Chapter Three - Living in Silence

Halsey - Gasoline

"You can't wake up, this is not a dream," the words softly sung by a young woman as her hands quickly made work of macaroni and cheese. The box had called for one half of the melted, cheddar goodness. But, young Ruby added twice that.

The cares of her calorie in take long forgotten over the melted goodness.

However, the music from her cellular phone was soon forgotten.

Stomping moved the woman's gaze upwards, and she rolled her eyes. Sighing, as the pan was pushed to a cool surface of the stove. Turning the burner off, and quickly turning out of the kitchen.

It was a night that Sarah Bennett had requested Ruby's help, and it was a normal one. Jamie and Sophie had played video games, no thanks to Ruby who had found an old Nintendo system in her basement. Gotten baths, in Jamie's case a shower, and dressed for bed. However, the night wasn't over.

No. The children had company, unknowing to young Ruby, and their energy had skyrocketed.

Dinner had been made, but Ruby was too busy standing at the bottom of the stairs, listening to a squealing Sophie.

Jamie was throwing something against a wall; the rhythmic thudding shaking several pictures that hung in the living room.

"Jesus, guys!" She sighed, frowning as her feet took her quietly up the steps. The first door she met was white, decorated in yellow crowns and pink flowers. It was open, just a few inches, and her eyes peered between the crack.

Sophie was then bouncing in her bed, a pair of old and worn pink fairy wings upon her back. Plastic silver crown upon her head as she gleefully exclaimed to her imaginary friend;

"Ooh! Help me fly!" Her arms opened wide, and her tiny feet took several steps back. Readying herself to run and jump.

With fear of the child's safety, Ruby pushed the door open. "Hey! No!"

It was nearly too late, as Ruby dove into the room and caught the suspended child before she could fully meet air, and a possible owwie. Sophie's bright green eyes looked at Ruby, wide in shock. "You can't just be jumping off of furniture, Soph! You can get seriously hurt!"

The child shook her head, "Sandy woulda caught me! Right, Sandy?"

She peered over Ruby's shoulder, finding confirmation in what the older believed to be thin air.

"Look, I know Sandy is your friend and everything, but its still dangerous." Ruby peered over her shoulder, at the pocket of air Sophie had looked to.

"Sandy, please... No more flying for Sophie, okay?"

•°•°•°•°•

I was so busy playing, I hadn't seen the woman at the door. The only other reason I had shown up at this home. When she rushed past me, I was left shocked still. She was a flurry of flying hair and skirts, as her nimble hands caught Sophie.

Now she was staring at me. At me! Her eyes had found mine, for a brief moment. Oh, those orbs could see my very soul! My heart, oh goodness, it fluttered as my name fell from her lips..

"Sandy... No more flying for Sophie, okay?"

I could only nod dumbly at her. When those lovely eyes left mine, I gasped. I hadn't even known I was holding my breath!

"You can see Sandy?!" Sophie squealed, and I beamed up at the two as Ruby carefully walked around mounds of toys, and a small plastic tea set, to the door. I was hovering after her, as she nodded.

She can see me! Why hadn't she said anything sooner?

Oh, no. Had she known I was watching her the day before? I certainly had some explaining to do!

"Of course I can see her! She's a cute little girl, just like you." Pushing the child to one hip, Ruby moves to the loud thumping that came from another door. Jamie's.

"Sandy is a boy, Ruby! A boy!"

Her!? Cute little girl?! I stopped, staring at her aghast. I wasn't a girl! I certainly didn't look like one!

•°•°•°•°•

The small golden man landed onto his feet, and stared at his robes. Running his hands down the soft fabrics covering his chest, and down the gentle swell of his belly. Did he look too feminine? Definitely not. Was he just too short, and often mistaken for a lady? Never in his life. Short yes, but never a woman!

He glared up at the young woman's back, indignant, as her hands pushed the door open and stood in the door frame.

Jack froze from his perched spot on the edge of the twin sized bed. Jamie held a bright orange basketball in his two hands. Eye wide, as he stared up at a disapproving glare of Ruby. She tapped her foot upon the floor, raising a brow as the young man gave the ball one last toss to a closet.

Inside, a crash was heard, but no one moved to find out what had caused it.

"C'mon, Jamie. Really?"

"I'm bored, Ruby!" He complained, and the tired young woman nodded sadly. Understanding. It was early, and maybe she was rushing their bedtime. Ruby set Sophie on the ground, with a tired sigh.

"Okay, okay... Get your shoes on, you guys can play in the backyard for a bit-" It was chaos. Jamie was throwing clothing, and action figures across the room in search for his shoes. All the while Sophie had darted back to her room in her bright pink Pajama's, to look for hers.

"A sweater, please, too. Its a bit chilly out.."

