My Little Ruby

Chapter Two

     When I wake up the next morning, I see Ruby laying on the mattresses my mother out on my bedroom floor for her.

     Her eyes are open and she is staring back at me.

      I smile at her but she just continues staring. I throw the cover off me and climb out of my bed and over to her's.

      "Good morning." I say. "Good morning." She replies simply. "How long have you been awake?" I ask.

     She shrugs and I laugh. "Well it's time to get up." I say.

     We both get up and get dressed. When we are done, I decide to take her over to Bray's and Fawn's house. I want Ruby to have friends.

When we get to her complex, I knock on the door and we wait for a minute before Bray's mom, Sonya, answers.

"Oh. Hello Sapphy. How are you?" She asks.

"I'm good." I say. Then she turns to Ruby. "And who are you?" She asks.

"This is Ruby. She is the foster care kid we are taking care of." I answer.

"Oh yes! My little Fawn was talking about you last night." Bray's mom says. I smile in response.

"So are you here to see Bray or Fawn?" She asks.

"Both if that's okay." I reply. Sonya chuckles and turns around inside the house. "Bray! Fawn! You have friends here!" She calls.

She turns back toward us and smiles. "They should be arriving shortly. Would you ladies like to come and sit while we wait?" Sonya asks.

I nod. "Yes. That would be great." I say.

By the time we are inside and sitting, Fawn has already made it to the room. "Friend!" She says when she reaches us and runs over and hugs Ruby who just sit there awkwardly while Fawn squeezes her.

Bray comes in right behind her. "Hey Sapphy. What's up?" She asks. By then, Fawn has made it to me and wraps her arms around me. While she does that I continue talking to Bray.

"Ah, not much." I answer plainly. She smiles and pulls Fawn off of me. "Why are you here today?" She asks.

I just shrug not wanted everyone in the room knowing my plans.

"Alright. Let's leave these two and we can go to my room." Bray says.

I stand up and follow her even though I already know where her room is.

When we get into her room and the door is shut, she asks,"Alright, why are you here?"

She knows I never come for no reason. If I want to just talk to her, I'll call or text her. She knows somethings up if I go to her house because it's so small.

"First off, to check on you. You alright? Has anything gotten worse. I know you had an appointment yesterday." I say.

Bray has cancer. Brain cancer just like my brother. Although her's was caught sooner so she at least has more time.

Bray sighs. She hates talking about it. She really just wants to live a normal life for as long as she can. Most people don't even know. She doesn't want to be pitied.

"It's no worse but no better either." Then she looks at the ground.

She doesn't want to tell me something.

I almost yell at her but then I see that she's crying.

I carefully and slowly get off her bed and move toward her. "Bray. What's wrong? What's- what's happened? Are- are you okay?" I ask as I slowly approach her.

I realize that I'm starting to cry to. I've lost so much and I don't want to lose my best friend too. I can't.

In response to my questions, she shakes her head. "They gave me time. A- a date." She says.

"What do you mean?" I ask. She looks up at me. "I have 6 months at most." She whispers.

I run over to her and hug her. I'm glad I did because she was about to collapse.

I slowly lower us to the ground. I rock her back and forth until she stops crying. I look down at her and realize that she's fallen asleep.

I gently lay her on the ground and place a blanket on her before leaving her to rest.

I head back out to the living room where Fawn and Ruby are still playing.

Fawn has brought some dolls out and is playing with them on the ground but Ruby is just sitting there sadly.

I frown at the sight. My plan didn't work. I walk over to the girls and kneel next to them.

"Hey what are you playing?" I ask. Fawn answers quickly and loudly. "We are playing princesses!" She says. "These are the princesses and they are not princesses." She says and points to the two piles of dolls.

The pile in front of her is the pile she said was princesses and the pile I front of Ruby are the ones that she said are not princesses.

"Well that not very fair. You gave Ruby all the ones that aren't princesses." I say.

"Well life isn't fair," She snaps back. "Plus, she said it was okay."

I turn and looks at Ruby. She just sitting here, looking sad. No six year old should be like this.

"Can I play?" I ask. I'm determined to get Ruby to participate. "Sure." Fawn replies and takes some dolls and hands them to me. "You can be these ones."

I pick up the dolls and start to play with them. I try and get Ruby to play by talking to her characters. I see her smile at one of my funny remarks but she doesn't pick them up. But then again, that smiles stays on her face.

Once I realize the time, I tell Fawn and Ruby that it's time for us to go. It was more because I felt like we weren't getting anywhere. Ruby still wasn't playing and her smile had faded.

Fawn was sad to see us go but still smiled. I hope that Ruby might be like that soon.

When we get back to my complex, we eat lunch. After we finish, Ruby says something that brings hope to my cause.

"I want to play dolls again." She says. I smile big and of course say yes. I find my old dolls in the attic. When I open the box, I see how old they are, but they are still usable.

We pull a few out and split them so we each have an equal amount. I start to play but she just leaves her's on the ground. I frown and look at her.

She has that sad look on her face. I realize that she hasn't moved since I opened the box.

I don't want to say anything in fear of what she might do. So I just keep playing.

After awhile, she just stands up and walks away. I drop the dolls I'm holding and decide to go watch tv in my room.

About half an hour later, I walk back out to check on her and I notice that the dolls have been moved. I stare at them a little creeped out at first until I see Ruby sitting at the kitchen table with one of the dolls maker her dance and she singing a song.

I move closer so I can see her better. I smile and lean on the wall.

     Maybe I can find some happiness in her. Then she might be like this all the time. This is what I was aiming for. Happiness.