The Legend of Ruby Red

Pressed against the cold concrete wall, Alice felt the bite of the late hour chill at her back. She had been necking with the young college stud for near an hour and while she had been enjoying it, she was aiming to move the interaction into a warmer setting. Her cherry red nails rubbed into the auburn mane of the young man and grasped at him.

"Mhm."

His low groan was an open invitation for more than what they had been doing. He pulled back from her, his deep and over-stressed eyes showing the fatigue he had been exhibiting already. A smile crossed Alice's ruby lips as she looked to the young man and offered a cordial suggestion.

"You want to have some real fun?" she asked.

"Yeah, that'd be great." he said.

Alice took the young man by the hand and led him away from the building they had been leaning upon. Looking behind her, she saw the flash and flicker of various rooms that were hosting a Halloween party. Dark purples and low oranges flared and pulsed across the college campus that they crossed.

She felt the swivel of the young man's head to the campus as they walked into the woods that surrounded the facility. She could tell he was nervous about the destination and she chimed in with a light conversation to help ease his mind.

"So what year are you?" she asked.

The young man returned his to focus to Alice.

"Junior, and you?" he asked.

"Senior. I've been looking forward to getting out for a long time." she said.

As the pair walked further into the woods, the lights and comfort of the large campus faded from view behind them. Looking ahead however, Alice was approaching her destination of choice. An old, dilapidated cottage that seemed more like a shed came into sight for the young pair. The young man stopped in his tracks at its sight and Alice felt the rushing chill of his hand at her own.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Is that what I think it is?" he said.

"What do you think it is?" she said.

"Ruby Red's home." he said.

"Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. I take it your familiar with the story then?" she said.

The young man felt his pulse racing in his neck at the fear of the stories which surrounded the old relic.

"Old man Red chained his daughter up in the basement for years. Her wrists grew weak and small from the poor conditions and she eventually managed to get free of the chains by using her own blood to lubricate her flesh from the metal. She waited for his daily return and as he descended the old ladder she grabbed his feet and tripped him. I heard his neck snapped on the impact and as he fell he broke the boards of the old ladder, trapping Ruby in the basement with his rotting corpse until she starved to death."

Alice smiled at his explanation and pulled him towards the old shack. A quick jerk backwards of his hand saw it retreat from her and she spun around to him.

"You're not scared are you?" she asked.

"Kids have been known to go missing around here. It might not be Ruby or her old man but there is still a chance that someone is living in there!" he said.

He turned his attention back to the path behind them and began to step towards the barely noticeable sounds of the music on the campus.

"C'mon! Don't be so scared. I've been here a few times and I can promise that no one is..."

Alice stopped talking as she looked back to the old shack. A small and flickering candle in the window had appeared out of nowhere. Her eyes crossed and formed a curious look on her face.

"That's weird. That wasn't there before." she said.

"Let's just head back!" the young man said.

"No! If there really is someone in there that's been taking kids then we should find out who they are. You head back to campus and get security and I'll keep an eye on the place to see if anyone comes out." she said.

"That's classic horror movie shit! I'm not going to leave you here alone to get kidnapped or worse, killed!" he said.

"I'll be fine. Look I have protection!"

Alice pulled out a small pepper spray canister from her pocket and readied it for use. Looking to the young man, she knew he still wasn't keen on leaving her alone.

"Look, if you don't get someone out here that can actually do something about this then whoever goes missing next might as well be our fault!" she said.

The young man sighed as he knew the argument was, to a degree, solid. He nodded to her and turned to rush back to the campus. The crunch of dead leaves and dry twigs cracked and splintered under his hurried speed. The notice of his presence had slowly deafened and silenced and eventually Alice was fully alone.

She turned her glance to the candle lit window and noted that the candle had now vanished. She felt a strange chill at her neck in the vacant woods around her. She looked to see where it was coming from as there had been no indication of wind. The trees were eerily silent above her and the soft pitter patter of nocturnal animals was lacking. Hiding in the clouds was the clear illumination of the moon behind them; its covered glow offering little to help light the view to the shack.

