"I know, honey." Emily had her arm wrapped around Ruby and resting on her shoulder. Ruby glanced up from the cookie to the woman's face. It was tired. Ruby noticed a gray streak along her left temple. She stroked it sympathetically. "The woman couldn't be over 40," she thought. Emily burst into laughter and wrapped Ruby in a hug. She was surprised, but hugged her back.
"You are so similar to James. So sweet. So gentle," the woman said when she let the teen go. Her face told Ruby that she was lost in memories. She still had the smile and she was looking at Ruby, but her eyes saw nothing. They were joyous, but they quickly became lost in sorrow. A tear trickled down her cheek. This time, Ruby hugged her. That seemed to drag her back to life.
"Thanks," she murmured. In a stronger voice, she said, "I think I know why you're here." She stood and pushed boxes aside to make a path. Ruby asked why all of the boxes were there. "Well," she grunted as she shoved aside a stack, "we intended to move." Ruby gazed at her In shock for a moment. Emily laughed again. "So very like him. We probably won't move. We may take a vacation, though." She moved aside some single-stacked boxes, which let them open the door to the stairwell. Ruby began climbing the spiraling stairs.
They stopped at the next door they came to. Ruby glanced upwards, at the rest of the stairs and the sun roof letting light in. She opened the door. She stepped to the left. She leaned over the railing and looked at the dining room from above. She remembered how prim it used to be. She kept walking and turned right. James' wing. She remembered that he always called it that. His room on the right. The bathroom straight ahead. A large closet on the left. She reached to the knob on her right. "We left it just as it was; we haven't even been in there." Ruby jumped and lost her trip on the knob; she had forgotten that anyone else was there. She had been lost in thoughts of James, and how he wasn't here. "Thanks," she said, and the tall woman walked back. She turned and winked at her, then kept going. Ruby waited until she heard the stairwell door close. She gripped the bronzed sphere until her knuckles turned as white as the door.
YOU ARE READING
Post Mortem Post Stationery
Mystery / ThrillerTwo teens, madly in love. One of them commits suicide. The other had to slog through the emotional swamp usually called aftermath. She has to find out why he committed suicide. Did he at all? But first, she had to overcome... herself. Can she? Find...