The chaotically excited children rushed, in such a fashion Ruby had to take a step back from their doors. Effectively bumping into what she believed was the wall. "Oh, guys, chill! Wow... Like we've never seen grass, geeze!" She exclaimed, glancing to her left as another brush of something touched her forearm.

Her focus was on an empty pocket of air. She hadn't been even close to the wall! However, as Jamie's form gently pushed past her frame, her feet stumbled into something very warm. And very soft.

With a startled squeak, the woman jolted away. Stumbling yet again on her shoes, as Sophie darted from her room. Peering up with large, innocent, green eyes at Ruby's worried gaze. Which hadn't left the warm spot that had touched her.

"What?" Little Sophie asked, only to be waved off quickly.

"Nothing, honey. Let's head outside, okay? I'll play badminton with you, okay?" Though her eyes kept finding that empty space, not entirely focused in the child's interest. No, curious worry was what clouded her thoughts.

"Okay! Sandy! Come play with me!" She waved the 'imaginary' friend to her side, before taking off at the speed of light down the stairs.

Ruby McKlinn took one moment. Just a second, to try and calm her now frazzled nerves. Then, with one last glance in the empty air, she jogged down the stairs after her comrades.

Did Sophie call to the empty air? Or was there more to what she had felt against her skin?

It was pushed to the back of her mind, by then. The children wore her down, with all their eager energy. The woman plopped down into the wicker chair on the small porch, rubbing tiredly at her heavy eyes as Sophie bounded towards her once more. Swinging a badminton rack like a baton, as she nearly skipped up the stairs.

"Why are you mean to Sandy?"

Ruby was dumbfounded. Staring at the girl with brows raised in question. Wanting an elaboration, but knowing none would come.

"I.. Don't know what you mean," she said slowly. And the child then seemed to be in a conversation of her own. No longer focused on her babysitter, but on her 'imaginary' friend at her side.

"Well, she pushed you!"

"No, I guess not."

"Well, an accident always means to say sorry! Momma always says sorry!"

"Still isn't right, Sandy!"

The girl turned stern eyes to Ruby, who was left once again confused. She never had an imaginary friend, before. So the entire situation was new. And Ruby was not prepared! Not in the closest!

"You need to say sorry to Sandy. You pushed him in the hallway!" The child crossed her arms across her chest, foot tapping at Ruby's silence.

"What?" Her oceanic eyes widened then. Her nerves once again worked against her body. Hands suddenly jittery, as the woman shot from her seat at the realization of what Sophie was speaking of.

"You have to say sorry! An accident means you're sorry!" Like further confirmation was needed!?

She had felt warmth. Not a wall. Not a chair. Warmth from a soft body, in that hallway. It couldn't be…

No..

Imaginary friends are just that;

Imaginary.

Ruby inched down the steps to where the girl stood. "O-okay, Soph... I'll say sorry..." She was hesitant, glancing around Sophie, trying to figure out where the friend was. "Where's your friend?"

Sophie only pointed to to her side, and Ruby tentatively reached a hand out, then. A small test, to make sure she wasn't entirely bonkers at that time. Maybe she was going out of her mind?

Or maybe.. Just maybe it wasn't an imaginary friend. What if what Sophie saw, was a ghost? And she had a brief chance of connecting to said person?

Ruby had read about such situations. Children were closest to the veil, it wasn't uncommon for their unaltered minds to find spirits.. What did those parapsychologists call it? Unaltered third eyes?

Her hand brushed air, at first. Then, a warmth. Something solid under her fingertips, like woven velvet that made her heart race in sudden fear.

"He's real..." The woman's voice was above a whisper, as her hand sprung backwards. The area beside the child flickered. Like heat waves on the cement in summer, it rippled before her eyes. It first formed two small feet that solidified like hardening wax. Soon, wide hips. The gentle swell of a belly, and two stunned hands that had been clutched there.

Her peering met with the radiating glow of a plump face. Lips parted in surprise, large honeyed eyes wide as the realization hit both parties like a ton of bricks.

Ruby McKlinn snatched Sophie so quickly, the child didn't have time to protest. Darting up the steps and pressing the girl to her back as Sanderson looked on in shock. She hadn't ever seen such eyes before! Wide, and the color of Baltic amber stones. His brows pinched upwards, mouth open to speak as he took a step forward.

"No! You stay right there!" Her voice shook, and the volume rose as the racket was snatched from Sophie's hands. Held in front of her, ready to swing if the chance was needed.

His head shook quickly, a mass of glittering blonde hair shook with it. And he leaned to the side a bit, motioning with his hands to Sophie, for the child to explain. Ruby leaned with him, trying to block any communication. However, Sophie didn't stay behind her; only moved around the young woman.

