Ruby Fox (love_ruby) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2019-08-31 18:01:00 |
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Entry tags: | #december 2017, amelia, amelia x ruby, ruby |
Who: Ruby and Amelia
Where: Amelia’s House
When: Morning, Friday, Dec 29th
Status: Complete
Ruby had barely left Jules’s house when she started calling and texting Amelia, but from the way the phone sent her straight to voicemail, she suspected that Amelia’s phone was dead. The best she could do was hope she turned it on soon and then kept walking her bike out of overlook, using the cover of darkness to sneak away. Her bike had survived the fog, but it was in bad shape with scrapes down the side, broken mirrors, and bent handlebars. It looked drivable though, and that was what mattered. Any other time of year she could walk home, but it was so incredibly cold that as soon as she was out of Overlook, she climbed on her bike and rode home.
The roads were deserted, but that was expected at four in the morning. The only people up and about were those that had been trapped in their cars, desperate to get home now that it was safe to move about. Ruby kept expecting to see one of those things lurking in the shadows, but none never stepped out if they were there. There was blood on the street, carnage that turned her stomach, but she tried not to look and kept on driving until she was home and hurrying in the front door to get warm. She didn’t realize how relieved she was to be there till she felt tears in her eyes and she collapsed on the couch, falling asleep until her brother woke or her father returned home. If she didn’t hear from Amelia before then, she’d just have to wing it and hope her friend was willing to cover for her after the fact.
Amelia had left her phone at home because - as Ruby had guessed - it was dead and she didn't know if she'd be able to charge it anywhere nor did she really have time to think about it before she left. When she was home, Jasper was in bed and Gavin had gone back out again, she plugged her phone in and flopped onto her bed with the dogs by her side. It felt like it took forever for the damn thing to turn on but then it finally did and the first thing she got was a text from Ruby so the first thing Amelia did after reading that text was to call her.
It was later than Ruby had hoped for by the time Amelia called her back, but she’d managed to cover decently enough until then. Her father had been trapped at work, as she had expected, and had called as soon as he woke up and realized he had service. He was fine, but one of the guys at the garage had been killed and he was waiting for the police to come by before he could come home. Ruby told him she was fine, she’d been with a friend, and she’d tell him all about it when he got home. Her brother woke an hour later and she waved him off, going back to sleep until the phone rang. She was drowsy, but Amelia’s name on the phone, or Lyra’s name rather, roused her quickly. “Hey,” she said, sitting up and rubbing her face. “Are you okay? Do you have time to talk?”
"I'm okay," Amelia said quickly and she could feel some more of her anxiety seeping away the more people she heard from. Sure, a lot of people were hurt or dead, but not her people. "Jasper got hurt but he's going to be alright. Are you okay?" She knew she needed to actually relax now but her muscles still seemed tight with the urge to run or hit things or both. It was hard to quiet down the urge but she was also oh so tired and she felt that even more keenly now as she curled up, the dogs' warm bodies snuggling up close to her.
Ruby felt a moment of panic as Amelia told her Jasper had been hurt, immediately followed up by relief. If Amelia thought he was going to be alright, then she had no reason to worry. She didn’t think Amelia would sugar-coat it for her sake, so she just made a mental note to check in on Jasper as soon as her own crisis got settled. “I’m okay, just… One second,” she said, getting up from her spot on the couch to hurry up to her room. She shut the door and put some music on, the volume low, but enough to cover the conversation if her brother tried to listen in. “Okay...I have a huge favor to ask. Can I say I was with you during the fog? Is that a possibility?”
Amelia waited and listened while Ruby obviously relocated but her request caught her by surprise. "I don't know," she said as she thought about it. "I wasn't alone..." Elodie had been pretty out of it the whole time, both because of her injuries and later because she took a lot of painkillers and washed them down with alcohol. "My neighbor was here but she was hurt and spent most of her time on the floor in the bathroom so... I guess we can make it work. Are you in trouble?" It sounded like a need for an alibi and while Amelia wouldn't hesitate to provide that, she felt like she deserved to know why she was lying for her.
