MOUNTAIN PACK

Before he could knock again, Ruth flung the door open, preempting his last knock and peered at him with her weary eyes not of sleep but the eyes of someone crying his or her eyes out. Lucas wanted to ask her why she are countenance was poor and why she looked deeply pale but a second thought made him to change his mind completely. Ruth kept the door slightly ajar and he wasn’t able to see her stained sweater completely.

“Miss…huh..”

He stuttered not too sure of the words he wanted to say to her and she knew that he was hesitating to speak up.

“What do you want?”

She questioned feebly.

“Your father…wants you to come downstairs”

“Right now?”

“Yes, right this moment”

Ruth paused and thought for a moment after Lucas replied. An anxious feeling of what was to befall her if she leaves her room gripped her profoundly and casted a deeper shadow of guilt into her consciences having recalled that she had committed an offence sneaking out of the house right in front of her father the first time he arrived home after his long brief absence from home.

“Did he say why he wanted to see me?”

“No, he didn’t mention anything to me. It would be best to ask him yourself”

“Fine, but let me get changed first”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea”

“But I…”

“His mood was terrible when he came downstairs and it won’t do you any good if you waste time”

“So are you saying that I should leave now?”

“Exactly”

Ruth took a brief moment to contemplate if following Lucas downstairs without changing her tainted outfit was the right thing to do under the tensed circumstances though she had washed off some of the ice-cream stains from her sweater before coming back home. She had in fact been sobbing quietly inside her bathroom since her return from the arcade and couldn’t bring herself to leave her room for supper nor get her clothes changed, and as a result, she had forgotten to put on her nightwear in preparation to retire back to sleep. Not until Lucas hit the door thrice when he came to summon her did she recall that she had wasted time in deep solitude before realizing that she was still wearing the same clothing she wore to hang out with her friends in the afternoon.

“Give me two minutes. I’ll be right back”

“Suit yourself but don’t take too long”

Ruth shut the door and went straight to her bathroom to get a closer look at the affected part in front of a circular washbasin mirror only to find out that it had dried off leaving a whitish stain on the black fabric which wasn’t too obvious if seen with the naked eye as though she had blotch it white on purpose. Assuming that her father won’t notice the pale whitish spot on the black sweater, Ruth quickly wrenched the faucet tap on, allowing water to pour out and took some water in her palm before sprinkling it on the tainted spot with dribbles amount of water soiling the fabric and dried it with a towel she took from the venetian blind covering the little window above the toilet. Then she went back to the door and came outside to meet Lucas already waiting for her right at her doorstep. Ruth shut the door behind her and Lucas accompanied her downstairs without wasting a minute to ask what she had to do in the bathroom. On the way down the stairs, the two met Roland and his wife seated on the same couch in the living room while the servants had already left a long time ago after turning on the old gramophone which lovely sound from the old record player filled the living room and Lucas quickly understood that his boss must have ordered them out of the parlor before they arrived.

Roland eyes trailed off Lucas who avoided his gaze before heading for the main exit out of the building and fell on Ruth who was left behind to face her father. She knew from the way he looked at that she was guilty and that the situation wasn’t looking good from her own angle. She hadn’t taken notice of the belt he had placed beside him and hadn’t climbed down the stairs before her father shouted an expected question which all three of them in the room knew too well to be forthcoming.

“Where did you sneak off to this time around?”

He barked as his bloodshot eyes peered at her. Ruth was speechless and couldn’t find any words in her mouth to speak. Then he sprang up to his feet taking his belt in one hand when she failed to utter any words out of her mouth. He thrust himself forward towards Ruth but Mira obstructed his path knowing his intentions and Ruth bolted back upstairs, leaving his father to tussle with her mother who refused to move aside when he asked to. She went straight to her room and locked the door but from where she lay on the bed, she could hear their loud arguments in the living room which intensified into loud shouts followed by noises of things clattering and shattering on the floor, breaking into the pieces. She covered her ears as she tucked herself underneath the blanket after switching the lights off but could barely protected her ears from hearing pleas of someone begging for mercy accompanied by the continuous sound of a whip descending on a hard mass that seems to let out a screeching groan each time the whip landed on it. Then the whipping stopped and a prolonged whimpering and moaning followed afterwards. Ruth could hardly bear what she heard from her room upstairs and knew deep down within her something had happen to her mother. It hurt her deeply and she didn’t realize it when she dozed off to sleep on her bed.

The night soon became silent at the area close to Roland’s mansion but it was still noisy for some hidden savage tribesmen on a wild rampage at their secluded mountain hideout hidden away from civilization by the dark forest trees which kept it secretly isolated from the nearby town.