Ashes in a Waltz
The sun was high in the sky by the time Bowerstone Market was bustling with life. Many of the people wobbled back and forth from needless intoxication, and many more weaved between the stumbling fools (some even opting to pushing and shoving of the inebriated bunch) whilst the guards leaned back under the lee of the awnings, watching with fluttering eyes as the coolness of the shade soothed them.
"Excuse me!" was a small cry that erupted from a midst the crowd, but no one paid any mind, "pardon me!" The same voice tried again. The girl who was crying out was being pushed between the endless stream of people, and yet she didn't have the heart to push back. She hugged the bag closer to her chest as she shut her eyes and started pushing forward. She never ventured into the market alone usually, but her brother was away on guard duty and her little sister was sick with a cold. Her mother and father were probably drinking in the local pub, too busy indulging themselves in endless dark desires, and too tired to help her. So there she was, in Bowerstone Market, fighting with a current of people that brushed, shoved, and pushed against her. None of them mumbled an apology, nor did they look back when she fell to the ground; her groceries were trampled on (minus a few apples and a pie) before tears leaked out of her eyes. She hated crowds, or maybe it was just people in general.
She scurried along, her bare feet shuffling against the flagstone before she made it to the other side of the bridge.
She let out a deep breath, one she hadn't noticed she was holding before she weaved against a less stream of people back to her house. It wasn't much, her house, but it was the best the her brother's guards wage could do. It consisted of two bedrooms, the largest belonging to her parents and the smallest belonging to her and her sister (Abbey). Her brother used the couch when he was able to make it home, but usually he used to guard's barracks to get a good night's rest; not that she blamed him. On the occasion, when her parents did arrive home safely, the fighting and yelling would even keep the neighbors up during the long nights.
However, without much thought, she bound up the steps and unlocked the door and scurried into the living room. Quickly she placed the apples and pies on the dinning room table, and without a second thought ran the water in the sink until it was lukewarm and filled up a bucket. Rolling up her sleeves on her cotton dress, she dipped a rag into the already cooling water, and then lifted the bucket up to carry it into her room.
Abbey was writhing on the bed, sweat dripping down her forehead as she tried to contain the moans of pain. Her eyes weakly opened as the cool rag touched her head, wiping back the bodily fluid, "Ruby, you're back already?"
"Hush Abbey," Ruby quieted her sister before dipping the rag back into the bucket and ringing it out, dabbing it against her sister's forehead, "you must save your energy and rest." Abbey nodded her head, giving her sister a weak smile before falling into a coughing fit. Ruby stood from her foot place, running into the kitchen, before coming back with a tankard of water for her sister. Pressing it to her lips, Ruby watched as her sister drank the water greedily; the water falling down her chin in streams as she thirsted for more.
For twenty minutes, this continued before Ruby had to bring the bedpan over for her sister to relieve herself. Afterwards, when Ruby was finished with throwing out her sister's wastes into the streets, Abbey tiredly closed her eyes (still in her dampened clothes) and fell asleep.
When Ruby came back into the room, she stripped down and pulled her nightgown over her head before going to Abbey, doing the same but more gently. Abbey moaned in her sleep, trying to turn from Ruby's hands, but Ruby insisted until her sister was left in her undergarments. She tugged the blankets up the Abbey's chin and tucked her in, placing a chaste kiss on her forehead.
This was how it was day in and day out; on the lucky days were her brother returned, he'd take over for a bit so Ruby could rest her tired, bloodied feet. However, those "lucky days" began to get fewer and fewer, and Ruby had no idea why. She had guessed it was for a pretty girl, maybe one that was of higher class because her brother's wages were almost cut in half every other month. Pretty presents for pretty girls.
Ruby laid in bed, the candle slowly flickering in the moon light as she pulled out a book to read. Whenever Abbey would start coughing, her book was put aside and she was up again to care for her sister. That night Ruby had gotten two hours of sleep before the morning sun arrived over head.
James arrived home two days later, offering to take Abbey off her hands for a while. Something was off about James, but Ruby couldn't place her finger on it. Ruby left the house to traverse the markets again, buying some meat pies from the stalls before scurrying back home.
James sat in the living room, an arm around a pretty girl, and his eyes snapped over to Ruby.
"Ruby!" He jumped up to his feet, the girl looking sourly at Ruby as she entered the room, "meet Katherine, my fiancée." Ruby nodded her head, her thoughts running a mile a minute as she set the meat pies down on the table.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Ruby said, curtsying towards Katherine. Her hands trembled with a new-found nervousness before looking up at her brother's fiancée.
"I'm sure it is." Katherine twirled a large piece of blonde hair around her finger, her lip being chewed on by her teeth as she stared at Ruby thoughtfully.
"Ruby, you're nearly twenty and I was thinking that..."
"That what?" Ruby asked, looking even more nervous than before, her whole body trembling with embarrassment as the older girl looked over her frame, feeling as if Katherine was grading her some how, "what were you thinking brother?"
"That I'd" he looked over at Katherine, "we'd take Abbey."
"What?" Ruby yelled, her face red and her voice trembling, "I know I'm not the best caretaker James, but it is the best that I can do with what I have."
"That's exactly it," Katherine butted in, looking at Ruby with a forlorn face, "do you really want that beauty in there lost at a young age? She doesn't have a common cold, she has something worse. She's been struggling with this disease for almost her entire life, she needs a doctor at her side constantly not a useless sister." Ruby was taken back, looking over to her bedroom before looking back at Katherine with a mix of hatred and worry.
"Ruby," James started, walking over to his sister and placing a hand on her shoulder, "you're pass the age of marriage and working, I only want what's best for you and this," he used his hands to accumulate the house, "this is not it. Katherine has helped me manage a less than favorable job for you, but I know you'll do well because you're such a good girl." James raised his hand to her rusty hair and ruffled it under his fingertips. Ruby down-casted her eyes before snapping away from her brother's touch.
"What's good for me?" Ruby hissed, tears ebbing at the corners of her eyes, "did you ever think about what's good for me when daddy dearest started beating me? Or when Mother tried to sell me? That's right-you weren't here. You were off gallivanting around with that whore."
James hand snapped to her cheek, a slow and powerful slap, and Ruby's head snapped to the right. The tingling, burning sensation over came her face as James's red face slowly turned pale, "Oh Avo Ruby," he reached out, "I'm so sorry." Ruby slapped at his hand, angry tears stinging at her eyes now before she turned on her heel, spitting at Katherine's feet.
"Fine, take her and throw me away; you've already done that a long time ago."
The more action-y parts will start next chapter, I suppose?
STAY TUNED :D
-PbW