It seemed like it was the coldest day of December as thirteen-year-old Dennis Rafkin sat rigidly on a wooden bench, watching all the kids playing happily. The bench was located on the outer edge of a decently sized playground, in front of a large oak tree. There weren't too many kids braving the cold to play on the tire swing that day. Dennis knew that the few would be gone once the sun's darkening reflection left the skies. He sighed enviously as he watched a parent reach out, pull their child into a warm embrace and show them more unconditional love than Dennis had ever experienced.
Maybe that's why he was there by himself; He wasn't being loved enough. Hell, he wasn't even being liked enough. All that he was was a constant burden and a monthly check that arrived for his stepfamily. Maybe the fact that he had no identity around his lovely family unit was the reason that made him leave. Maybe he was tired of being faceless "Freak". Well, now he had the pleasure of being faceless and homeless "Runaway Freak".
"What'cha doing?" A voice questioned from right behind him. The slightly startled Dennis slowly turned around to see absolutely nothing but the tree. He faced forward again, sighed and joked to himself, It might be a ghost. Realizing that that theory was possible with him made him frown.
A minute passed and the voice spoke again, this time sounding a little angry and offended, "Fine! Don't talk to me. See if I care." This time when Dennis looked for the voice he found a body to go with it.
From behind the tree emerged a short girl who looked to be around his age. She had wavy dark brown hair which had a subtle tint of red that fell a little past her shoulders and a set of narrow pale blue eyes. Her pale skin caused him to want to go and call Ghostbusters, her overly confident, mischievous smile she wore made him paranoid, and just the fact that someone was paying a little attention to him made his heart's pace quicken.
When Dennis spoke his voice cracked slightly from lack of use and he stared at her suspiciously through his crooked, oval glasses. Lostly he mumbled, "What?"
"What are you doing?" She repeated, her tone hinting at annoyance. She casually sat down beside him, not noticing him slide to the opposite side of the bench. He didn't even let the question process as he responded, "No thanks." When the girl raised an amused eyebrow at him he realized what he said and nervously corrected, "I mean, nothing. I'm doing nothing. You?"
She shrugged off the insincere question and asked bluntly, "Did you like run away?"
He stared at her attentively, wondering if she was possibly like him; Possibly a psychic. Wait… There is no such thing as psychics, He reminded himself what so many people told him through out his young life. There are only freaks.
"What's your name?" Dennis asked blankly, changing the subject.
Her confidence and casualness paused itself and she went rigid. Slowly and cautiously she answered, "Ruby…"
"Oh…" He nodded lostly in a serious sort of way as he watched her eyes shift uneasily. She chuckled silently to herself as though she was chuckling her brief insecurities away and she regained her confident façade. She looked him up and down for a minute and declared, "You look like you're a run away."
Dennis considered what he must of looked like to this girl. He was thinner than ever and was well past the starting point of growing into his height. His skin was currently flushed from the numbing coldness, his teal eyes were hidden behind a pair of crooked, plastic-framed oval glasses and he wasn't really wearing too many layers of clothes. The only thing keeping him warm was a thin, red plaid, flannel jacket and a pair of black cotton gloves. The gloves were like a second layer of skin to him. He had to wear them practically every hour of every day. His lovely stepfamily thought of this as a brilliant way to protect their cozy community from his freakhood. Eventually you got used to them and they really didn't aid him in defrosting his icy, long fingers.
"Well…" Dennis paused and thought up a good lie he could possibly tell her. Lord only knows that the last thing Dennis would want to be is labeled a Runaway by a random person. "I'm not-"
"Don't worry. I don't care," Ruby cut in, shrugging her shoulders in attempt to be nonchalant. "I ran away from home too. It's no big thing."
"How'd you know that-" He stared at her in a slightly dazed way as she cut in again, "You wanna know how I could tell? You've been sitting here for the past six and a half hours with out moving a muscle even though you're clearly freezing. Plus, its getting dark and you look like you have no intention in going home."
She was acting way too cocky and like she knew everything and that kind of pissed Dennis off. As he scowled at her he demanded, "If you know everything then why don't you tell me why I'm here!"
"Because you're an idiot," She answered trying to maintain her smugness but ending up exchanging it for unnoticeable meekness. She reached up to her own throat and unwound the blindingly bright orange scarf that was draped around her. Extending it in her hands, she scooted closer to him on the bench. As she raised the scarf toward him he yelled, defensively raising his hands in the air, "Stay away from me!"
Her hands and face both fell and she timidly apologized, "I'm sorry. I was just trying to help you."
"How?" He scoffed then snapped in blind anger. He wasn't really mad at her; He was just mad in general. "How were you going to help me? Save me with a scarf?"
Ruby rolled her eyes, trying not to take offense to his words. She replied snippily, "It's a magical scarf… Just put it on!"
"Why should I?" He asked, trying to be defiant.
"Fine!" She screamed, violently throwing the scarf to the ground. "Don't wear it!"
Dennis' face softened from his scowl into an offended look of embarrassment. His eyes shifted from the angry looking girl to the crumpled up scarf. An uncomfortable silence embraced the two as she slid her body back to the opposite side of the bench. After a minute he finally muttered, "I'm sorry…"
He bent down and retrieved the orange garment and offered a weak smile. She watched him as he wrapped it around his neck in an effort to please her. As soon as the fabric touched his bare skin it happened. His freakhood kicked in and he got one of those visions he constantly was plagued with; this time what he saw wasn't a morbid image of death and depressing memories.
In a flash that passed almost as quickly as it came he saw two people in a location that he wasn't familiar with. He recognized the lanky, nerdy looking guy only from other visions he's had. He had glasses, dark brown hair but didn't seem to harbor his usual frustrated tendencies. The woman right beside him placed her hands on his cheeks and leaned her face towards his. He leaned down and exchanged a sweet, loving kiss with her and Dennis could almost feel their love.
Once the vision was gone he filled with resentment and removed the scarf quickly, setting it down on his lap. He looked over at Ruby and declared blankly, "My name's Dennis." She stared at him lostly then smiled and decided, "That's a nice name."
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Author's Note:
Hey everyone! Thanks a lot for reading the first chapter of my story. I appreciate it. Also, I would like to wish Matthew Lillard/Dennis Rafkin a very Happy 35th Birthday. Hopefully he'll keep on keepin' on and stop making movies with Freddie Prinze Jr.
Much love to all, Sara