Beautiful Ruins

Chapter#09

She pulled hard to the strap of her bag which by some fudging reason got stuck in her bike. Instead of coming lose, it was just becoming messier and the black grease was ruining the leather of her very expensive bag.

Whose greatest idea was it to take the bike to school?

Ace Adams.

Why did she needed to take the bike to school some might ask especially since it was raining cats and dogs?

Because she is a moron.

Now, she was stuck in the middle of road, her house still ten minutes away and her very heavy bike stopped like a stubborn mule because of her bag.

The day was going really great. She had somehow managed to carry it to the nearest shelter which was just a large tree. It did a good job of protecting her from the rain but she just wanted to go home already. Why did she even try to be a good student for once and actually go to school?

The bad day was like a sign from God to never make such mistakes again and Ace Adams was nothing but a believer who would never unseen such obvious signs.

After few minutes more of fruitless attempts, she pulled out her cellphone and redialed- without looking, the last number from which the call came which should be Mike. But after the second ring, the one who picked up was someone else.

“Ace?” His voice made her sheepishly grin and lean on the tree.

“Can you pick me up? I am stuck under a tree.” She gave some very unhelpful directions.

She could hear him moving around as he without question said, “I’ll be right there.” And hung up.

She stared at the phone in a slight surprise. This man just continues to amuse her.

It has been couple of days since they started their meet ups. Without a second late, he would be there at her house sharp at 7 pm. The few hours they spend were slightly turning confusing as days went by. She didn’t talk about herself much which was the whole purpose of why they were meeting. She had a feeling Daniel noticed that she never talked about herself because he had made few dry remarks but he was still meeting her regularly. He was very honest about everything she asked and it didn’t seem like his honesty was forced. Sure, she had a feeling that he was someone who doesn’t lie but he seemed to be trying too hard. Baring himself to her like this, it was almost frightening.

She seemed to be realizing that letting someone stand so bare in front of you is not just hard for the one baring but also for the one who was watching. Especially for someone like her, who was so used to walking away after stripping someone naked. With Daniel she just felt wrong, like she needed to stop him. There was a very brightly lit red light blinking furiously somewhere in her mind. Like warning her to back away from this one, to walk away before it goes very wrong.

Yet, it didn’t feel wrong.

She, who had always run head first with her instincts was simply refusing to run on them. Her body did reacted unconsciously to it though, there were times when her face shows feelings she didn’t mean, which she wasn’t feeling, didn’t wanted to feel.

Or maybe she just felt guilty playing games which such a good man. She didn’t know she had any conscious left but maybe it was still there, still breathing in the corner of her heart, still forcing her to choose to do the better thing which was to surrender.

As if Ace can surrender when she already started a game.

She will see it through, whether she wins or lose- time can tell. She wasn’t as afraid to lose as she thought.

The sound of door closing made her lean forward to stand on her on weight. Daniel was running towards her through the rain, his hood covered his head. She had seen him in school today as well but her eyes were suddenly seeing a different him.

She couldn’t help but grin.

He reached her and pushed back his hood from his face, shaking his hair like a dog to get rid of water from his hair and raised an eyebrow at her, probably wondering why she was grinning. His eyes feel on her poor excuse of a bike and he leaned down to see what the problem was.

Daniel was really quiet but it wasn’t like he wasn’t capable of speaking, he seemed like the kind that could speak for hours on things he liked.

He shuffled around with her stuck strap and within minutes, it free. When Ace saw how ruined the strap was, she wanted to scream. Daniel also had a frown on his face but Ace saw his clean, thin hands smeared with grease and the ruined strap suddenly didn’t seem like a big deal. She pulled out wipes from her bag and pulled his right hand in hers, rubbing it to clean the mess. She felt him halt under her touch which made her a little conscious as well but she ignored the red light which was now standing before her eyes and concentrated on rubbing the dirt away.

Though, Daniel had turned to stone, he let her do what she wanted. She cleaned both of his hands and pushed the dirty wipe in pocket. She looked up to tell him she’s done but saw him staring at her. His blue eyes looked angry, frustrated. It startled her, almost in taking a step back from him. Her heart clutched in her chest, warning her to run but she was too surprised and too stuck in the way he was staring at her. His gaze had her locked in her place- almost daring her move.

She breathe in to clear her head and found he smelled like earth which fogged her mind further into these completely unfamiliar pits. She didn’t recognize the emotions she was feeling.

She forced herself to tuck the wet strand of hair behind her ear and look away. She tried to move away as cautiously as she could, like she was afraid the wild animal in front of her would pounce.

“Thank you for coming. I’ll see you tonight…?” She said, trying her best to sound like her insides were shaking enough to make her clutch her knuckles to stop the quivering.

He silently nodded, his eyes not losing any of their intensity and didn’t stop her as she biked away in the heavy rain.

This man need to stop being so bare in front of her all the time. She was someone who could manipulate someone to bare themselves unconsciously without giving herself away but this was a whole new ground for her. She had never met someone who would stand without a protecting shield to cover themselves. Never saw someone so unadorned without even needing manipulation, without being tricked. It was like he was playing the game with her instead of her playing him. Except she could play without giving anything away and he, he would stand with everything of his in view. She felt like he was daring her to harm his naked skin and honestly, she might not have the strength to do it.

