The Little House by the Beach

Ambrose sat on the porch wrapped up in a thick wool blanket. His house over looked a rocky ocean bordered by pine trees. Aldrich road his small bike up and down their street, racing the other children. The fire dragon closed his eyes to catch a nap, he knew his son would be fine. Nothing bad every happened here. Lester had bought him the house 5 years ago and they'd been living there since.

(As Ruby) the
I don't know how long I was running for, an hour maybe? I heard the waves crash the rocks and smelled the ocean breeze. I remember ready a passage in my book about the ocean and finally arrived. I looked back at the direction I ran from and said to myself that i wasn't going to go back. "If no one adopts me I'll find my own home." I continued walking and saw the kids on their bikes playing and it looked like fun but I was to tired to walk anymore and sat down.

By now Ambrose was snoring loudly on the porch. Aldrich and his friends were half way down the street when he saw the girl. He hadn't seen her around before and was curious. "Hello there!" He said as he pulled up to her. The other kids kept going. "I'm Aldrich. Who're you?" He asked as he sat next to her. "You look tired."

"I-I'm Ruby." She said as she scooted away from a bit. Ruby wasn't entirely great at making friends, let alone talk to people but seeing how he was nice to her she opened up a bit to talk. "What are you guys playing?"

"We're racing." he said with a proud smile. "And I'm the fastest." He puffed out his chest slightly but then added sheepishly, "Granted I kind of cheat." He leaned in wide-eyed and whispered, "Can you keep a secret?"

Her eyes widened as he got close to her face. She nodded and whispered to him, "I have no one to tell it to. You're secret is safe with me."

Aldrich looked around as if to make sure they were alone. When he was satisfied nobody else was there, he stood up. Crimson wings sprouted out of his back and a long tail grew out. "I'm not human." He whispered. It was then that an annoying fly had woken up Ambrose. He yawned and looked around for his son. He shot up with a yell and ran pell-mell towards his son. "ALDRICH!" He roared furiously as he yanked the boy up by his collar. "By the fang, what did I tell you about changing here? Let alone in front of a human!" He glared down at the girl as if it had been her fault. With his other hand he grabbed the girl and dragged her back towards his porch. "Hell, now I'll have to use a memory charm to wipe this from her mind." He snarled under his breath.

I smiled when he showed me his wings, "My brother has wings like yours!" I said to him until the man grabbed my arm and we walked to the house. I tried pulling away but he was too strong. "No!" I said and threw my book at him in the face. When the book fell to the ground the picture of Athemise came out.

The book hit him surprisingly hard and he grabbed his nose with a string of curses. "Why you little bi-" However what he was about to say was cut off when he saw the picture. He crouched down and picked it up with shaking hands. "You..... how do you know her?" He demanded as he advanced upon her. Aldrich knew how his father was like this. "Dad, she says she has wings too. She's not human!" He insisted as he stepped in between. Ambrose pushed him out of his way as he stared at the girl. "No, can't be." He muttered. "You look like her."

"Sorry! I just didn't want my memories taken away." I said as he got close to me, "She's my mom." I took the picture from his hands, "I only met her once not to long ago but I didn't know who she was. Apparently she wrote in a journal and now it's mine. I don't want my memories taken because if they are gone I'll never know that I actually met her" I put the picture away and just realized that he knew her, "What do you know about her?" I asked him curiously as I grabbed his hand happily. If someone knew something about her I wanted to know, "Please tell me! Pretty please? With a cheery on top!"

"We were friends at one point you could say..." He said in a hollow tone as he collapsed into a chair. "I won't wipe your memory. I had thought you were a human at first."

"Thank you." She said to him and let go of his hand, "What do mean at one point? Wait never mind, what is your name?"

"Your mother pretended to love me. But she was a liar and was just toying with me, she threw me away after leading me on." He said bitterly. "You can call me Ambrose... now sit down while I try and call your mother to pick you up. I don't need another mouth to feed." He reached up to his neck, where he still wore the purple necklace Athemise had given him. "Wonder if this damned thing even works." He growled before speaking her name at it. Hell, he wondered if she even still had the other half.

"You can't reach her. I've tried looking for ways to but so far nothing." I saw him wear a necklace and looked at mine. "My mother left me on Earth when I was a baby, at least that's what Kaze told me back at the orphanage." I showed him the book I threw at him, "All I know about her is through her diary. So far it only leads up to when she got married, I'm guessing she used a new one since this one is all written in. Any who, my point is, I'm stuck here. I can leave if you want but there is no way aim going back to that stupid orphanage!"

Ambrose yanked off the necklace and shoved it towards Ruby. "Take it then. I have no use for it." He leaned back in his chair with a tired sigh. "I'll take you to the school tomorrow then. I hear she's still there.... you hungry kid?"

I grabbed the necklace and gave it back to him, "It's yours not mine! Stop being a brat!" I said to him a bit annoyed and stomped my foot, "I said I'm not going back! I don't want to go back there again!"

"You ain't in a position to comaplin kid." He said with a twitch of annoyance. He had to admit, the brat had spunk. "I'll decide what to do with you in the morning then. You can take the guest room. Dinner will be within an hour so go arrange that room how you want."

"Fine," She said to him calming down. "Can I get a tour of this place?" She asked him as she looked around the living room. "Oh and what are we having?"

"Do you really need a tour of a house?" He said exasperated. "It ain't a palace, not much to see. There's the kitchen, down the hall to the left is the guest room. I'm across the hall. Aldrich is next to me. The bathroom is at the end." As far as food went, he couldn't really answer. He had no idea what they even had and would probably go out to pick up take out.

"Well I just wanted to look so I can get comfortable," She said as she sat on the couch, "Chinese food sounds great," She suggested

"Well don't get too comfortable, I'm still taking you back tomorrow. I ain't dealing with the shit your mah would give me if she found out her missing daughter was living with me." He growled grudmpily as he closed his eyes again. Aldrich rolled his eyes and motioned for Ruby to follow him into the kitchen.

"Well I dont think she'd find out. She's not here remember?" She said with a hint of sass

"Don't you know when to shut up kid? Because if you don't learn quick, it's back to the streets you go." He threatened as he glared across at the girl. "Now shut yer mouth and go to your room."

"But I wanted to stay with you," she pouted and smiled, "I like you, you're feisty!"

Ambrose was taken off guard by what the girl Said and he stared at her. "Kid, you've known me for a whole 5 minutes. You don't know what you're talking about." He said after a minute. "I ain't a good guy. In fact, some might think of me as evil." He gave a humorless bark of laughter as his pale eyes fixed uponn hers. "You don't know what you're saying."