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Nothing was more comforting than the smell of her perfume and Maria’s cooking. It quickly dawned on him why he liked her scent so much, it reminded him of childhood. She smelled floral and sweet, a scent he counsels really place his hands on but he liked it anyway.

Everything seemed normal, the clanking of pots in the kitchen signified that Maria was at home. Maybe Ruby was at home too? He thought.

He stood, rooted to the ground for a minute. He was scared to call Ruby’s name with no answer.

“Nate” Maria said, a little startled by his presence and joined him in the living room. “How are you?”

“Where’s Ruby?” He asked, his voice unstable

Maria had lived with him for years and he knew all her tricks. When something bad happened, she tried to distract him by talking about something irrelevant.

“I need you to calm down” she said soothingly

“Ruby left, she wasn’t in a good mood”

“What do you mean she left?” Nate cried. “You should have stopped her”

“Nate, it was beyo