I'm A High-Functioning Sociopath - It's Genetic

Chapter 3

Ruby was sitting on her bed watching a TV program on her laptop, something about angels and demons and stuff like that. It was a large room in a large house in the middle of nowhere. The idea was to remain hidden but in comfort, that had been Ruby's mum's idea, her dad hadn't been good at hiding, he was always a show-off. Even when they'd played hide-and-seek when Ruby was young, he'd jump out as you walked past, trying to find him, and shout:

"Here I am!" That used to make Ruby jump so high, she smiled at the memory. And then he died. They say it was suicide, he shot himself on the roof of St Bartholomew's hospital, a bullet through the roof of his mouth, Ruby had seen the pictures. No one showed her, she'd been five at the time, but later they hadn't been able to stop her and her brother hacking into the police database and viewing the crime scene photos - they were horrible. There was a halo of blood around his head and little white bits floating in it, she didn't even want to think about what those were. The photos gave Ruby nightmares for months, her dad's empty eyes and smiling face. Why was he happy about leaving them wrecked?

'Nobody realised he was a hero.' Thought Ruby angrily, 'Except Tom and I.' Ruby thought fondly of her brother. Her dad had died trying to stop the only man who could ruin his family, the only man who could destroy everything they had and leave them stranded in the gutter - he was a hero. Ruby's train of thought had distracted her from her program so she slammed the lid of the laptop shut, taking her anger out on her computer. Laying back, she thought about their plan - Tom and Ruby's - to get back at the man who took her father away, but still lived. Sherlock Holmes. 'He didn't deserve to live!' A laugh crept it's way out of Ruby's mouth. It wasn't a happy one. The laugh, that filled the silence in her room, was relieved, it was the laugh of a girl who'd spent her life plotting, and who finally had a plan. Ruby had been hurt, and she was hell-bent on revenge.

The door flew open and Tom strode in. He looked a lot like their dad, he had exactly the same colour hair and an identical jaw-line, but he'd got their mum's features - their mum was beautiful so he was too. A wide, cheeky grin danced upon his face, he was like their dad I that way too, always playful in all situations.

"Alright?" Ruby always spoke with as little syllables as possible when talking to her brother, that way he couldn't twist her words.

"I'm great. How are you?" Ruby opened her mouth to reply, "I just talked to Miss Thomas. Everything seems in order at her end. He doesn't suspect a thing - ignoramus." His sister's eyebrows raised at this last outburst.

"So what do we do now?" Ruby knew what but she didn't like awkward silences and actively tried to avoid them.

"We just wait for Miss Thomas to see a weakness."

"Does she have any ideas?" Ruby was sick of waiting.

"Well, apparently," Thomas' face had almost started to glow with happy malice, "a girl just arrived, a girl by the name of Adler-Holmes."

"Sounds interesting." A pleased grin took over Ruby's face. It was payback time.