Shadow of the Day

[Inactive User]

Great chapter Liked it. More soon pleaseee xxx

[kiwi151]

Loved the crisis line idea. Hope Ruby discloses her identity soon so her and Brax can work through their pain together openly

[pembie]

Wow that chapter was just wow loved the criss hotline idea. it started so light heartly with that woman and her dress probelm but then we had Brax pouring out his feeling and Eille. I wonder who's baby she's having

I'm thinking she has a stepdad who is abusing her maybe?

[RoRo90]

Caught up with this yesterday but had no time to review

The last chapter was just beautiful... the whole Brax talking to Ruby but not knowing it was her was really creative, I like that she gets to see how he is truly feeling behind the mask he puts on for the public

Form the previous chapter I was so overwhelmed by the way Charlie died but at least it wasn't painful

In chapter thirty four it seemed ruby was hiding something.. wonder if she knows something about Grants death ( glad he is dead deserves everything he got)

and Jade is just beautiful she seems so lovable and I love her and Brax relationship its so endearing how much he loves her

update soon this as got to be one of the best written and intriguing fics out there

[soph1303]

Great update,

Had to laugh at ruby with her first caller !!

Ok so this might be totally wrong but I'm thinking the elle was raped by grant so she killed him and now she's pregnant to him!!!

Felt so sorry for both Brax and ruby there !!

More soon please

[mizziette]

THIRTY SEVEN

‘I’m strangely very happy today,’ Bianca chirped as she skipped down the stairs two at a time for breakfast.

‘Morning love, I made pancakes if you’re interested,’ Irene offered.

‘If you’re not, you should be. These are great.’ April encouraged.

‘Well, I don’t mind if I do,’ Bianca sat next to April on the table and took an apple from the fruit basket, biting into it.

‘You look good this morning,’ April commented on Bianca’s cheerfulness.

‘You know what, I feel like this is going to be a good day,’ Bianca told her sister. ‘Rachel was right; losing the pressure and stress really helps.’

‘Rachel? Babe, what about me,’ Liam came in with the mail and began sifting through them.

‘You were right too. I just feel a million times lighter.’ ‘Bianca smiled at April. ‘What do you say? Have lunch with your sister today?’

‘I have to work,’ April told her.

‘Nonsense, even doctors get a lunch break.’ Bianca stood up. ‘I’m going to go upstairs to change for school,’

Out of her red silk robe and into her most comfortable sheath dress, Bianca examined her appearance in the mirror. She couldn’t help but rub the flat stomach in scrutiny. Her hopes for the adoption were high but she couldn’t help but the feeling she’d been having for years; the empty void in her abdomen; it was still there nestled in her subconscious. It would take some time to get her head around that.

‘Hey babe,’ Liam entered their bedroom and sat on the bed behind Bianca. ‘You look great,’

‘Thank you,’ Bianca sat next to him on the foot of the bed. She recognised the concerned look on his face. ‘Are you alright?’

Liam handed her the papers in his hands that had come in the mail. Bianca looked at them; bills. Her face adopted the same worn expression. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Our insurance doesn’t cover some of the new fertility treatments. We didn’t keep track of it all,’

‘Babe, that’s a lot of money. Can we afford to be this much in debt?’ With the hope of a baby on the way they were going need all the money they had. Bianca had every right to worry.

‘Things will be pretty tight for a while but we’ll manage, we always do,’

Bianca wasn’t convinced but Liam’s half-hearted act. ‘We’ll talk later. I don’t want to be late to work; more so now since we can’t afford to.’

At school, Bianca was tired of the teenage dramas it brought. She assigned her students reading assignments and sent them on their way. ‘Excuse me Bianca? Sorry, I mean Mrs Murphy?’

Bianca turned from rubbing out the board after class. Darcy greeted her. ‘Darcy, did you have a problem with the French homework I set?’

‘No, French conjugates are like breathing to me, you know that,’ Darcy waved it off. ‘It’s just that you look a little dazed today. Are you alright?’

‘Yeah, Darce I’m fine.’ Bianca replied. ‘Thanks for asking.’

When Casey entered the room half way through lunch, he oversaw Bianca reading a text message in seriousness. ‘Hey, you mind if I join you?’

