RHODES, Ruby Emily

[Ruby Emily Rhodes]

RUBY EMILY RHODES

FULL NAME: Ruby Emily Rhodes
NICKNAMES: Rube, Rubes
AGE: Nineteen
GENDER: female
SEXUALITY: Straight
STATUS: Single
GROUP: Student.
GRADE: Freshman
MAJOR: Social Work
JOB OCCUPATION: Chocolate Box Shop Front Assistant

HAIR: Long, blond with a slight wave. She usually has it down though she does play with it and occasionally adds some wash out colour for some diversity
EYES: Green
SCARS/BIRTHMARKS: Surprisingly none!
TATTOOS: She has a very small swallow on her left ankle and an anchor on the right one both of which are very new.
PIERCINGS: Just her ears, twice
PLAY-BY: Dove Cameron!

LIKES: Chocolate, psychology books, cleaning, fluffy pillows, high heels, pencil skirts, cardigans, Disney movies, knee high socks, light makeup, wash out hair colour, bottled water, dogs, Christmas, Caramel iced lattes, bracelets, rings.
DISLIKES: Cooking, open flames, fire, cats, rodents, spiders, lit candles, guns, knives, bonfires, being out at night, lates classes, ignorant people, her hometown, her old “celebrity” status
FEARS: Returning home, Fires, Jefferson Christie
SECRETS: Ruby had been terrified to move to New York but she was too scared to stay in her hometown as well. In the end, she felt New York was a far less scary option than the memories that haunted the town and her along with it.
PERSONALITY: Ruby is a great big ball of nerves, jumbled up in a petite little frame that are slowly untangling themselves. Born and raised in small town Idaho, Ruby had been raised to be that all encompassing sweet girl, who, growing up, hadn’t had a bad word to say about anyone; and it’s said that is why she’d been spared.That sweet, innocent faces of hers belies the smart, sarcastic mouth she’s recently developed, though. This girl is by no means naive, she knows the darker side of human nature pretty well but she does have a striking innocence about her still, despite the trauma that has plagued her life. Two traumatic events in her life have left Ruby a little wary about most things but she doesn’t consider herself a victim anymore. By all accounts, she should have become a recluse or a homebody; and at one point she had been. But thanks to many sessions with skilled therapists, Ruby has slowly come out of her closed in and locked up shell. One therapist in particular once told her that life started just outside your comfort zone and it was this therapist who gave Ruby the courageous nudge she’d needed. With a new adventurous spirit, Ruby packed up her meager belongings and headed out for New York City. She’s still scared but she’s slowly breaking away from the girl she’d been in Idaho and into someone new, someone who isn’t quite afraid of their own shadow.

MOTHER: Hailey Rhodes & deceased.
FATHER: Palmer Rhodes & deceased.
SIBLINGS: Connor Rhodes & twenty.
OTHERS: Sandra Caine & Fifty, godmother & legal guardian
Curtis Caine & Fifty Two, Godfather, legal guardian and Sandra’s husband
Matthew Wells & Therapist
PETS: Tsunami & Kuvazs
Mozart & Swedish Vallhund!
HOMETOWN: Aberdeen, Idaho, USA
HISTORY: Hailey and Palmer met in college during their sophomore year. They’d been nearly inseparable from the moment they met. They were madly in love, completely head over heels for each other and it was beautifully obvious to everyone who saw them. They were that kind of couple, the kind that had the sort of love that lasted decades, one that didn’t just fizzle out over time. They were married almost immediately after graduation, not wanting to waste any time in starting their life together as husband and wife. Shortly afterward, Hailey told Palmer they were going to be parents and both were ecstatic, and their families were overjoyed with the news. Connor was born first and a little over a year later, they welcomed Ruby into the world. Life was good. They were both happy children though it was obvious Ruby was more empathetic than Connor was, though he did care. There were always dogs around the house so the children grew up with a love for all sorts of creatures. They both played all sorts of sports, had all sorts of friends. Ruby had a little boyfriend when she’d been younger. Just a boy in the neighbourhood that she played with and they thought they were boyfriend and girlfriend. It was cute and their parents thought it was adorable so they let them continue the charade for a little longer.

When Ruby was fourteen, she’d gone to a sleepover at her best friends house, across town whilst her brother had been away on a class trip.; Ruby had decided she would go away as well, to give her parents the weekend to pretend they were teenagers again. The family was quite open and all were often teased for any romantic ideas they might have had. While the children were away though and the parents were already gone to bed, a man broke into their home. He knew enough about the home to know they had a small army of dogs and took them out, leaving their little bodies scattered all over the front hall of the house. He went upstairs to the parents room and with precision murdered Palmer before taking his knife to Hailey and stabbing her directly in the heart; immediately ending both their lives before he went through the house, taking what he wanted. To this day, neither Connor nor Ruby know if the man had a grudge or was legitimately there to rob the place. And the police weren’t sure at the end of their investigation either because though they’d eventually caught the man, he’d never given it up.

A neighbour saw the front door open and noticed none of their dogs were out on the lawn. They were trained not to leave the property without someone with them but they would go out on the lawn alone. But there wasn’t one in sight so he went to check it out and found the animal’s corpses scattered over the floor. Immediately, he called the police while carefully moving through the house so as to not disturb the crime scene. He’d seen Hailey and Palmer go out for dinner earlier in the night, he remembered because he’d been outside and wove to them as they left but he hadn’t seen them return. He was on the phone with the police when he found their bodies in their bed and he broke down. The police arrived shortly after and cordoned off the area, preserving the crime scene as best they could whilst talking to everyone in the neighbourhood about the family. The neighbour who had found them, Mark’s wife knew the kids were away. Ruby had told her she was giving her parents a weekend to themselves while her big brother was away on the class trip. She had also known about the godmother, Sandra who had been Hailey’s best friend and sorority sister.

