A MAZE OF GREED

Ruth opened her eyes slowly to see she was in an unfamiliar place. She looked around, searching for familiarity in any sense but met by disappointment. She pulled herself up on her feet, not knowing which road she should choose as she saw many roads ahead from where she stood.

She faced the way to her left. Watching closely, she saw Mrs Payne standing looking at her on that first road. Ruth wanted to run to her, but then she could not. On the second road, she saw her friends waiting for her. Ida, Thea, Rees, Lady Elsie and Lord Lester waited, looking at her.

On the third road stood Theodora and Augustus, with unpleasant expressions on their faces. Even if that was the last road for Ruth, she would never walk on it.

And then she turned to the last road... a road on which a man stood with his obsidian eyes. He had his hand stretched towards her. Her skin was covered in goosebumps as she watched him calling her.

No, she would not go to him. So Ruth turned to the first road, but it was empty. Mrs Payne was not there. She then turned to the second one and again she saw no one. She checked every road one by one but found no one.

And when she faced the last road where that man was... she saw every person she had seen before on those previous roads standing behind him as if they were supporting him.

Ruth could not believe that the people she thought were her anchors were actually lying to her all this time. They all knew the truth behind the mask of that man, and yet they kept their lips sealed. They even pushed her towards him at times.

No, she would not go that way. So Ruth turned again to the other roads but was shocked to see that they had disappeared. The only road that remained was the one where the man stood who she thought she knew, but clearly, she was just living in a sham.

Ruth turned back but found nothing but fathomless pits. She had no other way to go other than the one she dreaded to follow.

And when she turned back again to look at the only road, she saw the man with obsidian eyes and blue stricks in them stalking towards her. She instinctively took a step back as he kept approaching her.

Her heart was beating in the strange fear. She kept backing, and when she tried backing once again, her feet did not find the ground. She fell backwards, her mouth opened for a scream, her eyes went wide in shock and fear.

She found herself falling in that dark pit but then suddenly, she found herself dangling in the air. And when she looked up, that same man was holding her hand firmly in his large palms.

Ruth looked down before looking up at him again. But this time, she was greeted by the cerulean blue eyes looking at her in worry and... longing.

"Its me, my Luna! It is your Edwin!!" He said earnestly.

Ruth's heart yearned for him. He was her man, her Edwin.

"P-please don't let go of me!" She pleaded while still dangling in the air with only his hand as her anchor.

He pulled her up with force. Every vein in his hand popped out as he helped her get up. Ruth hugged him tightly. Her eyes shed tears of relief. She had got him back.

"I will never let go off you my love!"

A cold shiver ran down Ruth's spine as she stilled in his arms. Pulling away, she stared at him with shocked eyes as his eyes had again changed into obsidian.

Ruth gasped loudly and sat up drenched in sweat. She blinked a couple of times to clear her hazy vision.

It was just a dream! She reminded herself.

But was everything she had experienced before was a dream?

She looked down at her body to see she was in a different dress than she had worn before. She was not at her home nor she was in the old building or Edwin's chamber.

Instead, she was in Rees and Thea's home.

How did she get there?

Panicked, she scrambled out of the bed but fell on it again as her knees felt weak. In her attempt of getting up, her hand knocked down the glass on the side table.

Ruth rubbed her head as the world spun around her. The door opened and rushed inside Thea.

Ruth would have been more than glad upon seeing her best friend running towards her in worry in another circumstance, but right now, she did not know how she should feel about it.

"Ruth? Oh my God! You are sweating." Thea ran to Ruth's side and was shocked to see her state.

She immediately touched Ruth's forehead with the back of her fingers. "You are burning!"

Ruth sat silently, still trying to regain the pace of her breathing. She did not move, nor did she look up at Thea.

"Rees! Rees..." She heard Thea calling her husband loudly.

Rees rushed into the bedroom, his eyes first landed on Ruth. He frowned in worry seeing her scared state.

He walked to her side and was about to touch her, but Ruth scrambled away from him as if his touch would burn her into ashes.

Rees was taken aback by that hostility. Hurt crossed over his face as he met Thea's gaze. She blinked her eyes, telling him that it was okay and he should not feel hurt. But he was!

The woman who had always relied upon him, sought his shoulder whenever she felt lost, called him her best friend was looking at him as a stranger.

Perhaps he indeed was a stranger to her under the skin of a friend.

"She is burning. Please call a physician." Thea told in a soft voice.

Rees only nodded, pulling down his awkwardly stretched arm in Ruth's way. Wordlessly he disappeared from their sight to get someone to check up on Ruth.

Thea pulled out a napkin from her wardrobe. She then cautiously sat beside Ruth, testing the waters. And when she did not oppose, Thea relaxed a bit beside her.

She began dabbing sweat on Ruth's forehead silently. She did not know what was running in Ruth's mind. She did not want to say anything wrong and turn the things messier than they already were.

"You knew it didn't you?"

She paused in her action as she heard Ruth asking in a low voice.

"I..." Thea sighed. "Yes." There was no point in sugarcoating the things when Ruth had already seen everything with her own eyes.

Ruth was silent for a minute after that. As if she was trying to let her brain absorb that.

"He... he is a.... w-we..."

"A werewolf! A werewolf leader to be precise." Thea assisted her in getting the things clear one by one.

"So it was not a dream." Thea heard Ruth whispering to herself.

"You do not need to get afraid," Thea said, gently wrapping her fingers around Ruth's shaking hands.

This time Ruth faced her friend, giving her an incredulous look. She did not understand how she was so calm about all of it. She was married to a mythological creature, for God's sake!

Before any of them said something, they saw Rees coming with a woman behind her. She carried a bag that indicated she was a physician.

Thea stood up before welcoming the woman.

She and Rees stood at the side while the physician checked Ruth for her pulse rate, fever, her eyes and her mouth then asked some questions to her.

"She seems to be in a trauma. The fever must be her body's natural response to it. I am giving some medicines. Make sure that she takes them on time and good rest is very important. There is nothing to worry then."

After giving the medicines, the woman left before telling to call her again if they felt so.

The awkward silence in the room was palpable.

"Ruth, do you need anything? I will bring you soup. You must be hungry-"

"Where is Mrs Payne?"

Thea stopped midsentence by Ruth's question. It was obvious that she would ask for her.

"She is at your home."

"I want to meet her. NOW!"

Rees and Thea shared a look. Mrs Payne was actually with Lester and Elsie as they tried to make out how they were going to deal with this situation.

"Okay. I will get her here immediately. Until she comes would you like to eat-"

"Leave me alone!"

Thea blinked. "But Ruth-"

"I said leave me ALONE!"

Ruth yelled, her jaws clenched and her eyes glaring at the floor. She was not even looking at the people she thought were her friends because she did not know if she could look them in the eyes to see who they really were.

Thea was about to argue, but Rees held her shoulder. He shook his head to stop her.. Without any other choice, they both silently left Ruth alone in the room.