Ruby Fridays

Chapter 57: Beyond the Daylight

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N O W P L A Y I N G

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───── ❝ R U B Y F R I D A Y ' S P O V ❞ ────

║ Gregorian Calendar ║ 02 - 26 - 2027 ║

║ Friday║ (D - DAY) The Commencement of Olympia's Cup║

The air hangs heavy with an ominous silence, broken only by the rhythmic ticking of the clock on the wall. I lay sprawled on the couch, my body feeling heavy and lifeless. My eyes sting and burn, the dark circles underneath them a permanent reminder of another sleepless night. Dread coils in my stomach like a venomous snake, slithering and tightening its grip with each passing minute.

"Damn this game, damn this Olympia's cup, damn this dread, damn my mind, damn... my life," I curse under my breath as I tried so hard to remember the last time I felt anything but this hollow emptiness inside. Colors seem duller now, voices muted, as if the world has lost its vibrancy. Life has become a chore, a series of monotonous tasks to endure until sleep brings a few hours of blissful nothingness.

The walls of this place seem to close in, trapping me with only my thoughts for company. Thoughts that whisper of failure and misery, of opportunities wasted and bridges burned beyond repair. Silently, I continued to curse this wretched existence that I have made for myself, this pit of despair with no visible exit. My mind grows heavy with hopelessness, a smothering blanket of gloom and futility.

The clock ticks on, each second an eternity. Yet, I remain motionless, paralyzed by the emptiness within. The shadows swell and loom, the silence presses in, and for a moment, I long for oblivion.

My mind wanders to dark places, imagining all the ways on how and when this torment of this twisted school could end. Brief fantasies of escape dance across my thoughts before being snatched away by the cold grasp of reality - that there will be no rescue for me or for us, no saving grace to lift me from this pit of despair.

This is my burden to carry, my personal hell constructed one agonizing moment at a time. I am trapped within these walls of my own making, imprisoned by the bars of my own design. For now, all I can do is lie here, a prisoner of my broken mind, waiting for the shadows to swallow me whole.

Yet as the shadows in the corners of our foyer seem deeper somehow, the flickering glow from the streetlamp outside casting strange shapes across the walls, I flock my other eye open as the door upstairs clicks open and Serene she walked downstairs, her usual cheerful demeanor absent this morning. An ominous feeling hangs in the air like a thick fog, making each step she takes down the staircase creak louder than usual.

The shadows of the alleyway embrace me like an old friend as she approaches. Her footsteps echo in the still day, a rhythmic beat drawing her closer to my space. I can see the hesitation in her eyes as she realizes the depth of darkness that now fills my once familiar soul.