The police went to collect the children and notify Sandra who quickly became the legal guardian of two teenagers. She had never had children of her own, despite her and her husband trying for years. It just wasn’t possible but they spoiled Connor and Ruby since the day they’d each been born. Sandra had only lived across town so they hadn’t escaped the whispers and the looks. It was a big deal in their rather small town but the new family fought them and overcame the ordeal. Two years went by after that traumatic event and things looked to be normal for the siblings and their guardians. There were no incidents to report which had been nice. They went back to having their friends, playing their sports. Life was good. There was a boy being bullied but Ruby never took part, in fact, she tried time and time again to stop it but she never succeeded; must to her dismay. But it appeared nothing would come of it.

The juniors and seniors got together at the beginning of the school year, when the football season started and had a bonfire; it was tradition and Ruby’s junior year was no exception. She attended the bonfire with her brother and all their friends, along with the rest of the two grades. Everyone was in the area somewhere. The music was going, there were drinks being passed around and people were enjoying themselves. A good time was being had by most; except the kid that had been bullied constantly. He was a senior and he showed up at the party and opened fire on everyone that crossed his path. In the fearful rush of bodies, Ruby was pushed into his path by someone who had been trying to get away, trying to hide somewhere so they wouldn’t get hurt. Ruby stood where she was and looked up in frozen fear, into the eyes of the bullied boy and he looked back at her. She memorised the moment because she’d thought it would be her very last but he turned away from her and instead shot a cheerleader that had been running by, catching others with stray bullets. She sagged where she was, breaking down into tears.

It took four varsity football players to tackle the gunman, tying him out and making sure he was unable to harm anyone else when the police showed up. Those with minor injuries had been taking care of those with major wounds and anyone else they came across while they’d waited for the paramedics to arrive but Ruby never moved; not even an inch from where she’d fallen to her knees. She was still frozen in shock when her brother found her and continued to stay that way well after the paramedics checked her out and said though she should go to the hospital, she was cleared to go home. She was the only one of the few that were within range that was completely unharmed, not a hair out of place for her at his hands; the rest of the uninjured hadn’t actually been there until after they’d heard the first shots ring out in the silence. Two weeks went by without so much as a twitch from Ruby. The doctors said she would come out of it when she was ready. The trauma of her parents and then this, it had just been too much for her empathetic heart to handle and she’s mentally snapped to deal with all the pain.

Connor had slept on his sister’s bedroom floor every night, so he would be there if she woke up. He was there for her when she woke up, screaming in the middle of the night. It took an hour for her to calm down and realise she wasn’t still at the bonfire, waking up everyone in the house in the process; something she continued to apologise for despite the fact they all told her it wasn’t anything to worry about. Therapy started immediately after she woke up and she went through six therapists before she’d found the one that really worked for her. It was November before the trial and it was only then that Ruby learned the name of the shooter; Jefferson Christie. Connor hadn’t wanted Ruby to go to the trial but she insisted she had to be there; closure she’d said.

Jefferson gave a detailed account of events and when he was asked why he’d spared some, meaning her and they all knew it, he’d looked her directly in the eye and told them it was because the one he hadn’t hurt had tried to stop them but they wouldn’t listen to her. It was the truth of course, she’d tried but she was ignored time and time again. She hadn’t stopped trying though and that was why he’d let her go completely unharmed. Shortly after the trial, Ruby became a recluse. She’d tried returning to school but she couldn’t deal with being in the school, knowing what she did. People stared and it became unbearable to be there. She ended up finishing school through online courses, the school board agreeing to let her due to the psychological trauma she’d suffered; most of her friends had been killed in the massacre. And the ones that had only been injured moved away to start fresh. So she really only had Sandra, Curtis and her brother. Ruby continued therapy and the family agreed to get her a therapy dog when it was suggested it might help. She named the large dog Tsunami; Nami for short. A few months later, they brought another dog into the family, Connor naming this one Mozart since Ruby got to name the first one. He stuck around, choosing to stay with Ruby and attend a community college while she was still finishing up high school from home. He had hopes that Ruby would join him at the college when she was finished but it didn’t happen that way. She stayed home another year all the while, her therapist was telling her she needed to go, that it was time that she spread her wings.

Jefferson Christie was not getting out a prison in their lifetime, he would die behind bars. She was safe from him for the rest of her days. At nineteen, she decided Matthew was right and she spent some time talking it all out with Sandra, Curtis and Connor. They all agreed and Connor put submitted the transfer papers to NYU while Ruby applied and got accepted into her programme of choice. With all she’d gone through, she thought she would make a perfect grief counselor. Connor couldn’t have agreed more. Of course he would have agreed to just about anything to see his sister become something other than the scared little girl she’d become after the shooting. Ruby is still scared as all hell to be in New York but she’s more terrified of being in her hometown, where everything happened. She’s really starting to open up, smile more and have it be genuine and not the fake one she used to plaster on whenever people spoke to her about those past traumas. She found herself a job, developed a few friendships and though she frequently calls Matthew, life is finally starting to look up for Ruby Rhodes; the girl who survived.

YOUR ALIAS: Cali!
RULE WORDS: I’m keeping these for review
WHERE YOU FOUND US: No.
SAMPLE:

No. Just no!

 

[Cali]