*The Chronicles of F.R.E.E. Atania's Knight - Raquel Festow* Part 1

Chapter 25 - The Wonders of Technology

*Ruth Watson POV*

Sawyer and Darren had to help Rebecca carry the huge keyboard, stool and stand back to Dean's. Thankfully, once we got back, Dean was serving her final customers as it was now two thirty. Rebecca immediately made to dash upstairs to try out some of the tunes in the music books she had been given but I called after her.
"What about your lunch?"
Rebecca groaned like a teenager being called downstairs for a telling off. She turned and slumped her posture, loudly stepping back downstairs. "Fucking human needs." I heard her grumble.
I chuckled and looked at Dean. She looked exhausted.
"You alright, hun?" I asked her, leaning against the counter with her and putting an arm around her shoulders.
"I definitely need help in here. Today was even more crazy than ever. Customers were coming in saying someone was playing music down the high street and it was drawing a crowd because it went live on Facebook."
"Facebook's still around?" I asked shocked, before laughing. "There you go, Rebecca, way to keep a low profile. You've gone viral."
"The fuck does that mean?" She asked.
Sawyer chuckled, showing her a video on his phone. Rebecca gaped at it.
"Oh shit, that's not good!" She breathed.
"Why isn't it? You'll be famous." Sawyer chuckled.
"This is very bad. Oh fuck, how could I have been so stupid?!" Rebecca put her face in her hands and pushed her fingertips into her eyes.
"Hey, it's ok. Just be sure to pay Asuna back the money for the keyboard when you get your first pay check." Darren laughed.
Rebecca scowled at him, before looking warily at me. I frowned.
"What? I'm pleased you've gone viral. You deserve to be recognised for your talent." I said, grinning.
"What if you get recognised from it?" Rebecca said quietly.
I almost slipped of the counter, my legs buckled at what she said. Oh shit! Doppelgängers of a missing person on Earth, aka me, being all over the internet for playing a piano in a music shop. Oh FUCK!
As fate would have it, my phone started ringing and I begrudgingly looked at who was calling. It was Green.
"Heya, Green!" I said in a falsely cheerful voice.
"I didn't know you played the piano!" She squealed down the phone.
I started rubbing my forehead in a panic. "Er, that wasn't me... That was Rebecca..."
"Oh wow! She's amazing!"
I gave a weak chuckle. "Yeah... yeah she sure is. Erm, what are you watching it on?" I asked, dreading the answer and looking at Rebecca who was banging her head against the counter.
"It's on Facebook and Twitter." Green squeaked, excitedly. "Oh my god! Rebecca's gone viral! This is amazing!"
I made a dry, regretful sob out loud. Rebecca stopped banging her head and looked so apologetically at me.
"I'm so sorry, Ruth! I didn't realise you had more ways of getting news out." She moaned, stepping towards me.
"It's not just Facebook and Twitter though." I complained, the reality of the situations washing over me. "The internet is huge! I haven't seen any newspapers anymore! It's all on everyone's phone. This is bad. What if my mum sees this?!"
I was full on panicking now. Hyperventilating, gripping my hair with both of my hands, my eyes wide and sweat breaking out on my forehead. My whole body was trembling like an earthquake and my legs were starting to buckle from the lightheadedness I was getting from hyperventilating.
Darren caught me, just as I was about to crumble to the floor, whispering in my ear that I'll be fine, I had this in my control. But he was lying! I didn't have this in control! The likelihood of my mum seeing this was going to be incredibly high and it was going to drag Earth into unknown territory.
It was chaos in that kitchen. Everyone was talking over each other, trying to comfort and give optimistic predicitions of what was going to happen. Darren had taken my phone off me and was talking to Green, asking her how bad the damage was. Rebecca looked horrified and was panicking just as much as me as she screamed at Natalia who was trying, in vain, to calm her down. Sawyer was talking with Dean and looking through their phones for a better idea of how far the video had spread. Raquel and her friends were silently watching all this mania unfold, all looking extremely concerned with what was happening.
I ran out into the courtyard, needing a cigarette to calm my shot nerves. I lit up as soon as I was outside and blew the smoke out quickly. I was going to chain smoke, that was for sure.
Hunter came out and put his arm around me, I rested my head on his shoulder.
"It'll be alright, Watson." He said, kissing the top of my head. "We'll work something out."
