Eyes Open
"Everybody's waiting for you to break down…"
CHAPTER 1
Black and Blue
*RUBY*
"Ruby!"
Shit, shit! Not yet!
"Coming! Be right there!" Just twenty more minutes. Or an hour…
I shoved the remaining articles of clothing into my tiny suitcase and pushed down on the top to keep everything inside while I zipped it up.
Damn it! This thing won't budge. It was beginning to remind me of one of those movies where they couldn't close the bag in time-
"RUBY! Where the hell are you? The plane leaves in an hour. We have to leave now!"
I'm coming, Bitch. Shut the fuck up.
The bag zipped successfully and I threw it on the ground and pulled the handle out, slinging my carry-on bag over my right shoulder. The stairs, I realized, were going to be a bitch to get down. I also realized that I should've put the carry-on over my other shoulder since I was pulling the suitcase down with my right hand. Shit. This is a fucking mess.
My mother was pulling her brown hair into a messy bun as I struggled down the staircase, almost falling and breaking my precious neck. She snatched her purse from the sofa table next to the front door (which made no sense by the way. Sofa table. Not door table) and pulled out her pack of Marlboro, shoving a cigarette into her mouth and lighting it. With a puff of smoke that made me gag and almost fall…again, Mom glared at me. "C'mon, Ruby. We don't have all fucking day. Paolo is expecting us on this flight. He's going to be waiting when we land."
Holy shit, she says this ONE more time and I'm gonna bitch slap her.
"Coming, Mother."
She rolled her eyes and inhaled some more rat poison from that cigarette hanging from her lips. I noticed a smudge of scarlet lipstick on the corner of her mouth. Effing nasty.
The bag was a bitch to load in the car as well. Seeing how Mom's seven and a half suit cases were tossed sloppily in the trunk. No more room for my stuff.
I cursed under my breath and slammed the trunk door of our ghetto, paint peeled car and threw open the back seat door.
"Son of a bitch!" She had her stuff on these seats too.
"God damn, Ruby. Just put the crap in and let's go."
"Dude, seriously. There's, like, no fucking room back here."
She stomped (literally stomped) up to me, ripped my bags from my hands and tossed them in carelessly.
"Mom! My laptop's in there! Be effing careful!"
"Let's go!"
I fell asleep in the car on the way to the airport.
BIG mistake, apparently.
"Ruby! Ruby, wake the hell up…Fuck. Are you deaf? Get UP!" I only stirred. I was used to it, after all. It kind of gets old, though, after about ten times. So I opened my eyes.
Then I closed them again because we were only halfway there. Not there yet. No need for me to wake up.
But she went on.
"Mom. Listen. Just shut up."
"Ruby, if you don't get your lazy ass awake, I swear to God…"
"Okay, okay. Dude, chill. I'm up." Kind of.
"I need you to do something for me." Oh Jesus. I stared at her expectantly.
"Mmhmm? What?"
"I need you to reach back in my bag, the purple one, and pull out another pack of cigarettes. It should be in the third or fourth pocke-"
"Oh, no, no, no. Mom, you're driving. You don't need to smoke now."
She glared over at me.
"Since when do you care about my safety?"
"Never. I care about my life. You are not driving while smoking." Figures I have to be the adult. If I'm the most mature…there's a problem.
"Ruby, get the damn smokes. I need them now."
"Uh-uh." I shook my head, crossing my arms.
"If you don't get them, I will. That's more dangerous, don't ya think?" Is she threatening me?
"I'm not gettin' them. You can wait, Mom."
"Oh fuck this." Fuck what?
Her hands let go of the wheel and the car began to swerve slightly at the loss of control. She reached down by the seat the pull the recliner so she could reach her bag.
I stared at her and the road at the same time, utterly bewildered.
"Mom! The fucking car!"
But she kept groping around in something behind us.
"I need them, Ruby. I fucking need them. You don't…"
But the rest of the sentence was cut off as all I could hear was the sound of my heart beating. Directly up ahead was a sharp turn. And we were heading right for it.
Bile rose in my throat and my chest tightened.
No, this is NOT the time for my stupid fucking 'disorder' to come in. No. Think Ruby. Just reach over and take the wheel. Easy.
But now her feet were all over the steering wheel as she went through one of the bags viciously. There was absolutely no room for me to fit. Unless I wanted my hand cut off by her four inch heels that were shoved in the crevices.
Time was running thin. Our car was speeding towards the rail.
Other cars honked and skid around us, yelling out their windows, some even stopping. But we were going full force and Mom didn't even seem to notice.
Oh shit. Fuck this.
It was a split-second decision and I made it just before the front of our car collided with the metal siding on the side of the road.
I shoved my hands in between Mom's shoes, as they kicked around, trying to keep her balance as she rummaged through the bag. I grasped the wheel, barely, and jerked it to the right.
But not in time to avoid the railing. Our car slammed into it, from the side. The driver's side. The side Mom and I were currently on.
I heard the sickening crack of my bone in my arm before I felt it, but when I looked down, it was sticking through my skin, just barely breaking the surface.
The pain was suddenly unbearable and I let out one horrible, long, ear piercing scream before the darkness took over.
*GENEVIEVE*
The night air was still warm and humid, but I pulled my coat closer just for the mere fact that I wanted something to do.
Dad stood over by the lamp post with another tall figure, talking. Or perhaps yelling. I couldn't tell from this distance.
"What do you think's goin' on over there?" From the back seat, my sister, Evangeline, spoke. She leaned up over the section that separated the driver's seat from the passenger's and rested her arms over it.
"Don't know."
"Well he's been over there for a while. Must be important or something."
"Yeah…"
Let it go, Angel.
"I mean I've heard him yellin' on the phone at night…" I know. We all hear it. "…But I can't make out what he's saying. Do you think he's in trouble, Gen?"
"I don't know." Yes.
"What if it's like Mom. What if he-"
"Shhhh!" Dad turned away from the man and was walking back to us. The windows were rolled down and I could see the grimace on his face.
He opened the door and sat down, all in complete silence.
Angel leaned back in her seat and clicked her seat belt back into place. We both said nothing as Dad continued to sit there in his seat, hands gripping the wheel, but not moving. Just sitting there.
But when the violent tremors began to course through his body, I didn't know what to do. So I just stared at the floor.
The tremors went from silent tears to full on sobbing until all that was heard was the sound of my father's heart-wrenching cries echo off the alley walls.
I'd never even seen the man frown near me. I felt helpless.
Eventually it ended and he started the car to pull out of here. And it felt like a breath of fresh air when I stepped out of the car and into my home.
