Ruth

Chapter 2

I finally came to.

I glanced around looking for my grandparents. Boy would they be devastated, I thought. My grandmother was someone who loved old and familiar stuff because of the memories they contained; and the burning structure in front of me had a LOT of memories. That was why we haven't packed out of it yet even though I was pretty sure I and grandpa wanted to.

I frowned a little as I observed the disorder before me.

Strange.

Shouldn't they be in the centre of all this chaos. My eyebrows drew together as I walked closer to the heat, returning the weird looks my neighbors were giving me.

Why were they looking at me like that anyway? I thought, irritated. And where in the world were my grandparents? Weren't they asleep when I left?

That was when it hit me. That horrible thought.

I pushed it out as soon as it came. Stupid, ugly thought! They probably went out, I reasoned instead.

Even still. My heart felt like it would break into a billion pieces. Which isn't strange, I mean, my home is burning right before my eyes, along with my books (my heart skipped a beat at that one), my clothes, everything. Yet.....there was something else.

A hole.

An uncertainty.

A growing fear.

I went closer, running this time.
"Where's my family?", I asked a vaguely familiar person who was watching the inferno. He stared at me, not bothering to answer the question.

"Talk to me!", I raised my voice in annoyance.

He kept looking at me with that stupid expression on his face.
I turned to question other people but no one gave me a useful answer or any answer at all. They were just staring!

"What's wrong with all of you?!", I was yelling this time.

The fire was receding now but still no one cared to look at me or even answer my question.

"Nevermind, I'll find them myself", I said to myself as I angrily stalked off.
I had barely got my feet off the ground when a hand clamped down on my shoulder.
All the fear and anxiety I'd been feeling came out in a loud, very loud scream that sent some people nearby several feet into the air. The hand was removed immediately but returned just as quickly.

"Ruth", the owner of the hand said,"You need to calm yourself down".

I looked up. Relief washing through me. It was only Pa Luke. The eldest resident in my neighborhood, my favourite neighbor and my godfather.

"My grandparents. They are not here. I can't find them. Do you know where they are. I'm so worried my stomach hurts", I reach up to wipe tears I had no idea were on my face.

Am I crying??

"My dear princess", his voice shook a little as he pulled me closer, enveloping me in a tight hug.
Despite my worry, I thought it funny, how emotional he was being about a burning house; to be honest, the house WAS on its last legs so this wasn't really a tragic event; counting out, I guess, the valuables that have been lost in the flames.

Then I felt his body shudder and I paused-oh my God, he's crying.

He was saying something that suspiciously sounded like,"they were trapped. We tried to get them out. We tr...ied. We r...rea..lly did. T..the flames were t..too ho....".

I might have fainted. Because all of a sudden i heard screams of alarm as hands withheld me from painfully colliding with the hard ground and gently laid me on something soft.

"Ruth!"

"Ruth!! Open your eyes. Please."

The shock of ice cold water brought me out of the darkness. I reached up to massage my temple, groaning at the violent throbbing in my head and staring in confusion at the person hovering over my body.

"Are you okay?", Pa Luke asked. Concern etched in his aged face. I noticed that it was tear streaked, and then I remembered immediately why I was on the floor in the first place.

I rolled into a ball on the soft sand and wept profusely into my arms. Nothing could describe the pain in my heart; it was like a hundred knives were stabbing it.

Someone, Pa Luke probably, wrapped their arms around me, rocking gently in silence. Time passed. We could have been sitting for hours, days, years, eternity and I wouldn't have cared any less. My world was officially over.

"Why am I alive then?" I kept croaking until I fell asleep.

"Ruth. Wake up...you need to come inside.", Someone nudged me. " Come. Let's go home."

The walk to his house was vague. I remembered even less how I ended up in a bed. I just wanted to die. No really, what was the point of living on??

Nothing!