He stood up, quickly grabbed some papers and a pencil from his desk, then climbed up a ladder Ruby hadn't noticed, and left.

Ruby was left alone staring down at a simple white shirt and dark brown jeans, with black short boots. She took the clothes and put them on. She couldn't see what she looked like with them, but Ruby knew the shirt was a little too big, and that she definitely looked weird with it on her. Anyways, it was better than her old clothes and she shouldn't be whining about them. 

What now?

Ruby sat down on the bed looking at her surroundings. So. She found herself in a dome, with a boy she doesn't know, after waking up in the middle of the woods. Her parents didn't know where she was and she didn't know what happened. That boy definitely seemed to know something, and she had to find out what it was.

What now?

The question bounced inside her head again. What could she do? What was there to do? Did she have to go back home? Find out what Carson was hiding? 

All those questions were definitely bugging her. But after considering each one of them carefully, Ruby decided it was best if she simply got back home and forgot everything that happened. Carson's secret was none of her business. Besides, he may not even have a secret! So Ruby stepped out of her pool of thoughts and settled for this mindset: Get. Back. Home. 

Carson didn't matter. All this woods stuff didn't matter. All the mysteries didn't matter. Her family did. And she was going to get back to them.