Ruin - By N.M. Martinez Page 0,49

A rank outside of the normal tribe structure, they were said to be the best or the worst. It was all in his eyes. Though he was young, he had lived more than the others his age.

His eyes narrowed. "We trained together you know. Jimmy's not much different from me."

Mary swallowed. Was he warning her? Was Jimmy a Ghost too? "There's a difference between you and him." Aaron's eyes were bright even in the moonlight, yet they lacked something. "I think you like hurting people."

"Do you think Jimmy doesn't?"

She couldn't say anything to that. They only spent an hour at a time together hanging out under the tree every few days. What did she really know?

Aaron gave a small chuckle. "Fucking humans." He gave a shove to her shoulder that turned her around, and then another shove to start her stepping forward towards her bunker. "When you remember this tomorrow, remember how I didn't touch you. Brandon's already going to be mad enough, I don't need Jimmy pissed too."

Intermission Four

There was a soft knock at her bedroom door late in the evening. It had been months since that Ghost had visited her in the middle of the night, and his knock had sounded nothing like this one. Still she was cautious.

The knock was almost polite. As if the person on the other side of the door hadn't wanted to disturb her. Still, she picked up the stick she'd sharpened with one of the kitchen knives and stepped over to the door. A knock so soft couldn't have come from any parent. They were always in a rush to drop off their children and get onto whatever duties they were assigned.

Mary stood in front of the door. Someone was still outside. His boots scraped at the stone floor as he turned.

She opened the door with the stick in her right hand held behind her leg. He was nothing more than a shadow in her doorway. The candle at her back cast no light past her body unless she opened the door further. When he turned, some small amount of light lit his face and she gasped when she recognized him.

Jimmy glanced down at her right hand though the stick was still hidden behind her back. “What're you going to do with that?”

She opened the door and dropped the stick in the corner of the small room with the sharpened side down. “Nothing. You're here for Brandon.” She felt foolish immediately. Of course, he was here for Brandon. In her fright, she'd forgotten that Brandon was only the next room over.

“Yeah. Is he asleep? I don't want to wake him.” Jimmy ran a hand through his hair. The large dark circles under his eyes contrasted sharply with his pale skin.

Mary gave a small nod. She'd feel bad if he came all this way for no reason, but she'd hate to wake Brandon up in the middle of the night to walk through the cold back to their apartment. “You look tired. You should rest.”

Jimmy gave her a halfhearted smile. “Your couch does look good.”

He turned his head to look into the darkness towards the old couches and she caught her breath. Each time she saw him, he seemed older and more grown up. It wasn't just growing taller. His shoulders were broadening, arms thickening. His short sleeve T-shirts exposed thin muscles pressed against skin covered with golden brown hairs.

Jimmy turned back to her with his gray eyes catching the light, his lips closed and the corners half turned up. When he smiled, any smile at all, she could feel her heart pulling towards him, tugging her along with it.

He gave some small affirmative as he turned to head for her couch. She reached out and grabbed his arm. Both of them stood still as if waiting to see what would happen next.

Mary gave his arm a tug and pulled him into her room, her heart beating hard in her chest as she gave ground to let him in. As he stepped into the room, he shut the door softly. It put him in the center of her small room, at the foot of her bed.

He didn't have to be here. Others his age were out enjoying themselves at this very moment. Jimmy could have left Brandon with her through the night. He could have done anything he wanted with anyone he wanted.

Mary looked up at Jimmy, and she just knew that he wouldn't stop her. She lifted her lips to his and