Ruby Red

IX (KEN)

I'm a fool. The road ahead of me feels longer than usual. I sigh to myself. She's doing the one thing I don't want her to do, and I'm letting her do it. It's the only thing I've been extremely strict about, and for me to change my mind like this... it makes me a fool. I don't look back at her. Go. My own foolish words echo through my mind like constant reminders of my failure. Just go. I quickly turn into an alley, head hanging low as usual. I wasn't expecting her to catch hold of my arm and pull me back. I wasn't expecting to get that close to her, even for those few brief seconds. I wasn't expecting her to make my hopeless heart beat faster. Again.

As soon as I'm at the end of the alley, I push open my door. I slowly walk down the dark stairs. The mundane smell of old books enters my nose as I sit down on the last step. I sigh into the palms of my hands. Whatever it is she's doing to me, it's certainly not common. Hell, she's the only one who has managed to make me feel my own heartbeat since the day I lost my chance at a normal life. The day I lost my life, was also the day I lost my will to live. Not being able to look at your own parents, your friends, your family... There's only one solution to that, one way to live. It's to stay isolated from the world until your miserable life comes to an end. It's better that way.

I've been keeping it up, until the day of the storm. It was the first time a vision occurred. Fear took over my body and all of a sudden the environment around me changed. The new environment was loud, and very colorful. I wasn't in my basement anymore, instead, I was at a nightclub. I pushed myself through the crowd until I finally made it to the exit. It was raining, and that's when I realized I wasn't myself. Helplessness, sadness, anger and fear made it unable to think straight as I was being forced upon. I blinked, and in that second, returned to my familiar environment. A drop of sweat rolled down my temple as I stared at the wall, trying to fight the almost irresistible urge to go outside. It was the day everything changed. I knew where to find that nightclub, and before I knew it, I was running up the stairs into the cold stormy night. It was the night I got my third strike. Remembering the vivid vision troubled me, but the fact that I had just killed yet another person simply by looking into their eyes was close to driving me insane. The recognizable burn in my neck confirmed the death. Three strikes. Five, and I'm out.

I look at my reflection in the cracked mirror and carefully turn my head to the side. There it is. My third strike. It's even visible in the dark. Three little lined up strikes just below my right ear, the deaths of three people. A constant reminder of what I've done. I press my forehead against the mirror and close my eyes with a sigh. My moment of self reflection doesn't last very long. A sharp pain goes through my head, and before I know it, my environment starts to change.

I kick open a door with a knife in my hand. It creaks open, and by the window, I see a bag. The bag... it's familiar. I'm approaching it, and my palms grow sweaty around the knife. The bag isn't supposed to be here. This is when it hits me. It's the bag they stole from her that night. The moment I realize is also the moment I get pulled back and pushed onto the floor. A man threatens me with a knife against my throat. I cry and beg him for mercy, but it's too late. He pulls back the knife and prepares to impale me with it. The last thing I hear before the vision ends, is a desperate scream. Ken.

I'm running faster than I've ever ran. I jump over cars, ignore traffic lights, ignore the cold air that cuts into my skin like a blade. I know exactly where to go, and I need to get there before it's too late. When I finally make it to the street I sprint to the building. I push open the doors, and rush up the stairs to the second floor. The front door is closed, but I can't waste any time. I kick. Nothing happens. I kick again. A crack. I hear her screams. After a third kick, there's a visible dent. Finally, after the fourth kick, the door swings open. I run inside and freeze before the bedroom. He has the knife against her neck, but slowly starts to pull it up, just like in the vision. She screams my name, a chilling sound that sends shivers down my spine. I rush forward and grab the mans arm. I pull it towards me just before he impales her, and the knife leaves a cut on her arm. My unexpected visit makes him drop the knife. He mutters a few words as I pull him off her and grab the collar of his shirt. He looks into my eyes. 2 seconds go by. He starts to gasp for air. His desperate attempts at pushing me away fail and eventually, his body gives in. He falls onto the floor. I feel a sharp sting in my neck. My fourth strike.

"How did you know?" she asks. "Did you plan this and come here to look like the good guy? Why were you here to save me moments before my death?" I can't answer this. I slowly push her hand off my wrist. It's better if she doesn't know. She raises her voice. "You need to tell me why you always show up at the right moment. Tell me how you always find me. Tell me why you always save m-" "I don't know!" I finally yell back, unable to think of an explanation. All these questions are driving me nuts. "I don't know why I always know when something bad is going to happen. I don't know why it's always you. I just don't know!" I look down at my hands. It's hard to sound convincing when you can't even look at someone. She apparently thinks so too, because in a split second I feel her grab my chin and turn my head to her.

The eye contact is instant. Her eyes are locked on mine. I can't move, I can't react. What is she doing? The seconds that go by one by one feel like forever. She's going to kill us both. If she dies, it will be my fifth strike. Two seconds go by and she moves slightly closer.  I start to panic. One more second until my stare becomes fatal. All my senses feel heightened. To my disbelief, she speaks. "Was it that hard to look me in the eyes?" A simple question. But not to me. She steps back. "How..." I mumble. This can't be. I step forward and when she looks into my eyes again, my heart skips a fearful beat. I can see her irises quickly shift from left to right as she stares into both of my eyes. Nothing happens. I can't think of what to say. This seems unreal. It shouldn't even be possible. I look deeply into the pair of eyes that aren't my own, something I haven't been able to do for almost my entire life, and speak.

"Who are you?"