“Your neighbor Elodie?” Ruby asked with a sinking sense of dread. Elodie wouldn’t hesitate to call her out if someone asked her, but she couldn’t imagine why anyone she knew would ask Elodie anything. Her father didn’t know the girl, so it would still work for him. It was her friends at school that she might have to re-think her story for. “Yeah,” she said softly. “I can tell you, but you can’t breathe a word of it to anyone, ever. Except Jasper.” Ruby was certain that Jules would tell Jasper, just as soon as she possibly could. Was it weird that he was the one she would have called as well? When you need to hide a dead body, call Jasper Lucas--he’d either love it or hate it. “Are you sure you want to know?”
Amelia was quiet for a beat, not because she wasn't sure but because she wasn't sure she wanted to hear whatever it was over the phone. "Can you come over?" she asked and maybe part of it was that she didn't really want to be alone. Gavin had gone out while Jasper was sleeping and she didn't think he'd appreciate her crawling into his small bed with him, no matter how much she craved the comfort of another person close by. "I'm not sure we should be talking about this on the phone."
Ruby was reluctant to leave, if only because she felt like she’d barely been home. But she’d been there a few hours in reality, she’d seen her brother and talked to her father, so it shouldn’t be a big deal to run over to Amelia’s for a few. “Yeah,” she answered, sliding off her bed to turn off the music. “I’ll be right over.” All she had to do was tell her brother and text her dad, then she hopped in the truck and hurried over to Amelia’s house. She’d always loved her bike, but right now she felt safer in the truck. A little less visible. Nobody ever paid attention to her when she was in it and that was a plus right now. It was only minutes later when she was knocking on the door to the Lucas house, shivering from the cold.
Amelia kind of wanted to just stay in bed and try to sleep but her body still felt like she'd had too much coffee and she got up as soon as Ruby hung up and started cleaning again, agitated all over again. The dogs tiredly padded out there with her, watching her in confusion before running to the door, signalling someone was there even before Ruby knocked so she didn't have to wait out there for long. Amelia opened up and ushered her inside, pulling her into a tight hug as soon as the door was closed behind her. "I'm so glad you're okay," she mumbled, squeezing. "I thought the world was ending again."
Ruby hugged Amelia tight, so incredibly relieved to see her friend. She thought she’d probably feel like this for each and every person she cared about and would only be able to completely relax when she knew they were all okay. But then she remembered why she was there and doubted she’d ever be able to relax again. The secret was there, looming over her like Edward had loomed over Jules, ready to strike at any minute. “I know. That’s the worst it’s been in forever. I thought it would never end,” she said, eventually releasing her. She gave the dogs a little smile and a little head rub for each. “Where can we talk?”
"Bedroom," Amelia replied and once Ruby had gotten her boots and coat off, Amelia led the way in there, closing the door behind them. The living room would have been just as good but the bedroom felt more private and untouched by the events of the last few days. They'd cleaned up most of the mess around the apartment but there was still a lot to do while she hadn't been in here at all, Elodie hadn't bled on anything in here, the dogs hadn't done their business in here, it was all untouched and serene. Amelia flopped down on the bed and patted the space in front of her to invite Ruby to sit as the dogs settled down behind her. “Elodie was her, but she was really out of it," she said. "So she won't know if you were here or not. What's going on?"
“At some point you’re going to have to tell me how Elodie ended up in your house,” Ruby said with a shake of her head. That was a story she wanted to hear and probably needed to if she was supposed to have been there for it all. “Okay, so… I got stuck at Jules’s house. I was there looking for my necklace when the fog came in.” She was hesitant to continue, worried about the judgement and the effects of sharing a secret with one more person. But then she knew about Amelia, that she’d aged ten years in a matter of days, and that seemed like a bigger secret. An impossible one. If Amelia could trust her, she could trust Amelia. After a moment of silence, she continued on. “Last night, her step-father attacked her. Like, I came in and he was choking her on the stairs. I thought he was going to kill her and--and I hit him in the head with a baseball bat.” Her voice dropped to a whisper and when she looked down at her hands she saw they were shaking. “He fell down the stairs. We don’t know if I killed him or the fall.”
