Trust A Stranger

by Baxter, Cole

  There were signs that Ruby was mentally unstable from the start, and Mary ignored them, found excuses because the harsh reality was that she was lonely and needed someone in her life apart from Dr. Carson. That need made her blind.

  What did I do? What did I get myself involved in?

  Of course, having mental issues was not a crime and certainly not something a person should be ashamed of. It was of utmost importance to get treated. Clearly, Ruby tried in the past, and Mary was certain she was off the rails at the moment.

  It was hard holding the proof that everything she knew was a lie.

  Doctor Carson was right all along, and Shannon too. They both warned her about Ruby, and she didn't listen. I am such an idiot. Dr. Carson had said she sounded unstable, and instead of listening to the professional she trusted the most, Mary turned and ignored him.

  She even cut back on her sessions and stopped telling him certain things, all because she’d let Ruby rule her life. Foolishly, Mary believed she was in control. Ruby had manipulated her this whole time, making her feel guilty beyond measure for saving her from Nick.

  Come to think of it, it was a probability that the first seizure in the subway train was also staged. Ruby looked for someone who would fill her need to be looked after, and Mary jumped to the opportunity without a thought.

  Suddenly, Shannon's warning came to mind as well. If she could do all of that, there was no telling what else she was capable of doing. Is Ruby dangerous? Mary was afraid to answer that question.

  Suddenly, Mary felt really scared of being alone with Ruby and didn't want to spend another second longer in this house. I need to get out of here.

  Before she really started to succumb to panic, she forced herself to stop and take a deep breath. Then a couple more. She needed to think rationally about this situation and not let fear make her run wild. She'd done that many times in the past and the results were not all that great.

  It was natural that Mary didn't want to get caught snooping around by Ruby, especially while Mary was discovering something this private, but the other woman was asleep. Mary made sure of that, again, just to be on the safe side. Ruby was snoring ever so slightly, which Mary found very reassuring.

  Besides, did she honestly believe Ruby would attack her with a butcher's knife if presented with the opportunity? Of course not. she replied instantly and without a shadow of a doubt. Ruby was a drama queen, an experienced manipulator, but not a killer.

  Managing to calm herself, Mary resumed her task. She sifted through every document available, reading some things multiple times to fully understand Ruby.

  When she finished, she took out her phone and started photographing every single one of the pages in the file. She especially took care, making sure she captured everything when documenting her medical records from the mental institutions.

  Then she gathered everything up and carefully put the file back, just the way she’d found it.

  Satisfied Ruby wouldn't discover what she was up to, Mary collected all her things and without a passing glance fled the house. She could not believe what she'd found out. Mary believed Ruby was a sweet old, if not a bit lonely, lady. As it turned out, she was anything but. She had been lying to Mary the whole time. Was she even an actress? Had she been married, had a child? Mary started to question everything. Out of the blue, she remembered Carla and her warnings, how Ruby was pulling a prank on her and Shannon.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid woman. She had been warned so many times and she’d failed to listen. In one regard, she had been right—Ruby needed help, just not the kind she could provide. After everything she read, Mary couldn't help feeling scared of Ruby. At the same time, she was a bit hurt. She genuinely believed she had made a friend, and a good one at that, and all this time, Ruby was pulling her strings and acting like a puppet master, manipulating her and making her feel guilty so she could control her.

  And you let her, a part of her snapped, annoyed. Not anymore.

  On her way home, Mary couldn't help looking over her shoulder, half expecting to see Ruby there. Panic was making her overreact. Stop and think. There was no way Ruby could follow her around, not in the state she was in. She was out like a light.

  Wait. Something just came to mind. If Ruby didn't have epilepsy, then what did she take today? When the doctor asked her what kind of medication she was taking, Ruby evaded, Mary remembered.

