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It was late March, but spring had mostly resisted coming. The main house was bitterly cold save for the place in front of the wood stove in the kitchen where Ruby sat. She slept there, too, in the kitchen. The rest of the house had been mainly shut down. Ruby pulled her shawl around her, shivering a bit. It wasn't as bad as some days that year, though. January and February had been well below normal, and it hit Ruby hard. She was cold, and she was in the dark, and she was alone.

It had started slowly, with one brother leaving, then another. Soon, there was little that could stem the loss of bodies at the house. Not that Ruby could blame them. They were mostly middle aged men now, and they wanted a chance at a life beyond this place in the middle of nowhere. She would jealously watch as they would walk down the road, away, towards their new life. The last couple of years saw the final two brothers leave. They both would visit, and help take care of things, since they decided to make roots in New Iberia. They would come once a week at first. Then it was every other week. The visits dwindled down to nothing within a year of them departing. That was a year ago. Six months ago, the electricity had been shut off. Ruby had tried to contact Bray well before that time, but his number was no longer valid. So she learned to make due with what she had. Her stores of canned goods in the cellar came in handy. She set traps daily to catch rabbit and squirrel. She was down to one last old dairy cow. Thankfully she had gotten fresh chickens before everyone left her. This frontier life was now her lot.

Things had to be done, despite her not wanting to leave the modest heat of the wood stove. Boots on, and the thickest coat she could find about her, she walked out into the bright, cold morning air. Her breath floated like clouds around her as she started on the usual path she took to visit her traps. The first few were empty, and Ruby prayed for some meat to get her by. Her foot fell on something hard, and she realized she was standing on the shed that had long ago burned down. She no longer felt any emotion about Abigail, or Bray for that matter. Her heart was as frozen as the ground, and she would die here, with her frozen heart. She stared at the spot for a bit, then turned her heel upon that place. There was a rustle behind her, and she knew who it was. Her hand tightened its grip on the bag she carried to collect her trapped food.

"Sis...Ruby. Ruby. What has happened here?" She turned, and saw him. He looked the same, except for a weariness on his face, and silver streaking his hair. With years of anger pent up, she told him.

"This place has become a ghost town, Bray Wyatt. I am the ghost that haunts the house. The lights are gone. The heat is gone. The food is gone. Only I remain. I stay because I have nowhere else to go. Where the fuck have you been all this time? Hm? I needed you. I tried so hard to contact you. Fuck you, Bray Wyatt. Do not darken my doorstep again." Ruby turned her back, and walked to where she had laid her next trap. She heard Bray rush up to catch her. He grabbed her arms, and would not let go.

"I am a failure, okay? Is that what you want to hear? You want to hear how I failed? Do you want to know that Abigail has left me? I am a powerless piece of shit. I am shit because I turned my back on the one thing that gave me any real happiness in this world so I could have some fucking bullshit power. I've been lost these last couple of years, trying to find what I had lost with Abigail, but I should have known. I needed to be here the whole time. I am a failure, Ruby. I lost my other family, my other job, my other life. I should have known it was a house of cards. Worst of all, is that I have failed you. For that, there are no apologies. They would all sound too shallow." Bray looked down for a moment, composing himself. Ruby stood there, unsure how to feel, or what to think. She had given this man too many good years of her life for nothing. "Ruby, my angel, please, let me back into your life. Let me live here, with you, for the rest of my days. Let me atone for every single one of my sins against you."

"Now listen here, and listen good. I have no time for this. You left of your own free will, and don't tell me otherwise. Now you want to come back because you are stripped of everything that you once were? That is a pathetic move for a pathetic man." Ruby struggled from Bray's grip, but he would not let go.

"Look at me!" Bray yelled at her. Ruby didn't want to. Her fury was white hot. Yet, she looked into those eyes of his, and something in her relented. Within those eyes was the devotion of a man who had been through hell to get to her. "I was wrong." He said softly. So softly she strained to hear him. He drew her close, and whispered into her ear. "I was so wrong. I had to have everything, and lose it, to see that I had it all the whole time. I should have fought Abigail. I should have put my foot down. Something, but she kept saying things about 'my destiny'. You are my destiny. Let me make things right. Let me be with you. Let me grow old in your arms." His hands cupped her face, and with memories of that glorious time in the chicken coop, he kissed her, yet again.

Ruby wanted to fight back. Scream. Yell. Tell him to go back to whatever black hell he came from, but his lips were so gentle. She slowly gave in to it, and wrapped her arms around him. The taste of salt let her know he cried. She felt her own match his, and they let the kiss linger on for what seemed forever. Bray Wyatt picked up Ruby, and started off back to the main house. It would be a slow climb back to trust. To make a home out of a cold, lifeless house. It was the time for the end of nightmares, and the resurrection of dreams.

The End