Bianca looked up at the door. ‘Yeah sure, come on in,’

Casey pulled up a chair and sat in it before digging into his diner casserole. ‘It’s a little weird sharing the teacher’s lounge with the same people, who used to give me detentions,’

‘How’re you settling in, apart from that?’ Bianca asked.

‘Yeah alright, kids aren’t so bad. I feel like I’m putting on a performance five times a day but its good, you know,’

‘Yeah, I know,’ Bianca tried to smile.

‘How’s everything with you?’ Casey was curious about Bianca’s upset demeanour.

‘I’m fine,’ Bianca shrugged. Looking up at Casey, she noticed the disbelieving look on his face. She sighed. ‘When I woke up I was all good. And then the bills come in the mail, my year sevens were running around like animals this morning, and I got the first text from Adrian in years.

‘He’s coming to Australia. After all this time gone, Adrian thinks he can just barge into my life as if it’s alright.’

‘I take it you don’t like this person,’ Casey observed.

‘He’s my father, I’m supposed to but I just can’t. Not after everything.’ Bianca shook away the feeling. ‘Enough about my horrible day, I shouldn’t be unloading on you,’

On the night of his death, Grant took a very late walk by the beach. It was sheer luck on his part that he ran into Ruby. ‘Look at you, all grown up.’

Ruby jumped up from her huddled position sitting on the sand staring at the ocean. It was a windy night and the waves crashed loudly and the wind blew strongly, swishing Ruby’s hair sideways with force. Ruby rubbed her sleeved arms and stepped back, feeling an all too different kind of chill.

‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost,’ Grant commented, his face full of superficial concern. ‘I’m not going to hurt you, I promise,’

Ruby remained silent. Grant, with his hands in front of him in assurance, took a step forward. Ruby took a step back, wondering if she could scream.

Grant took another step in her direction and Ruby retreated again. Grant realised that their little dance was futile and remained still. ‘I didn’t know you’d be here,’

‘You need to leave now.’ Ruby kept her voice level and cold despite the increasing fear in her heart. Ever since she’d heard Grant was out of jail, Ruby had been on her guard but this completely took her by surprise. She’d assumed he’d leave town by now. ‘I’ll call the cops. You’re breaking your restraining order, again. Isn’t that what got you into jail in the first place?’

‘That was bad judgement on my part, I’ll admit,’

‘Bad judgement,’ Ruby felt the anger escaping from her consciousness. ‘Funny how you call killing my brother bad judgement,’

‘Rubes, you’re my daughter whether you like it or not, we’re family.’ Grant’s feigned sincerity was sickening. ‘I know after your mother died, you’ve been alone but you don’t have to be, you…hey!’

Grant cursed Ruby as she threw the sand into his face, hitting his eyes. She was furious at what she was hearing. Before she could attack him again, Grant had Ruby by the forearm, pulling her painfully close with his iron grip. They were fighting by the beach, Grant gripping the woman’s forearm tightly, the conversation aggressive and heated; unbeknownst to her, Ruby Buckton was playing out the same scenario her mother had undergone with Grant on the day of her death years before her.

‘Let go of me!’ Ruby screeched between her clenched teeth. She didn’t let on but her arm hurt from his hold.

‘Don’t you mess with me girl,’ Grant hissed. ‘I’m just trying to have a calm conversation with you here. Your mum died, I’m sorry about that. I know you’re hurting honey, and I’m trying to do the decent thing by you but I’ll be damned if you disrespect your father like that. Know your manners.’

‘The only person who was ever a father to me died when I was seventeen.’ Ruby tried to wrench herself free but Grant only brought her closer and tightened. After staring into her soul and asserting his power, he let go abruptly. Ruby fell onto the sand.

‘Now, I’d like to have a nice calm chat with you but this is only going to work if you behave,’ Grant chastised her as if she was a child. ‘Can you do that?’

Grant wiped the rest of the sand from his face and bent down to Ruby’s level gently, patting his hand on Ruby’s shoulder. Ruby spat in his face. After everything that amoral man had done to Charlie, a “nice calm chat” was the last thing she wanted to do.

Grant Bledcoe was on Ruby’s mind as she entered the family planning clinic in the city with Elle. All she could think about was what Charlie would have done if she’d known about her pregnancy sooner. Her mother had been thirteen and raped; what child in their right mind would subject themselves to that kind of hurt and responsibility willingly? Here was Elle, her friend Elle, pregnant at six weeks and knowingly terminating her bond to the embryo inside her. Ruby thought about her mother’s pregnancy and shuddered. She couldn’t bear to think about what might have been.

