Ruby 12

Practice makes perfect. It is a cliché, but everyone knows that it is the truth. When the body or mind is placed in times of trial, it is the practice that allows it work without thinking….do without knowing. When Ruby had turned 12, her father had insisted that she learn how to shoot a gun. Every day they had practiced with an old shotgun of his….setting up old cans and shooting them over. Every day, her aim would get a little better. Now….that practice would pay off.

As the vision around her melted, Ruby realized that she was still in Gran’s basement. She had not been back at the bar. And she hadn’t been speaking to her boss or to Joe. It was the creature. It had been trying to fool her…to trick her into putting down the one thing that could stop it…..the gun. Now, as the image of her boss melted away and the reality of the creature appeared before her, Ruby’s body acted on its own.

Without thinking (because thinking was impossible when faced with the horror of the shadow), Ruby’s arm flew up…making perfect aim. Without thinking (because she was screaming too loudly and too fiercely), Ruby’s finger found the sweet spot that would make the bullet go exactly where it needed to travel. And for one brief moment, the air around her was filled with the scent of baking cinnamon buns….and was that chocolate chip cookies? And then, with a flash, her finger pulled the trigger.

The creature had leapt toward her…fangs and claws exposed…thirsty for her blood. In that instant, a shot of blue fire leapt from the pistol and made its way across the room, lighting up the darkness. With a whoosh, the fire enveloped the creature in a cocoon of blue flame.

All along the monster had been trying to get Ruby to drop the gun. All along the shadow of evil had been trying to trick Ruby into letting go of her one hope. Now…with the power that it had held dispersed…the gun fell from her hand. A large metallic clank rang out…but it was drowned out from the screeches of the writhing horror. As Ruby stared in horror, the creature changed shape.

First, it was a large spider…fangs dripping with deadly poison. Then, it was a bat….its large, leathery wings burnt and ruined beyond the ability to fly. Then it was Joe….screaming and reaching toward her. She even saw herself….her hair burnt from her head…her eyes boiling in their sockets. And then, with one final surge of cold heat….the flames erupted into one brief bright flash. Ruby shielded her eyes.

When she was able to look again, the creature was gone….the fire was gone…and the danger was gone. Ruby felt wetness running down her face and was alarmed that she might be bleeding. She wiped at her cheeks….and realized….she was crying. Seeing the darkness…..the true evil of the creature….had broken something inside of her. She knew that she would never be the same person again….but somehow she knew that it wasn’t such a bad thing.

Still crying, she turned and headed back toward the stairs which led upstairs. The door creaked open and a familiar face appeared.

“Ruby?” Gran asked, “You okay down there darlin’? We heard an awful racket.”

“Yes Gran,” Ruby said, “It’s fine….it’s all going to be alright.”

And it was going to be alright….Ruby could feel it. But she also felt at the back of her mind that her world would never be “alright” again. She knew that she would never be able to walk into a dark room again….never be able to take a long walk in the woods by herself….and never be able to fully trust her own eyes again.

And the boy. She didn’t even want to think about what was going to happen to him. She knew that something bad had happened to his mom….she had gotten that much out of him. But she knew what she had to do.

But for the moment, she was safe…they were all safe. But for how long…..how long before another creature of darkness came into her life? That she could not answer….all that she knew was that in that final flash of light before the creature of darkness had vanished, she had seen a vision. In the flames had been a strange sight indeed….the Pillsbury Dough Boy. He had been holding a picture…of the boy. His eyes had been bleeding. And he had only spoken two words. “Protect him.”

And that was exactly what Ruby planned on doing. She reached the stairs and then suddenly turned. Without thinking…without speaking…she suddenly turned and walked back across the basement floor. With one swoop, she reached down and grasped the pistol which was lying on the floor. She felt that she was going to need it…and soon.

The sun was starting to shine on a new day. And unlike all the other days before it, Ruby felt alive.