The Monster Within

Chapter 19

"Why'd you do it, Henry?" Ruby asks, sitting across from the teen in the booth.

"I'm not really sure," he shrugs. "Can I get back to you on that?"

"For me, sure, but you'll have to answer that for your mother and probably Regina and Mary Margret too."

"I wonder how many weeks I'll be grounded."

"Probably a lot," Ruby smirks and Henry kicks her under the table. "Ow! What? It's the truth. I can't imagine your mother will ever let you out of the house again, after what happened to her. I cannot tell you how many months I was grounded for running away and putting the whole neighbourhood into a frenzy?"

"You ran away?!" the teen says in surprise.

"Do you even know me? I ran away six times when I was in my teens."

"Why?"

"Because I hated my life."

"Why? Granny..."

"Granny wasn't the problem," Ruby sighs, moving a scarlet lock of hair from her face. "It was my mom, dad, and brother."

"What happened?"

The waitress swallows a large lump in her throat and shifts uncomfortably. She blinks back tears

"It's not something I like to talk about but... Let's just say that Dad was a wreck loose and an alcoholic. And one night while I was at a sleepover, he was picking my mom up from yoga and my brother from baseball, and... he was tremendously shitfaced ..."

"Oh..." Henry says, giving her a very sympathetic look.

Ruby lets a few tears fall, ignoring what it would do to her makeup.

"Both of them died on impact, but that bastard lived..." she clenches her hands into fists and whacks one of them on the table. "He lived and I was supposed to live with him. But Grandma fought tooth and nail to have me live with her. She even sold her house to pay for the lawyers. She knew what kind of man he'd become and she didn't want me anywhere near him. It was constant back and forth. I'd move into Grandma's place and then three days later, my dad would force me to pack a bag and come back "home." To a crappy apartment that he could barely afford and there was no food or heating. Even when Grandma won custody of me, my dad was constantly harassing her and me. I just got fed up and thought I'd do better on my own."

"So, what brought you back?"

"I guess part of me knew that Grandma loved me and it would break her heart to leave. She was the only person who was ever there for me after my mom and brother died. She gave me a true place to call home and gave me the love and protection I needed and deserved. And, the other part was, I knew I couldn't make it on my own. The world is a very scary place... how your mom and Neal did it I'll never know, but every time I went to the bus stop or stood on the side of the road with my thumb out, I found myself hesitating. Yes, life was hard, but it would be even harder on my own. I knew I was leaving someone who truly loved me behind. I knew she was the only family I had left and I was about to lose her too."

Henry looks down at his empty mug, a fair representation of how his life would be right about now if he'd gone through with the decision. His father's words from last night about not losing the family you have and what a true home really was made sense to him now. He'd been so caught up in the anger of moving, he forgot what he'd be leaving behind and that a home is where a family is, nothing more, nothing less. He thinks about all the people who he would leave behind, all those who were there for him when the world wasn't. Regina, Mary Margret, David, Jacob, Ruby, Lacey, Aurora, Violet, Elsa, Anna, Killian, his dad, his mom, and his unborn baby sister. People who cared about him and wanted the best for him. Those who gave him purpose and the love he deserved. He hadn't thought about what his actions would do to them, he'd only been thinking about himself. He remembers how he felt when his mother was missing and he can only imagine what she must be feeling now. He wipes away a few tears in embarrassment.