  Mary was now certain that Ruby had faked the whole thing. But if the seizure was staged, was the pill just for show, a breath mint? Did that mean she was awake the whole time Mary snooped around and just pretended to sleep? No. Mary thought that was going too far. Ruby was definitely down. The question was, why?

  Although she was faking seizures for Mary's benefit, it was obvious that Ruby suffered from a lot of different things, and it stood to reason that she took one of her regular pills for borderline personality disorder since she didn't want to end up in a hospital. Because she mixed them with alcohol—she was constantly drinking these days—it knocked her out completely. The rationalization calmed Mary down ever so slightly. She was still traumatized with everything she discovered. However, she was no longer of the assumption that Ruby would come after her.

  At least not now, a small part of her felt the need to point out. There was not a doubt in her mind that Ruby would call her as soon as she woke up. And what am I going to do then?

  That was a worry for another time. At the moment, Mary simply wished to get home as soon as possible.

  It was true that she'd learned a great deal about Ruby, not exactly by accident, but that didn't mean the search was over. Mary had a bunch of questions that needed to be answered, so this was just a beginning because Mary was resolved to get to the bottom of things.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Home, at last. Mary sighed with relief, crossing the threshold and locking the door behind her. She sat on the couch, still fully clothed. She needed a moment to just be. It was hard considering how she spent her day, but she tried with all her might to not think about anything and breathe, decompress.

  Just breathe. There would be plenty of time for stressing later. Mary focused on herself, trying to calm her spinning mind and racing heart.

  Mary was satisfied with how Dr. Carson's technique really worked. She managed to completely calm herself. That didn't mean she wasn't in shock. Everything she learned today had a major impact on her.

  A narcissist with borderline personality and suicide threats. Mary couldn't banish those words from her head so easily, not that she wanted to. She was grateful beyond measure that she finally had enough presence of mind to snoop around and appease her worries. It was just that her worries weren't appeased. They had multiplied endlessly.

  A narcissist with borderline personality disorder and suicide threats. It all made sense now. Mary couldn't stop being slightly irked at herself. There were so many signs and she’d ignored them all. Instead of trusting her therapist and Shannon that trouble was on its way, she'd waited for it to actually hit her in the head. Now she knew for sure. Better late than never.

  Despite knowing piles of work were waiting for her, Mary, when she finally stood up, changed clothes into something more comfortable and fired up her laptop. She didn't plan on dealing with that. Mary wanted to look Ruby up on the Internet. That was something she'd planned on doing a long time ago, if not for completely different reasons, and forgot.

  If I had, would I have discovered the truth even back then? There was only one way to find out.

  Thanks to Ruby's medical records, Mary knew her full name, and typing it in the search bar instantly got a match. Nothing could have prepared her for what she discovered next. A part of her refused to process some of the site names. The other clicked on the first link available.

  It was a site for the local library that had apparently decided to scan and put old newspaper articles online. All the papers containing Ruby's name had headlines like Brutal Murder Shook Down MDM Theater, or A Real Drama Behind the Drop S
cene.

  What? A murder? What happened? How is Ruby involved? Her mind raced as she continued looking for answers.

  Behind a beautiful face, a cold-hearted killer lurked. Mary paused there because a picture of said murderer was shown. She'd seen enough of Ruby's pictures when she was a young actress, since she carried a photo album with herself while drunk, to recognize her immediately. Dread washed over her. It can't be, her mind argued.

  She started reading the article. It chilled her to the bones. The text revealed that Ruby killed a co-star and supposedly her best friend, Suzie James.

  Mary knew that name very well. Ruby often spoke about her with affection. Oh, my God. Ruby's a killer! Why wasn’t this in her medical file? Not that it mattered at the moment.

  Ruby was incarcerated for fifteen years for what she did. She served her sentence in a mental institution. Apparently, Ruby killed Suzie James because of a coveted role. Ruby was to play Ophelia, in the famous play Hamlet, and the other girl was her understudy. However, when Ruby had a fallout with the director and got herself fired, Suzie James got the lead and Ruby had a mental breakdown, killing her friend right there on the set.