"My mum's going to see that, Hunter. She's going to think I ran away. I don't think I'll ever be able to face her!" I wailed, twisting round to dig my face into his shoulder and hide myself away from the world. "She's going to be so heartbroken. I didn't want to hurt my mum! It would have been better if I had just died out there!"
Suddenly, I'm being harshly pushed away from Hunter, his hands gripping my shoulders painfully, and his face in mine, glaring at me with a hard look on his face.
"Don't you dare!" He hissed through gritted teeth as I started pathetically back at him. "Don't you fucking dare say that! I saw first hand what happens when someone died out there! I saw the damage it left behind! I saw Goodwin's parents world crumble apart during her funeral and her brother, Theo's, heart shredded right there and then. Don't you ever, ever say that to me!"
I blinked at him, unsure what to say. Tears were pooling in Hunter's eyes that were giving away his regret, pain and suffering he had endured over the past decade. He was breathing fast and heavily through his clenched jaw, his teeth bared, and his golden hair cascading over his eyes.
"I'm sorry." I whispered.
Hunter closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath in as he released my shoulders.
"You have no idea how difficult it was. Returning and seeing Goodwin's coffin disappear behind a red curtain, having to sit right at the back because, to the family, I was a complete stranger. I wanted so much to go up to the front and give my own speech. To tell her family of how brave and wonderful their daughter, sister, cousin, friend had been in Astrovia. But I couldn't." His eyes dropped to the floor as he quickly wiped away the escaped tears. "You have no idea..."
I pulled him back into the hug just as Darren came out to look for us, looking angry.
"Ruth." He said, bluntly. "It's your friend."
I groaned. "What is it now?" I sighed, restlessly.
"Just speak to her." He said, handing me the phone and walking back inside. I cast a worried look at Hunter who supportively took my hand.
"Hello?" I said, unable to find it in myself to hide the emotions in my voice.
"Ruthie! You were incredible! I had no idea you played the piano!"
It was Lizzie.
"Hi Lizzie," I said, rubbing my forehead again, trying to ease the headache.
"You seriously need to have a word with your fiance! He doesn't realise you have a serious talent! I've shared it everywhere to get you out there!" She practically sang down the phone.
"YOU WHAT?!" I roared in fuming disbelief. This is not happening! No! No no no no no no no!
"What's wrong? I thought you could make it your new career. I mean, now you're back, you need to get yourself a job to pay those bills right?" She asked me, her voice evident that she had no idea what she had just done.
"Liz, you have no idea of the damage you have just caused!" I snarled at her. "I am not back. I was never meant to come back. I don't need a job, I don't need to be recognised for a talent that isn't mine, and I sure as hell don't need YOU of all people spreading the word!"
I was seeing red now. Panicking stage over, I was desperate to get off this Realm NOW!
"I thought you understood that I didn't want my return advertised everywhere. I asked you not to! You're supposed to be my friend!" I wailed, covering my eyes with my free hand in despair.
"I am your friend! Sorry for being proud of my oldest friend because she decided to show off and gather an audience when playing the piano!" Lizzie shouted down the phone.
"IT WASN'T ME!" I bellowed before throwing my phone at the alleys wall and smashing it to pieces. I stared at the segments, breathing hard from anger, before slowly realising what I had just done.
"Oh fuck! Ohfuckohfuckohfuck!" I muttered, scrambling to pick up the phones shards, staring in horror at them in my hands. "NOOO!"
Hunter crouched next to me. "It's ok, come on." He said soothingly.
"NO!" I screamed. "GET AWAY FROM ME! I NEED TO BE ALONE!" I backed away from him, the panic beginning to return and starting to hyperventilate again, my pounding heart on fast forward, lodged in my throat. I dropped the shards of my phone to the floor and tangled my fingers in my hair, staring around me wildly to find a place to escape.
Black dots danced in my vision as I tried to focus on finding somewhere I could run to, alone, and hide until it was time to go. Hunter kept trying to reach out to me, but I kept slapping his hands away. I didn't want to be touched. I didn't need to be comforted. I needed to be taken away from here. Hunter started shouting in a panicked voice at me, but I was having trouble hearing him. Everything was starting to feel very distant and I felt like I was falling.
Then everything went black.