❛ ▌┊𝐑𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑 : ruth ( @stagvour ) .
𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐇 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐃𝐌𝐈𝐓, this is not how she imagined things would go. But she has no regrets. Everything she has ever done in her life has been for her boy. And though she'd tried not to see it at first, in the end, she couldn't ignore the signs. The best she could do was pretend. Pretend that she didn't notice the gloves he always wore or the nights he came home long after his shift at the radio station had ended, stinking of death and swamp water.
Hell is not so different, except he doesn't hide who he is anymore and Ruth gets a front row seat to the carnage and mayhem. She should be horrified — she is horrified — and yet, she will always adore him in the way only a mother could. When he'd gone quiet for those long years, Ruth had wondered if perhaps he'd finally seen the light; intended to turn over a new leaf. Then rumours of his involvement with this hotel project circulated. She stayed away. Not because she didn't want to see him, but because she worried that seeing her here, in hell, would jeopardise whatever he was doing.
But after everything went down, and the hotel re-opened, she could no longer deny the need to see him. So, she sat now in the lobby. Fingers gripping the flowered hat in her lap. She had been ushered in by a frenzied little maid who assured her someone would give her the grand tour in a flash.
Admittedly, she was nervous. The approach of footsteps had Ruth's ears twitching. She didn't need to turn to know exactly who it was. Ruth would know that gait anywhere. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to face him. Not yet. She remained seated, her back to him. ❝ What a grand place you have here. Quite the improvement from before. ❞ It's an idle comment, but true all the same. It is almost like a game as Ruth holds her breath. Would he recognise her voice? Did he even remember it after all this time?