The smoke was thick and it filled the corridor. Ruby kept running for her life thankfully, Christabel knew the way. She was badly injured and running took away lots of her energy. Then finally, she saw the main door. Only God knows how relieved she was. But just as she was about to follow Christabel and get out, a large burning wood fell down blocking her way. She couldn't jump over the wood and it had totally blocked the entrance. She felt down as smoke filled her lungs and her surroundings became hazy and tried shouting for help.
The fire begun to burn her week and fragile body. Then she in her despair, she saw her father talking to Christabel. She felt relief wash over her as she thought, she would be saved. But reality hit her hard when even though her father was closer, he had totally forgotten about her. She tried shouting again and again but the more she shouted, the more she felt suffocated because she took in more smoke. It hurts, really hurts, the fire burned her body but she felt her heart burn more. Her father could have saved her, from all this, but...
Ruby suddenly jolted awake. She was drenched in sweat. She panted heavily as she checked her surroundings in daze. She quickly touched her face in panic to see if her face was still burnt. Upon realizing her face was normal, she sighed heavily. She couldn't tell if it was real or not but that nightmare felt so real. She felt a tightness in her chest and it wasn't until she went to get some water that she realised she was crying. She sighed again and scolded herself for crying over a dream but deep down she knew, she felt like she was back to that day. Left in the fire to die.
That day had caused her a permanent psychological trauma. It had made her very scared of fire.
After she calmed herself down, she sat on the bed lost in thoughts. She suddenly remembered the day Mary Deville had saved her from the thugs. That day she almost thought she would die and she hated everyone vowing to hunt them all if ghosts were real. After she was rescued, she had been in coma for a week because of her untreated fever. And when she woke up, she found herself in an organization. Jasper was the first person she saw when she woke up, He told her where she was and she was shocked. In all her life she never knew there were organizations that did illegal works like this. As she was thinking of how to get out of there, the woman who saved her, Mary Deville came into the room and told her about the deal. Since she had saved her, she would have to join the organization as repayment.
Besides Mary also promised to fix her face for her if she joined. The offer was really tempting and without second thoughts, she agreed. After all they had saved her life and given her a second chance. If joining them was the way to repay them then so be it. It was not like someone would be waiting for her back at home. She would also be getting her face back. It is a win-win for both sides. A month later, Mary proposed another offer, they wanted to adopt her into the Deville family. Why, she didn't know, maybe it was because of her marvelous skills or maybe they just pitied her. No matter what thier reason was, Ruby accepted it. She was only thinking about the benefits and also escaping some task. And she could swear on her ancestors that this was the best decision she had ever made in her life.
At first, she hadn't expected anything from them, she just thought they wanted to use her but God, almost the whole family doted on her. Xavier, Kaylee and Mary showered her with the love that was missing in her life. They gave her everything she needed. This non-blood related family gave her everything her biological family never gave her. She had biological elder brothers maybe they were her half brothers but they were still related by blood and what Xavier did for her outshines whatever her brothers had done for her a billion times. She had a biological sister but Kaylee was more than a sister to her. She had a biological mother but Mary treated her like her flesh and blood. What more could she ask. It was only Louis who didn't really acknowledged her but he still treated her well and fairly. Ruby wasn't bothered by his attitude she no longer needed a father's love after what her own father did to her. It was only later that she got to know that Mary once had a little daughter who died of an unknown illness when she was barely 2 years old. After learning about that news, Ruby only shrugged, she didn't care if they just saw her as a replacement or whatever, as long as they loved her, she was fine. But staying with them for so long, she realised that, thier love for her was genuine and she wasn't just any replacement. She was over the moon at that thought and felt more indebted to them. It was years later that her face was successfully treated. When she saw her face after the surgery, no amount of words could describe her happiness. She could stare at her beautiful face for days and be talking to herself. The fire incident had thought her to appreciate her beauty and she never forgot to praise herself when she saw her reflection in the mirror.
....
Ruby walked to the bathroom to shower. Once she was done, she sat on her bed and begun forming plans on how to get the other half of the combination without implicating herself much and simultaneously thought of what to do to Uncle Gary.
After sometime, Ruby let out a frautrated groan. It seems, she had to go to Gary herself.