Amelia was more than ready to tell Ruby all about what had happened with Elodie, but Ruby's story seemed more pressing right now so it could wait. Instead she listened, her eyes going steadily a little wider when Ruby told her the gory details of her time spent with Jules. It was probably a testament to how broken she was that her first reaction was to be relieved the man was dead - if he hadn't died and Jasper found out he'd attacked Jules? Jasper would have killed him. "Where is he now?" Amelia whispered because it sounded like something that needed to be taken care of if Ruby and Jules hadn't already.
“We don’t know,” Ruby said with a mirthless laugh. “We dragged him out on the deck, and--and were going to try and get rid of the body, but this creature came out of the fog and we barely made it back inside.” She could still see it when she closed her eyes, it’s claws reaching for her, eager to tear flesh. “When the fog lifted the body was gone. We’re sure he was dead, absolutely positive, so that thing had to have taken him. Jules is just going to say he went out into the fog and didn’t come back, but it makes things easier if I wasn’t there.” It was easier to keep the story straight when Jules was the only one telling it.
"You were here," Amelia said firmly and leaned forward to hug Ruby again because by the sound of it her friend had almost died. "Okay," she said when she pulled back again. "You were here so you need to know what happened. We can say you were sleeping when Elodie came over. She got hurt in the garden and I let her in. She spent the rest of the time in the bathroom, I gave her alcohol and pills so she was pretty out of it. She wouldn't have noticed if you were there and if she says you weren't it's easy to say she was too drugged and drunk to know."
“Thank you,” Ruby said, hugging Amelia back tightly. It went unsaid how much it meant to her that Amelia allowed this, that she didn’t even hesitate to help her cover up Edward’s death. It was weird to think that only a few months ago, Amelia was just Jasper’s little sister, a little girl that was nowhere near Ruby’s peer. Now she was becoming one of her closest and most trusted friends. “It’s Elodie. She’s been a super bitch to me, so it’s believable that I’d avoid her.” If she’d really been there, she’d have at least tried to help when the girl was hurt, but reality didn’t matter. They could bend it to make it fit the story they needed. “Was it one of those creatures? When did she come over? What the fuck was she doing out in the fog?”
"I don't really know," Amelia said. "I think it was six or seven in the morning. She went to the garden and something attacked her. I let her in through the back door." She rolled her eyes a little. "I think she went outside to smoke." Something she wouldn't have really blamed Jasper for doing, but it was Elodie and she hated Elodie so it was automatically a stupid thing to do. She didn't really want to talk about Elodie anyway, reaching out to lightly pat Ruby's pretty, pink hair. "Are you okay? That guy dying is... kind of a big deal. He deserved it and you probably saved Jasper from killing him but still, can't be easy."
Ruby supposed that was a normal reason to step outside, considering there weren’t supposed to be fucking monsters wandering about, but she wasn’t going to cut Elodie any slack just because she was hurt. She supposed she was glad she hadn’t died though. She wouldn’t have wished that on anyone and it would’ve been horrible for Amelia. “I don’t know,” she answered, feeling a wave of emotion roll over her. “I didn’t mean to, you know? I just had to stop him from choking her. And if I hadn’t, he… I swear, he was going to kill her. And he’d’ve killed me next. I keep telling myself it was self defense, but I still… I still see him there at the bottom of the stairs and I don’t know anyone would believe me and it all just...scares me.” Ruby wiped at her face, surprised to find tears there. “Even if he deserved it, I still can’t believe I killed him.”