‘Are you sure about this?’ Ruby looked over at Elle as she reached for the door and went into the reception area. ‘It’s not too late to…’

‘I’m fine. This is what I need to do.’ Elle smiled. ‘I told you.’

Ruby sighed. Elle hadn’t told her anything. The forced unperturbed exterior promised an underlying apprehension. Ruby didn’t know who the father was, if he knew, only that it was a hopeless one night stand and she was too drunk to care.To Ruby, Elle looked like she was going to buy the groceries instead of terminating her pregnancy. This ‘happy act’ concerned Ruby.

Once Elle was done with the forms and sent into the back with the nurse, Ruby was left in the waiting room. She thought about pregnant Charlie, sitting in a similar establishment with Elsie, waiting to have her first pre natal check-up. They were in the city, close to where the Bucktons had lived before the bay; Charlie could have sat in this very waiting room. Ruby shut away the thoughts and picked up a copy of ‘InStyle’ before she was left bawling in front of the receptionist.

‘Alright now, you’ve had the counselling sessions have you?’ The doctor that entered Elle’s room was clinical and straight forward. Sitting in a hospital gown on the gynaecologist table, Elle nodded. ‘Understand that it’s not too late to change your mind,’

‘No, I’m doing this.’ Elle pursed her lips, trying not to quiver. After everything that she’d been through in her tiresome life, there was no way she could do this. Besides, she didn’t want to prove her mother right; Elle was already looked down on for her behaviour as it is, an unexpected pregnancy would just justify her mother’s feelings.

‘Alright, the procedure will be short, I will give you a local anaesthetic on your cervix to dull the pain,’ the doctor sat by her legs and put gloves on as he spoke. ‘I’m sure you already received this information in the consultation. You’ll feel a little pressure when I give you the anaesthetic.’

‘Just get it over with,’ Elle laid her head back.

‘Could you place your legs in the leg rests please?’

Elle hesitated for a second and reluctantly placed her legs wide open on the rest. She felt exposed. She closed her eyes while the doctor fiddled preparing the anaesthetic to try and ease her self-consciousness but it only placed images in her mind that she didn’t want to remember. Looking at what the doctor was doing with the cold sharp instruments broke her barriers. Panic rose into Elle and she couldn’t fool herself any longer.

‘I’m sorry,’ Elle clamped her legs shut and sat up abruptly. The doctor didn’t phase. He’d seen this many times.

When Elle returned to the waiting room, Ruby was waiting patiently with her magazine. Ruby had spent the short amount of time trying to understand her mother, the setting she’d found herself in prompted all sorts of thoughts into her mind. Rape was a cruel thing and Ruby couldn’t even consider what Charlie had been feeling.

‘Rubes,’ Elle’s voice prompted Ruby back to reality.

‘Hey, how are you feeling? I thought you had to rest a while afterwards?’

Elle shook her head. She wanted to say it but couldn’t. ‘It’s not necessary.’

Elle walked out without another word, expecting Ruby to follow. Ruby had no idea what was going on in her friend’s mind but as she watched Elle’s saddened ace as they walked out of the family clinic, all she could see was Charlie. Sad and alone, with a beautiful burden, so many women, so many girls had walked the same footsteps. Charlie had overcome the fear and loved Ruby; Elle was clearly fearful. Where Ruby hadn’t been able to help her mother, she could help Elle, whatever Elle’s decision, Ruby would be there.

[Lucii]

I absolutely love this fic, sorry for not commenting sooner but I am totally 100% gripped and I cannot wait for more x

[RoRo90]

another great chapter

Grant is such a creep he deserves to rot in jail... but I hope Ruby didnt kill him...doubt it

please update soon

[Inactive User]

Great chapter Urgh I hate Grant!

More soon please xx

[soph1303]

Great update,

Don't think that ruby killed grant, but from what happened on the beach that night certainly makes her look suspicious !!

Felt sorry for ruby when she was thinking about the things that Charlie would have done when she was pregnant with ruby !!

Starting to think I might actually be right with my elle/grant theory!!!

More soon please