When my mother disappeared, she took part of me with her.
I still remember that hollowness in my chest. My father had probably felt that way too, but he buried it under too-bright smiles and bear hugs that nearly broke my back. Without her, I was aimless. As I grew older, the emptiness was still there. Time had done nothing but infect it, and it had grown into a revolting, infested hole. Everything I did was never enough. Having fun didn't get rid of it. Fighting until my knuckles bled tampered the emptiness slightly; but it always came back in the end.
My heart mocked me. It whispered cruel things that teetered between the line of truth and lies. And I found that no matter how far I ran, how many friends I made, how many enemies I pummelled into the ground; the darkness never went away. It clung to the hollow confines of my heart and grew like something akin to a nest of cockroaches.
I hated it. I hated myself. I despised the weakness that kept its grip on me. The weakness that kept me yearning for a mother's touch, a mother's caress and a mother's love. Hate was easy. You could find hate anywhere in the world. It was overflowing in abundance, forever looking for empty vessels to fill.
I don't know how long I survived with that half rotten heart of mine.
But I can clearly remember the moment, that singular life changing moment, when my heart was suddenly filled with so many emotions, all of them scrabbling into the crevice and making it whole again.
I remember when I first met Ruby.
She was so young then. Rosy cheeks, bright smile and an innocence that captured me wholly. I ignored my dad's ramblings and watched how she stumbled over to me, her tiny hands clutching at the edge of my stained yellow shirt.
She beamed, and said:
"You're really pretty."
It was a purely innocent compliment, and she smiled at me with such warmth that it almost made me shudder. I had been at a loss for words. Me? Pretty? Who was this child looking at? Because I didn't feel remotely pretty, not with all the hatred and anger I held for the world swirling deep in my belly, like a snake readying itself to strike.
"I-I…"
What could I say? What should I have said? Ruby had caught on to my surprise but she didn't say anything else. All she did was grin up at me, showing me her two missing front teeth.
Hesitantly, I reached out. My large, calloused hands engulfing her smaller, soft ones. Her touch was warm and kind while mine were clumsy and rough. And to my surprise, she didn't shrink away from me, or shrug her hand out of mine.
All she did was squeeze.
The action woke something within me. Something which I never expected would be whole again. And it was only years later that I realised that it wasn't my hand she held that day. It was my heart. Her touch had chased away the poison inside of me and began patching up that gaping, rotting hole in my chest. Ruby was the band aid I never knew I needed.
She saved me.
And if the time ever came, I knew that I would do the same for her.
AN: This final chapter was insanely hard to write. I think this chapter wasn't as good as the other but maybe I'm just overthinking things. This is now complete, so thank you to those who followed and favorited this story! I don't know how you can put up with my long periods of procrastination but I love you all for it!