There were hands on her, on her cheeks, wiping away tears she didn't even realize she was shedding. It was her father, who had rushed to her side.
Rue opened her eyes, and her vision blurred with tears. She saw the look of worry and terror in her dad's eyes, she could feel the concern and fear from him and it only made Rue panic even more.
Next to him, Rue's mom had already crouched by her daughter. "Rue? Babe, what is it?"
"It's so loud," Rue sobbed, her eyes darting all around her. "It's so loud! Why is it so loud?" she shrieked.
"She's bleeding," Bob suddenly gasped, his eyes watching as blood began to roll down his daughter's nose.
Rue brought her hands down from her ears, only for her fear to arise when she saw them coated with her red blood.
More people gathered nearby, and Rue didn't need to look up from her blood-coated hands to know that. She could hear them all slowly gather to see what was wrong with the five-year-old girl. The voices got louder as the number of people increased, and Rue felt herself lose her ability to breathe.
She was suddenly pulled up from the floor, and Emilia wrapped her arms around her daughter as she carried her. "It's okay, baby," She cooed, nodding toward Bob to let him know they should go.
"Make it stop," Rue sobbed, digging her face into her mother's chest.
"It's gonna be alright," Rue heard her mother saying soothingly as she began to walk out of the park. "Just listen to my voice, and ignore everyone else's, okay?"
Slowly, Rue peeked up to look at her mom, who smiled at her softly. She noticed that her mom hadn't opened her mouth when she said, "We're gonna go home. You're gonna be okay. Just listen to my voice."
Rue's eyes were wet with tears, but she nodded anyway.
Emilia brought her hand up, and Rue placed her small palm over hers. She watched as gold began to glow from her skin and warmth spread through her fingers. Distracted by the dim light show, Rue found that she could breathe again. She inhaled deeply and exhaled in slow breaths. There was a thin layer of sweat on Rue's forehead, where the loose ends of her hair had stuck to her skin, but she calmed down.
Emilia smiled at this and kissed her daughter's hair while her eyes began to shine with fresh tears. "Relax, baby, go to sleep, we're almost home."
Her mother's voice was soothing despite never coming out of her mouth.
Rue felt her eyelids grow heavy, and even though she tried to fight it so she could see her mother's glowing hands against hers, she had fallen into a deep sleep.
"We should take her to a doctor." A voice chirped over Emilia's shoulder, causing her to freeze in her steps.
Bob Newby had nearly run into his wife when she suddenly stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Their building was only a block away by now, and the sounds of honking cars were louder than it was at the park as the couple made their way through the city.
Emilia moved to the side, getting out of everyone's way. and Bob followed her. "What?" She asked, blinking twice, almost as if she hadn't heard him correctly.
"We should take her to a doctor," Bob said again, his daughter's bat and helmet nearly slipping from his hands, and the photo she had dropped was shoved into his pocket.
"No," Emilia's jaw tightened. She used her thumb to wipe away the blood under her sleeping daughter's nose. Emilia's eyebrows narrowed and creased as she saw the red blood stain Rue's golden hair after it had come out of her ears as well.
Rue had turned sickly pale, and bags had grown under her eyes. She looked weak, like she was dying, despite having been laughing and bright just a few minutes ago.
The thought of it alone terrified Bob, "What do you mean 'no'?" He asked, "Emilia?" Bob reached for her gently, feeling that something was wrong. "Lia, look at her... she's—"
"We can't take her to a doctor... She's not sick," Emilia quickly denied, finally looking up at her husband as she held Rue closer to her chest.
Bob frowned, "I never said she was—"
"Yeah, but you thought it," She glared at him. "You think she's sick."
He threw his hands in the air in distress, "Of course, I think she's sick!" there were tears in his eyes when he caught another glance at his daughter, "Look at her! She looks like she's dying! We need to get her some help before it's too late, Lia!"
"She's not gonna die, Bob..."
"You don't know that."
"Yes, I do."
"Then what's wrong with her?"
"She just needs rest!"
People were beginning to stare.
Emilia glared at them, and they all looked away and went on with their lives as if nothing had happened.
"There's nothing wrong with her," Emilia said. "How could you think that?" her voice cracked, and tears grew in her eyes as her chin trembled. "How could you—?" She sucked in a breath and shook her head in disbelief, "How cruel of you, Bob Newby."
Bob wanted to scoff, "Don't do that... don't turn this on me. I just want to help her. She's been doing this all week! She's having these panic attacks and... and... she says it's loud? We should take her to a doctor, Lia."
Emilia wasn't hearing any of it. "She's not sick," she said again, holding Rue closer, "She's... extraordinary..." Emilia whispered. "No one can know. No one needs to know."
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