"You can see Sandy now?!" She excitedly looked between both adults, before frowning. "He's not bad, Ruby..."

The sudden commotion had caught Jamie's attention. And the realization was quick, of what was going on. He ran, as fast as his preteen legs could carry him, to Sandy's side. Moving in front of the guardian and looking at his babysitter with wide eyes.

"Ruby, No! That's the Sandman!"

"Jamie Bennett, I swear - "

"Listen! Just listen! We've known them for years! They are friends!"

Ruby paled. 'They'? There were more invisible people, who could only be seen by whomever they chose?!

Her gaze darted around them, both cautious and curious. Until a voice came from the fence that surrounded the backyard.

"Chill out, Birthday girl. You're not in trouble," a tall, lanky male stood upon the fence. Balancing on his bare toes, as his pale skin glimmered in the moonlight. White hair, like fresh fallen snow, sat ruffled on his head as ice blue eyes stared at her in a state of both caution and mischief.

His hand swung forward, a long crooked staff that seemed made of an old tree branch. Ruby followed the soft blue glittering tendril that erupted from the male, reach her feet. It swirled in Paisley printed frost as a glimmering sheen of ice formed under her brown flats. However, her curiously confused gaze did not last long. Just as her body shifted from one foot to another, they both slipped out from under her.

Ruby didn't have a chance, as her hip hit harshly to the old wooden porch. Knee high skirt falling at her thighs, as she sat sprawled on the ground. Groaning in pain from the impact as several snorts of laughter reached her ears.

However, one was glaring at Jack Overland Frost. Aghast he had though to do such a thing!

•°•°•°•°•

Jack!

My images flew from my sand at the top of my head. Asterics, and exclamation points hovering in my curse for the male who nimbly jumped from the fence with laughter falling from his own mouth.

I darted up the steps, kneeling before young Ruby as she tried to push her lithe body from the ground. My eyes caught at her milky thighs, and I hurriedly looked away. Reaching for her hands tentatively, coaxing like.

I met her frightened gaze, and I felt the sudden need to wrap her up in my arms. Wishing for the fear to dissipate from her face.

"I swear, Rubes! They are nice! You shouldn't be scared!" Jamie had spoken truths, and I was praying to MiM that she would listen.

Hesitation rose from the sprite like woman, only glancing between myself and the eleven year old boy. I could easily see the worry, and confusion on her lovely face. Oh, please listen!

And listen she did.

With eyes never leaving mine, the young woman took my offered hands. They were like silk, so soft in mine. I couldn't hide the grin from my lips, nodding in agreement to Jamie's statement, and encouraging the woman to do so as well.

I wished her hands stayed. They fit like gloves in mine, and left me warmed from the inside out. Helping her stand, side stepping the patch of ice that caused her fall, as she stared in disbelief at me.

"You..." Her breath had exhaled in the whisper, and I strained to hear it again.

It was a look I hadn't seen before, like she suddenly remembered me from years ago. However, it was fleeting. Her hands snatched back from mine, and I was left cooled and confused all over again.

"Why are you here?" Her eyes never stayed on me for longer than a second. Directing the question to a grinning Frost who was leaning upon his staff next to a smiling Jamie.

"Visiting old friends, meeting new one's.." He said with a shrug, and Ruby glared at him.

"Fun. What a wonderful introduction," was her dry reply. And I had to hide a snicker as I glanced at Jack. Oh, she was a ball of fire! It was unexpectedly pleasant! I stared back at Ruby, finally able to see just how much taller than I she was. Maybe three inches, at the most?

Her hair was down, and I could finally see the dark chocolate color up close. It highlighted in tones of red in the kitchen light from the window, scattering her hair in an array of warmth.

I suppose she had felt my eyes linger, for far too long, because her face turned towards me. And she stared, long and hard, for a moment. Searching my face, and scanning my body once. Twice. Three times before the gaze darted to the children.

"Bed. Now, please." Her tone held finality to it, and they both groaned in unison. But, not before they each left their outdoor toys on the porch and muttered their way inside. I waved to little Sophie, who was pouting her way through the door. Something I could not help but smile about. She was always the child to play for hours, and never tire.

However, it was short lived.

"Who are you?" Her voice faltered, just as that gaze pinned me. I opened my mouth, then closed it. Unable to form the images, as Jack stepped up to my side. To my rescue. Phew!

"Sandy..." Jack spoke for me, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "Sorry for the ice.. I get a bit excited with new people. Made it snow in Jamie's room, the first time he believed.."

"Believed?" Her hands caught each other, tugging nervously at her fingers.

"In us. Most people think we are just legends, imaginations that people had thrown about. But, we are all real. All of us." Jack explained as fully as he could, and Ruby was left speechless. Worriedly staring at her hands, before turning and heading into the home without a word.

Did we do something wrong?