  Oh, my God. Mary's mind spiraled as all kinds of thoughts started to bombard her. I made friends with her, shared all my inner thoughts and feelings, and slept in her house. Oh, God. And all this time, she kept this horrible information about herself hidden from me. At the same time, who would volunteer such a piece of information? By the way, honey, I murdered a person when I was a girl. I got angry and shit happened.

  Yeah, right. Mary forced herself to stop and return to the article. All this because of a part? Ophelia. She remembered Ruby mentioning with longing how she’d never had a chance to play that character. And now Mary knew why.

  This was the real reason Ruby's acting career ended, not because of her age. Every word Ruby uttered was a lie, including that one. Not that it was a vital piece of information at the moment, yet Mary's mind clearly needed a break from the horror she’d just discovered.

  Unfortunately, there was more. Reading the site after saving the link, she visited a couple more. They all provided a bigger picture regarding Ruby's life.

  Over the years, Ruby had continued to fill the headlines. The forgotten actress struck again. Apparently, she had a fit when they took her photo down from the local restaurant that was frequented by actors. It was a custom that an actor signed a framed picture of himself, which was then hung on the wall, usually over the booth they sat in. Understandably, Ruby's was taken down during her murder trial. She didn't take that well when she found out many years later.

  I'll say, Mary thought.

  Mary moved on to the next. Ruined Premiere Night of Hamlet, the Police were Involved. Ruby tried to walk on the stage in the middle of the play to do what she never could, act as Ophelia. She was dragged off the stage by the police since she threatened to commit suicide.

  Ruby spent a lot of time jailed or in the drunk tank for violent outbursts in public, vandalism, and things like that. The cherry on top was the fact that Ruby had multiple restraining orders against her, all filed by her former colleagues and friends.

  "Unbelievable . . ."

  After everything she saw and read, Mary's mind suffered an overload, clearly in shock, and for a while she simply continued to stare at the screen in front of her, unable to process anything more.

  One sentiment was more dominant that the rest, though. Mary was glad she'd decided not to linger at that apartment. That thought she had about Ruby chasing her around with a knife had just upgraded from being a product of a paranoid mind to a possibility.

  Mary swallowed loudly. I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe this is my life. I thought I escaped the only controlling, abusive person in my life. As it turned out, Mary had befriended someone worse. A killer.

  Was she ever my friend? She banished that thought immediately since it was a silly thing to be thinking about when she had more pressing issues. Without wasting any more time, Mary sprang to action and dialed Shannon's number.

  Please, please, please pick up, she prayed, hoping it wasn't too late for the other woman and that she was still awake. Shannon went to bed pretty early if she worked the first shift in the bakery.

  "Mary?" Shannon inquired, sounding a bit sleepy.

  "Hi, Shannon, sorry for waking you up, but I found out . . . something you are not going to believe until you see it for yourself." Mary copied the links and passed them along.

  "I just sent you some links. Check it out."

  "My computer is turned off."

  "Turn it on. This is important. Please, Shannon."

  "Oh, okay, wait just a sec," Shannon replied, clearly sensing the urgency in Mary's voice.

  Mary paced around the house as she waited for Shannon to fire up her computer and find the sites she sent her.

  "What's this?" Shannon asked, clearly confused. "What year is this?"

  "Yeah, they’re old papers."

  "Murder?" Shannon asked, sounding equally confused and intrigued.

  "Keep reading," Mary prompted.

  "Wait, is that—"

  "Yes, it's Ruby," Mary exclaimed, unable to wait any longer.

  "Mary, it says here that she murdered someone."

  "Yes, her best friend, Suzie James."

  "Suzie James? I know about her. Ruby spoke about her nonstop."

  "I know," Mary replied, at a loss for words. It was bizarre remembering with what fondness Ruby spoke of her now that she knew an actual truth.