Amelia listened, brows furrowed and her chin set a bit defiantly as she took in everything Ruby said. She leaned forward again and grabbed Ruby's arms, squeezing. "Listen to me," she said quietly, her voice serious. "Off the record? You didn't kill that man, he got himself killed. On the record, you were nowhere near him when he disappeared. You were here. If I'm covering for you I need to know you will never tell anyone you weren't here last night. A lot of people got hurt last night, nobody will ever know what happened." She really believed that to be true. There was so much chaos, why would anyone really find out? Unless Ruby or Jules broke and told someone what had really happened, it would never see the light of day.
It was moments like these that Ruby was struck with how much older Amelia was, not just in years, but in life experience. Ruby doubted any of her other friends would’ve handled the situation quite so well, but Amelia had dealt with shit worse than this in the time she’d been gone. Ruby knew Amelia was right--she’d seen the destruction the fog had left behind. She’d even seen a body or two on her way home that morning. No one was likely to question Jules’s story and an alibi from Amelia tied it all up in a nice little bow. “Okay,” she said, nodding as she took a deep breath. She couldn’t let herself fall apart over this. Edward brought this on himself. She just had to keep telling herself that till she got it through her head. Hearing it from someone on the outside definitely helped. “I don’t think anyone will really question where I was, but I have to tell people something, you know? I’m sure this is all people are gonna talk about the rest of the week.”
Amelia knew she knew death, she just wasn't sure if she'd ever caused someone's death. There were so many gaps in her memory, now she had to wonder if she herself had ever actually killed someone. It wasn't the kind of thought she let herself linger in, it was all too hypothetical and it drove her crazy so she focused on Ruby instead and did her best to push it all out of her mind. "Nobody has a reason to question it," she told her, sounding more sure than she really felt but not by much, she needed to believe Ruby was safe, that she and Jules weren't going to get into trouble. She cared about them but most importantly, it would absolutely wreck her brother if it got out. "And you did nothing wrong." She forced herself to relax a little, enough to give Ruby a small smile. "It sounds like you saved Jules's life."
Ruby laughed soundlessly, a little puff of air and a tug at her lips. “Yeah… It’s kind of wild when I think of it like that ‘cause it was the last place I wanted to get stuck.” Now they were forever bound together by this horrible secret, something they would probably never forget no matter how hard they tried. “I guess… now I’m just worried about what might happen when they find the body,” she sighed, pressing her hands to her face. “My fingerprints are all over it. So are Jules.” But Jules may be able to explain hers. At least she was related to him. Ruby’s only saving grace might be that hers weren’t in any system yet. “Do you think they’ll even check things like that? I mean, I’m pretty sure I passed a hand on my way home this morning. Just a hand. No arm.”
It was pretty gruesome and Amelia wrinkled her nose before leaning in to hug Ruby again. It was more of a reflex than a conscious effort, it just seemed like the thing to do because nobody should have to see something like that. "I'm so sorry," she mumbled. "But no, I don't know why they'd check something like that, if that thing out there got him he'll be all chewed up." She pulled back again and tried to look like she really believed what she was saying. The truth was she had no idea. Maybe they would check the body for fingerprints, DNA, all that sciency stuff they could do now, a lot of it things she didn't even know existed. She had to hope the cops were way too slammed with bodies and injuries to actually do a thorough job.
Normally, if you found a body in pieces, that would be the first thing you’d do, or that’s what shows like CSI wanted you to believe. But Ruby desperately hoped they wouldn’t put the bodies through that level of scrutiny, not when there were so many casualties. She had no doubts that they would blame this on some animal, rabid bears perhaps, and if the body was found that was exactly what it would look like, so long as they didn’t do any kind of forensic shit on it. Ruby leaned into Amelia and shut her eyes, her thoughts still racing. It felt like they would never stop, but being there with Amelia helped. “I’m sorry to put this all on you,” she said quietly. “There’s just… not a lot of people I would trust with this.”
