RUBY'S CUBE

Chapter 2: My Hero

Monday August 9,2003 was Ruby's first day of high school,it was 7:57 A.M and school starts at 8:20 A.M ,meaning Max only had 23 minutes to get his little sister to school on time. Ruby wasn't really concerned about showing up late to school on her first day, she was far more worried for Max and her health. She held on tightly to the handlebars as Max put the pedal to the medal. Accelerating so fast that the calm morning breeze felt more like strong winds. Both Max's shoulder length jet black hair and Ruby's long brunette hair were flying all over the place. Ruby can only remember one other time when both her and Max's hair flew everywhere, and that was when both of them stuck their heads out of their dad's car whenever he took them out to places. Max loved going fast on his bicycle,it made him feel free when ever he felt the issues of his personal life were closing in on him. Ruby was the complete opposite of Max when it came to riding bikes,a calm, slow, smooth ride provided Ruby with comfort whenever she needed it. Ruby hated going fast which is why a part of her didn't understand when she let Max an adrenaline junkie, ride her to school on his bike, or more importantly why she agreed to put herself in harms way by choosing to sit on the handlebars when she could've stuck to her gut and just walk to school like she wanted to. She didn't understand why she couldn't say no to Max, was it because she feared him, or was it because she idolized him and put her complete faith in him. Ruby didn't know the answer at first but after turning around and seeing Max with a big wide grin across his face, she knew it was because he was her hero.

"Hold on tightly to the handlebars little sis"Max shouted followed by a maniacal laugh. Ruby's butt was beginning to feel sore,the cracks on the street pavement and uneven side walks were not helping. Ruby closed her eyes and began imaging herself back in her world just to help her block out the pain coming from her rear end. "I'm in my world,I'm in my world,I'm in my world," Ruby repeatedly whispered to herself until she began to hear a horse neighing and it's hooves galloping. The pain from her sore butt was gone. She slowly opened her eyes only to realize that she was no longer on her older brother's bike,but was now on a beautiful, pitch black mustang with soft hair and strong broad shoulders. The cracked streets,and uneven sidewalks were replaced with a single road made up of evenly laid stones. The houses and buildings that occupied the spaces on both sides of the streets were now tall,beautiful willow trees with their long vines hanging low waving side to side when ever a breeze of wind blew past them. Ruby looked up at the sky to feel the sun's warmth on her face,she took a deep breath and leaned her body towards the back of the mustang's head. She placed her head on top of the mustang's head and wrapped her arms tightly around the horse's neck feeling it's soft hair brushing against her skin. The horse's steady galloping provided Ruby with a sense of great comfort and solace.

Ruby's peace abruptly came to an end when she noticed a pair of male hands wrapped around her waist. Ruby quickly sat back up when she realized she was not riding alone. Trembling with fear,she slowly began to turn back so she can see the stranger who was holding onto her. Ruby's eyes widened when she saw a handsome young man wearing a white buttoned up shirt with a black vest over it. She also noticed the young man was wearing black pants with two very distinctive red lines from the waist going down to the bottom of his pants,his feet were sporting what looked like old military style boots. The young man had long shaggy jet black hair like her older brother. His calm brown eyes glistened like coffee on a beautiful summer day,whenever the sun shined on them. Ruby didn't know who the young man was,but at the same time something about him made her feel as if these two have met before. At first she was frightened by the young man,but after gazing into his calm coffee brown eyes her fear was all gone,and replaced with a sense of ease and comfort.

Once her fear was gone, Ruby turned her attention back to the road. After what seemed to be a long pointless horse ride to nowhere,was finally coming to an end when both strangers where getting closer and closer to their destination. A giant white castle with onion domes was just a couple of miles away. Ruby once again found herself confused by her own imagination."I wonder who the castle belongs to,maybe it belongs to the guy sitting behind me,I wonder who he is and why he hasn't said a single word during this whole time." The little girl continued to ponder these questions until her thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice that echoed throughout the land,telling her they were going to make a stop. The calm breeze in her imagination quickly turned into a wind storm. The peaceful waving willow trees covering the sides of the road were now losing all of their leaves. The mustang that Ruby was comfortably riding on was now a beast charging wildly towards the castle. All of this sudden change in her imagination frightened the little girl,she turned back to see how the young man was doing and to her complete shock he was no longer there,it was as if he vanished into thin air.