  "Oh, my God, this is horrible," Shannon said in alarm.

  "And there's more," Mary replied in the same manner.

  "More? More than this? Are you kidding me? How did you stumble upon this in the first place?" Shannon asked in one breath, clearly in shock from this discovery just like Mary was.

  So Mary explained everything to her in short terms. "Ruby did something today that made me doubt her, just like you said, so I snooped around her house while she was asleep."

  "You did what?"

  "I know, it's terrible."

  "I wanted to say brave, but go on, continue."

  "I found her medical records and they're not good."

  "Is she dying?" Shannon asked, completely misunderstanding her meaning.

  "No. She's in excellent health. She lied about the seizures."

  "Really?"

  "That's not the worst part. I found her psychiatric file. She's been diagnosed as a narcissist with borderline personality disorder and was institutionalized many times in the past. She spent fifteen years locked up in a mental institution for killing that girl." Mary rushed to explain everything.

  "Shit," Shannon said simply.

  "That about sums it up."

  "This is mind-blowing, Mary."

  "I know," Mary replied, finally sitting down. It was good to share this with someone.

  "I knew something was a bit off, but not in a million years would I think something like this. This is, I mean, shit."

  "I couldn't believe it myself. I think I still can't."

  "It's insane," Shannon replied.

  Insane like Ruby.

  "We were friends for months, went to her parties, and you, oh my God, you even slept at her apartment."

  Mary shook from head to toe. "Don't remind me. I found her standing over my bed one time."

  "Mary, what are you going to do?"

  "What do you mean?" she asked, a bit confused.

  "Well, it's clear she's completely unstable. She knows all about you, including where you live, and has an obvious fixation on you," Shannon explained in concern.

  "You too," Mary replied somewhat apologetically, finally telling her what she learned from Carla.

  "What?" Shannon snapped, obviously upset.

  "I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you."

  "I'm not angry at you, Mary," Shannon was quick to reassure her. "It's just that this is next-level crazy," she added, clearly freaked out, which matched Mary's own senti
ments on the subject perfectly.

  She said as much.

  "Thank you for calling me."

  "Of course."

  "And Mary?"

  "Yes?"

  "I really think you should leave town for a little while, or at least get a hotel room, be someplace else, just so she can't find you," Shannon advised in concern.

  Mary nodded, although the other woman couldn't see her. "I believe you're right. I shouldn't be here for the time being." Because it was a given that Ruby would pay her a visit if Mary started to avoid her.

  Up to this moment, she wouldn't think Ruby was capable of harming her in any way. Luckily, she now knew better. Better safe than sorry.

  "I'm thinking about doing the same thing."

  "Smart," Mary replied in all honesty.

  Remembering what happened when Nick tracked her down, Mary already started to mentally pack herself since she didn't want or need a rerun of something like that.

  "Keep in touch, okay?" Shannon insisted.

  "I promise."

  Once she hung up, Mary immediately jumped on her feet and started to gather all her essentials, seeing the necessity of staying at a hotel for the time being.

  Sadly, she already had an overnight bag ready from her stay at Ruby's, so she only needed to add a few more clothes into it to last her for a week.

  It was true that she was a bit tight with cash, yet she would just have to make do since this could very well be a life or death kind of situation.

  After a quick web search for the available hotels in town, she was out the door. Mary found a place that was affordable and with good security, not wanting to take any chances.

  On the way, she couldn't stop herself from thinking how once upon a time, her life was empty, even dull, and how she wished to return to that. At least then, a killer wouldn't be chasing her.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Mary couldn't sleep at all, and not just because she was lying in an unfamiliar bed in a bit of a sterile looking hotel room. It reminded her of Ruby's own apartment just a little. Sleep eluded her since she kept looking at her phone as though the thing was a ticking bomb that would go off any second now. It didn't work if she tried to move it out of her sight. She could still feel it. It was going to ring, she just knew it.