"I always want you to come to me if you're in trouble," Amelia said soothingly. She didn't know why, but she felt fiercely protective of Ruby, as much as she did her own brother, and this wasn't exactly hardship. It was just lying, nothing she had to go out of her way to do. The hug was good for her too, she could feel it, holding on tightly to another warm body made her feel safe and it felt good to think it made Ruby feel better too. "You're okay. We're okay. It's over." She wasn't sure about that last part, things could always get worse - but it was over for now and they were safe for now.
Ruby nodded as she took a slow, deep breath. It was over, at least for now. Now all they had to do was wait and make sure nothing shook out in the days to come. It was easy enough to say she wasn’t there when there was no body to be found, but Ruby didn’t know how things would go down when the body turned up. She was pretty sure Jules could handle it, but what if she was wrong? What if they started asking questions and Jules broke down? Ruby just had to trust her and she knew that went both ways. Still leaning against Amelia, she tried to direct her thoughts elsewhere, to a problem that wasn’t her own. “How’s Jasper doing?”
When Amelia finally pulled back she didn't go far, taking hold of Ruby's hands to maintain that reassuring skin to skin contact. She honestly wanted to hold her for hours but that was probably too much. "He's okay," she replied. "He was with Logan and they found some strong painkillers so he was kinda high when we finally got to him. Dad took him to get stitches and he's sleeping now." She smiled faintly. "Do you know Logan well? He knows about me so you don't have to keep it all a secret around him."
Ruby didn’t mind at all that Amelia kept ahold of her. It was comforting and she needed that right now. Being able to share this with Amelia made her feel less alone, even though she hadn’t been in the first place. But Jules wasn’t going to comfort her and she wouldn’t expect her to. Ruby tried to imagine Jasper and Logan out in the fog together and shook her head. Those two idiots were lucky to be alive. “Yeah, I mean, not super well, but I can’t really know Jasper without knowing Logan on some level,” she said with a little smile. “I knew he was back in town, but we haven’t had a chance to catch up yet.”
"I just remember him from when I was little," Amelia said with a faint smile. "He's so different - even if he's the same. Like everyone. I remembered him as so much older and wiser." Like Jasper and Ruby, but they were all so young. "Do you have to go home soon? We can watch a movie or just hang out and talk if you want to stay for a while." She really hoped Ruby didn't have to leave, it was nice having her there and losing sight of her would make Amelia worry again, worry that she'd get arrested and Amelia would never know, or that something would get her and Amelia wasn't there to at least try to keep her safe.
Ruby knew she should go home, that her dad would want her to be there when he got home himself, but he wasn’t there now and wasn’t likely to be there for a while. There was no point in going home just to sit there and worry. “I can stay for a while,” she said, returning Amelia’s smile. “I just need to be home by, like, three, so...a movie would be nice. Something funny.” She wasn’t sure if it would help, but she couldn’t take anything else for the time being. They had enough drama, suspense, and horror in real life that she didn’t need to see it on the screen.
Watching something dramatic or scary was far from Amelia's mind right now so 'funny' sounded like a good thing. She gave Ruby's hand a little squeeze before letting go and crawling off the bed. The dogs looked at her like she was crazy before reluctantly getting up as well but it was clear they were confused because after everything, they all should just curl up right there and sleep. Amelia had a feeling she would pass out eventually but she still felt a little too keyed up to relax and be alone with her thoughts. "I could honestly just go for cartoons right now," she admitted. "Real life is a bit much, don't you think?"
Ruby laughed softly and nodded. “Cartoons would be fun,” she agreed. “Anything that stops me from having to think for a bit.” She might fall asleep, if she was honest, but she didn’t think Amelia would be too upset if that happened. After the last few days, Ruby felt like she could sleep for weeks and then when she woke up everything would all just be a bad dream. She knew that was just wishful thinking though. The reality of the situation was that they’d have to wait and see what happened and hope that, if anyone looked their direction, they’d covered their bases well enough to hide the truth.