Alice raised her wrist up to see the time.

12:05am

"Help!"

A young and soft voice called out in the woods weakly.

Alice looked around the trees and brush to see who might have been calling yet saw nothing.

"Please, someone help me!" the voice cried.

"HELLO?" Alice yelled.

"Is someone out there? Please I need your help! He's keeping me locked away in here!" the voice replied.

Alice looked to the leaning shack and felt the heft of her beating heart in her chest. She walked slowly towards the old building realizing that the voice was coming from inside. She needed to be careful on her approach as she knew she had now revealed herself to whomever might be inside.

As she stepped onto the old floor boards the loud and unavoidable creak of aged wood groaned out at her pressure. She reached out her hand and pressed open the half-hinged door of the old building. The ominous creek of a slow opening echoed into the dark and damp scented room. She tapped at the flashlight icon on her phone screen and used the small intensity bulb to illuminate the room in small sections.

A broken and legless table had fallen to the floor; the remnants of its wood legs were chewed and splintered in various parts of the room. Old and rusted lamps returned their red composure to the light as it passed over them. Sets of torn and barely visible sheets of cloth were strewn about the floor and walls as a means to provide some cover from the elements around the shack.

"Hello?" Alice called out.

A moment of uncomfortable silence sat in the thick, rarely disturbed air.

"Hello is someone in here?" she called out once more.

"Please, I'm down here!" a voice cried.

Alice moved carefully around the room to avoid stepping on any of the rusted nails that were hanging exposed from various remains of old furniture and shelves. She rounded the corner at the back of the shack into what used to be a kitchen of some sort. Moving the light with a shaken manner she saw a hatch that led into the basement of the building. She approached it carefully and lowered down to open the small door.

As the small door rested open, Alice peered down into the hole with hope of seeing someone at the bottom. Instead she saw only the moist and muddied floor of dirt, sand, and rocks. She couldn't see a ladder or anything to allow her to get into the space below and she raised her eyes to scan the room for a means of climbing down safely.

As she searched, a strange scent of chemicals and rot entered her nose. It was enough to make her nearly sick. She pressed her sweater clad arm against her face to lessen the severity of the odor.

"What are you doing here?"

A sharp and loud voice echoed in the small shack. Her ears shook with pain in her skull and she clutched at them in haste. As she crouched down from the pain she saw a tattered old boot step itself down in front of her. Her head lifted slowly to see a cracked and pale face of an old man. The side of his face was pressed in and the eyeball hung from the socket it belonged in. His neck was misshapen and fractured in appearance. He began to approach Alice and in fear she screamed out and stepped back from the horrid figure approaching her.

"Aaahhhh!"

Alice felt her foot slip and dip into the darkened hole behind her. Her weigh and the pull of gravity helped to complete her descent into the small space under the house. She felt the fracture of her ankle as she landed and cried out in pain against it.

"Ah god!"

Her face was damp from the tears and the fear she experienced. She felt the caked mascara on her cheeks as she moaned and cradled the injury she had sustained. Her deep panting and gasping echoed against the low walls around her and looking up she saw the door slam shut above her and blacken the room.

"Noooo! Please god noooo!"

Alice screamed out over and over in hopes that someone would come for her. She slid against the floor and pressed hard against the cold feeling of the wall at her back. Fumbling at the floor she felt for the phone that had fallen with her and upon pulling the screen up and having her face illuminated she noticed the breathless figure that was leaning over her shoulder.

A white figure of skin and bones rustled at her. The familiar scent of the rot she knew earlier was now dangerously potent aside her. The scalp of what was once a young woman was now showing thin strands for her once full head of blonde hair in her skull. Patches of skin around her wrists were either bruised or torn. The dead figure smiled to Alice and with a high and ghostly voice spoke.

"You can be a Ruby too."

Alice felt the cold slam of aged metal around her wrists and she screamed with all her strength.