Panic Attacks & Cigarette Packs | Creek

15

Ruby's POV

"When the fuck is Craig gonna be back?!" I said to myself as I paced back and forth in my room.
Sense Craig spent the night at Tweek's, dad had no other kid to get mad at other than me.
He gets mad at me for every little thing I do.
I accidentally broke a glass while washing dishes, that was soon followed by loud shouts from dad and a slap across the face.
I didn't pay attention to what he was saying to me because I was doing something on my phone, that resulted in said phone being thrown across the room, thank god it didn't break somehow.
I even got a black eye for not making my bed in the morning.
It made me fucking furious.
I wanted to break everything in the house.
I had locked myself in my room, pacing back in forth as I practically pulled my hair out, hoping for Craig to get home soon.
It was only twelve p.m, so I had to wait a pretty long time.
Soon, the rage that burned inside of me transitioned into a huge wave of sadness.
That wave came over me, pulling me under.
What were once murmurs of anger turned into small, quiet sobs.
I slumped to the floor in front of my bed, letting the wave consume me.
I pulled my knees to my chest and buried my face in them, wrapping my arms around them as well.
I just don't understand...
What have I ever done to deserve this?
What the hell did I do wrong?
My sobs grew louder, then they eventually sounded like gasps for air.
At least they were muffled by my knees.
I honestly didn't know what to do at this point, I just knew I couldn't take any more today.
I unburied my face form my knees and slowly stood up.
I walked over to the corner of the room, scooping up my backpack as I walked past it.
I went over to my bed, dumping the contents form the bag onto it.
I reached next to them and picked up my laptop, putting it in the bag quickly.
I made sure to get it's chord as well, because I didn't really know what percent it was at honestly.
I crouched down and grabbed a small stack of movies from under my bed, shoving them into the bag as well.
I grabbed my small-ish, fluffy hot pink blanket from the foot of my bed and stuffed it in, hoping it'd fit.
Once I had managed to make it fit, I zipped the bag up quickly.
I put a strap over my right shoulder, not bothering with the other, then started toward my door.
I reached for the doorknob, but stopped as my hand grasped it.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, preparing to see my dad as I left.
I opened my eyes then turned the knob.
The door came open and I cautiously walked out, hoping dad wasn't upstairs.
Once the coast was clear, I headed for the stairs.
I walked down them slowly, listening for dad, but I didn't hear anything.
Once I made it to the bottom, I saw my mom sitting on the couch watching tv.
"Where's dad?" I asked as I approached her, not actually caring about him.
"He *hic* went to the store." She replied, slurring her words.
Drunk again, I see...
"Okay..." I replied as I headed toward the front door.
"Where are *hic* you going?" She asked.
The only place that I can escape to.
"I'm going over to Karen's for a while, be back later." I replied.
And with that I left the house.

***

I approached the door of the run down house.
I didn't hesitate to knock, I was eager to see her, even though I saw her at school.
The door opened, revealing a woman with red hair that went slightly past her shoulders.
It was Carol, Karen's mom.
She was wearing her usual "I'm with stupid" shirt and s pair of jeans.
"Well hi, Ruby. I didn't know you were comin' over." She greeted.
I put on a small smile.
"Hi, is Karen home?" I asked.
She nodded in response.
"Come in, she's in her room." She said as she moved out of the way.
I walked in and looked around, the house was a mess as usual, but I can't blame them.
They're in a rough place right now, so it's not their fault, honestly.
I made my way to Karen's room, stepping over broken beer bottles occasionally.
I made it to the door and knocked on it, not wanting to just barge in.
The door opened a moment after I knocked, revealing Karen.
She looked like she had just woken up, as her hair was slightly disheveled.
I gave her a small smile as she rubbed her eye, it seemed like she was examining me a bit.
Eventually, she saw my black eye.
Her eyes widened a bit and she pulled me into her messy room, shutting the door behind me.
"Ruby-" she started, but I cut her off.
"I'm fine. Really." I reassured her.
She looked at me, frowning slightly.
She doesn't talk much when she's tired, honestly.
She looked at my eye once more, then gave me a small nod, followed by a smile.
She already seemed a bit more awake.
"I brought movies." I said, breaking the silence between us.
Her face lit up.
We both loved binge watching movies together.
Sometimes we'd sneak off to the library during school to watch one, good thin the librarian was okay with it.
We sat down on her bed, that only had one small blanket and one singular pillow.
I opened my bag, pulling the zebra print blanket out and handing it to her as I pulled the movies and my laptop out.
"How many did you bring?" She asked, not bothering to count them herself.
"About five." I replied as I began to turn my laptop on.
Once we settled on a movie to watch, I felt relieved.
I could finally escape for a while.

Ayeee
So we haven't seen Ruby's pov in a while, huh?
Tbfh I didn't even know what to do for this chapter, I just came up with some random shit and rolled with it lmao
Bye 🤣
Xx