Untying the Knot

chapter 6 part 3 of 4

It’s a little long and some of it does have to do with what Darcy said. You see, even though Ruby and I tried to make it seem like it’s no big deal, things are really bad. Let me start from the beginning. Ruby’s mom died from childbirth and her father remarried since he needed help with the new baby. He was gone by the time Ruby was three, and her stepmother, Regina, remarried another man, Devlin. That is who Ruby lives with now. They live in Ruby’s father’s mansion, and they forced Ruby to live in the servant’s cottage. She has to do all the work for them, sometimes all day and all night long. They treated her like a slave, and she hated it. Ruby kept this a secret from me only because of Darcy’s reaction when she found out. You see, Darcy and Ruby were best friends for a long time, and I became their friend after a while. One day, Ruby told Darcy about all of this and Darcy stopped being our friends. I didn’t know why she left us, and Ruby was afraid if she told me, I would leave her too. So, she kept it a secret from me until I forced her to tell me. That wasn’t too long ago. Then, one day, I went to her house and we found a letter addressed to her.

We don’t know who wrote the letter, but the writer said he was going to help Ruby deal with her stepparents. This is basically the whole story, minus all the gory details.”

“Wow that is a really sad story,” Meg said.

They sat together quietly, each in their own world. Then, Meg broke the silence and said, “I wonder what is taking Ruby so long. Let’s go see.”

Ruby was announcing Dave as the winner when they both arrived. “I promised to race the winner, so Dave, are you ready?”

“Yes,” he told her. “Whoever wins this race will be declared the fastest runner in the school!”

“Alright. Ready? Set? Go!” Tom announced from the finish line, where he was going to watch for the winner. It seemed like only seconds passed when Ruby crossed the finish line. She was declared the winner, and all the boys surrounded Ruby until she was

completely hidden. They all congratulated her, even Dave. Then, somebody grabbed Ruby’s hand and pulled her away from the crowd. “Alright guys. Party’s over!” Charlie cried as he dragged her away.