When she got home, she saw Mike waiting for her in her room. His expressions grim. His eyes were glaring at her as she moved around the room like he wasn’t there.

“What are you doing?” his voice was angry, disappointed.

“Was gonna take a bath, why?” She gave her more oblivious answer which seemed to make him angry. His brown eyes which were so different from hers were looking down at her. The face was no longer anything like the reflections which stared back in the mirror now. But then it never was.

“I meant about Daniel! What are you planning with him? Have you forgot the last guy you played with?” He was shouting, his cheeks turning red from anger but Ace just calmly pulled out fresh clothes from her closet.

“Yeah, I remember.” Of coursed she remembered. It wasn’t the first time she played with someone’s life but it was the first time she wanted to ruin someone, play them on emotional bases simply because he had decided that her emotions weren’t worth for him to worry over. She felt powerful, unlimited and she had fun watching him crumble down in his emotions.

She had met Jason Hayman a year back or at least that was when she became aware of his existence. He wasn’t someone she usually associated with, he was too popular for her to know him. That was also the time she met Cole who was best friends with him. They were both playboys, honest playboy till she became a bet in the laughs of locker room. The news reached her even before they all left for home the very same day. The next few weeks were eventful for her, she ignored his approaches like she should have but slowly acted like she was his friend. She never seduced him, never made any promised but he did. He made those empty promises. It was between when he was playing with her she became actual friends with Cole who eventually told her about the bet. She had just nodded her head in acknowledgement. Feeling sorry for how far Jason was falling for the her who never existed she gave him chances to come clean till it was just 10 days before the bet ended.

He came clean with it. Told her about the bet and his ‘true’ feelings. His eyes were so full of hope, love. She couldn’t wait to crush it all. So she simply said she knew. It was all it took for the color to drain from his face he was so proud of. He had asked her in a whisper since when she knew about it so she had simply smiled and said, “From the very first day.” With that she walked away and never looked back at his sorry state.

She heard things about him later but he was simply a memory she no longer had. She was playing him now it was just boring so she simply got it out of life, out of mind.

That fact that he was playing her wasn’t known to anyone except the 20 people in the locker room, a girl who was girlfriends with one of them and her.

“You remember yet you want to play this game again? He had done nothing wrong to you.” Mike was still shouting.

“If he hasn’t then he doesn’t have anything to fear.” She said and closed the door behind her with a bang as she entered the bathroom.

She took a shower and socked herself in a bath for couple of minutes. She was just putting on her clothes when Mike loudly knocked on her door and shouted, “Ace, Ma collapsed!”

She paused for only few seconds and then softly said, “I’ll come by myself, and you go ahead with mum.”

Mike loud footsteps faded away and she calmly finished putting her clothes, dried her hair and grabbed the car and house keys from the counter. Locking the door, she got into the car and slowly started driving towards the hospital.

Her mother and Mike were standing outside the hospital room when she reached. Her red eyes seemed exhausted and tired and seeing as she didn’t look like she would be able to talk so she turned to Mike in question.

“She became conscious a few minutes ago. Broody is inside.” Mike explained.

Ace nodded and waited till Broody came out with couple of nurses. He tiredly smiled at them and hugged their mother to calm her down.

“She’s fine for now, it was just low sugar level.” He explained and pushed their mother to go home. Though she put on a fight, she eventually lost to worry and tiredness because she agreed. She left with Mike leaving Ace and Broody behind.

Ace turned to Broody and silently searched his face and slowly asked, “Tell me honestly, how much more time?”

Broody raised his eyebrows in surprise and then laughed in a helpless tune. Rubbing his face he answered, “I’ll be surprised if she lasted till the end of this year.”

Ace nodded and without waiting for permission, entered the room.

The room was dark even with all the lights on, like death had already spread its wings on it. Her grandma was attached to too many machines to be okay. Maybe this was why he sent her mother home.

“I know you are awake, old woman.” She said and dragged a chair to sit beside her laying figure.

Her Ma slowly opened her eyes and removed the oxygen mask from her face slowly, her actions dragged and her movements shaky. Her blue yes stared back with a twinkle. They held things she had never seen in another like hers.

They held her within them.

“You finally had time to see me. Do I have to collapse every time for you to show me your face?” her trembling voice asked her softly but she was smiling.

Ace grinned and shook her head.

“I don’t like hospitals. When you get out of this place, I’ll come by.”

Her Ma kept smiling as she stared at her till she stopped smiling and just stared at her like she was trying to look inside her mind, her thoughts. Ace let her look, there was nothing inside her to find.

“Ace…” her voice trailed off.

Ace calmly looked at her.

“Learn to forgive others, my child. You can’t live like that for the rest of your life.”

Ace leaned back on the chair and stared at the white ceiling blankly. There wasn’t much going through her mind. She was too used to keeping her mind empty.

“Ma, for other’s forgiveness you need to ask for it first.” She softly whispered like she was afraid someone would hear her thoughts, as if walls had ears.

Maybe the death on Ma’s face made her honest, made her let go of her thoughts and let them flow for a while but she knew it won’t last long. Soon, she would find them too bothersome to deal with and choose to throw them in an unused corner of her mind.

“There will come a day when you will become tired of being alone, Ace.”

“Ma, those born in solitary eventually becomes it.”