The Little House by the Beach

I laughed at what he said and walked into the kitchen and sat on the table, "If you were evil, you'd have thrown me out by now! So what if you're evil? Nothing bad, I guess." I smiled as I started playing around with the salt and pepper.

Ambrose cursed under his breath as he stood up and headed for the kitchen. Aldrich followed behind and sat at the table with a knowing grin. "Chinese food it is." Ambrose said defeated. As much of an asshole as he was, he didn't like to hurt children. He'd figure it out later.

Ruby clapped in excitement, "Yay, food!" She smiled as she got comfortable in her seat and looked at Aldrich, "How old are you Al?" She gave him a nickname even though she barely met him.

"I'm 9, almost 10." Aldrich said with a smile. "How about you? And call me Ricky, I don't like Al."

"Ok Ricky!" She smiled, "I'm eight! She then looked at Ambrose and asked Ricky quietly, "How old is your dad?"

"He's 31 now I think." Aldrich said loudly. "I don't need your reminding." Snapped Ambrose. "Now go clean up so we can get dinner." He himself always looked filthy. His hair was messy, his skin pale and his eyes had tired rings underneath. He wore a grubby plaid button up and torn jeans.

"Aren't you going to clean up too?" I asked Ambrose, "I'm all clean!" I smiled

"I am cleaned up." He said as he headed for the door. Aldrich followed behind, with washed hands and a rather ugly red and green sweater.

"You're shirt reminds me of Christmas," She said Aldrich and smiled, "I like it!"

"It's Freddy Krueger's sweater, he's a villain." Aldrich corrected her and pulled, what he thought, was a fearsome face. Ambrose lead them down the street and towards the small town. Within half an hour they came to a small run-down looking Chinese restaurant. "Huojin makes the best food in town, don't let the building fool you." He grinned as he ushered them in.

"Freddy who?" She looked confuse who he was talking about and saw the place, "As long as I eat, I'm happy," she smiled at Ambrose

"He's from the movies." Aldrich explained. "He visits people in their dreams and kills them! They're really good, you should watch them!" The three sat down at a booth and soon a tall woman handed them menus. "Evening Mr.Peterson." She smiled. "Hello Jia. How's your old man doing?" Ambrose said and returned her smile. "Oh you know, the usual. Still complaining about his aches and pains but refusing to retire." She chuckled.

"Interesting! I want to watch it!" I said as the lady gave us our menus and I looked at the menu not knowing what to get.

Ambrose ordered himself pidan and ordered some rice and noodles for them to share. Aldrich got fried bugs, he had always had a thing for eating bugs and a spicy chicken curry. "Get whatever you want kid, my treat." Ambrose said to Ruby as he leaned back with a beer. "I got a raise so we can afford a bit tonight."

"I want the spiciest dish you have!" I said to the waitress. I then looked at Ambrose, "What made you settle down here?"

"I like the area. Plus it's close to where my work is based." He said as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a snap of his fingers. Nobody else was in the restaurant, in fact, the closed sign was up. "I didn't like traveling back from Temp Regime and here just to get my job opportunities so I moved back here."

"That's the school you and my mom went to right?" I asked him, "What's it like?"

Ambrose shrugged and said, "It was all right I guess. I didn't have much time to enjoy it though between your mother using me, my fiancé being killed and finally thrown out of the school." The mood around them seemed to darken considerably and his cigarette caught fire. He put it out with a muttered curse and pulled out another. "Don't ask why kid, don't push your luck."

"I don't think my mom used you," She said as she pulled out mother's diary. "I remember you said being lovers but I didn't see the name Ambrose in here but there was a guy named Silver. She has a picture of you guys here," She said as she flipped through the pages, "I mean she is stupid from what I can read and doesn't make the brightest choices but yeah, not one bit about using you."

"What would YOU know, you weren't even born yet!" He snapped as his temper flared up. "That whore played me and threw me away when she found what she was looking for." He fell silent, trying to keep himself from setting the table on fire. Aldrich leaned over to Ruby and whispered, "Drop it, he hates talking about what happened."

"I'm sorry Ambrose, I won't mention it again." She lowered her voice and looked down as she closed the book. As she waited for the food to arrive she started hearing voices that scared her. She started looking around as if she was being watched or something. *If you keep talking you're going to get hurt Ruby. Just end it already.* Ruby shook her heard and just stared at the window trying to play it off. "It's not real," she said to herself quietly.

Jia brought him another beer and he settled down a little. Ambrose refused to talk the rest of the meal and after dinner he stood up stiffly. "Let's get going, it's getting late." His voice was heavy and his gaze distant. Ruby had brought up unwelcome old memories of happier times. He trudged out the door with Aldrich close behind.

Ruby followed along side Aldrich but wasn't really paying attention. She looked around the streets still thinking someone was watching her. "Ambrose, do you know what the scourge is? Mom talks about it in here but never explained what it was." She asked quietly still a bit guilty about making him mad.

"It's a type of sickness you could say.... takes over the mind... makes you do bad things." Memories of Amber's shocked and agonized face as he tore into her flashed through his head, and he shuddered. "It makes you do very bad things... things you never would have dreamed of doing." He clenched his fists tightly till his claws dug into the flesh. "But I've been cured. I've been cured." He said as if trying to reassure himself.

"Did you hear voices?" She asked him curious about if she had it too. "I'm sorry that's personal huh? I'll just stay quiet now."