60 Seconds to Death(Jessica) The high school reunion is not something the rest of the Rubies would await. Even though people would recognize them as the It girls back then, knowing that the dead Emma Austen’s spirit could be all over the place freaks them out. Emma was once a Ruby, until some huge tragedy happens, causing her to swallow a bottle of pills, heading straight to the grave a minute later.
Everyone loves The Rubies. They were mean, but getting their attention is like receiving a blessing from a dying billionaire; priceless. These girls are all pretty and talented, with an addition of coming from a rich family. Maureen Bell is the leader. She is an heir of a cosmetic company, and a face on the same level of Aphrodite. With her slim and curvy body, she became a model after she graduates. Next is Perry Gray, the girl that makes the hearts of the boys melt. She lives her life like there’s no tomorrow; in other words, she’s a hippie. Then there goes Quinn Mercer, the gossip girl. She’s pretty smart in digging people’s deepest secret, and she always finds a way to bring it out to the open.
Lastly was the dead Emma Austen. The kindest of them all, they say. She’s not as rich as the others, so beauty and brain is her only weapon. She’s the only Ruby who is still friendly enough to talk to unpopular nerds. But inside the other Rubies’ hearts, she was a threat. She had their darkest secret, and nice Emma should not hesitate to fight injustice…
“Nevermind,” they thought, “everyone believes the story of too-much-family-problem Emma that killed herself.” Their secrets had been buried under the earth, together with Emma.
The Rubies decided to show up at the reunion. Maureen Bell, was looking gorgeous, as always, with pump heels and a mini dress hanging on her slender body. Perry Gray did not care much, but still is a beauty with a croptop and ripped jeans. Lastly there was Quinn Mercer, on a leather jacket and a dress under it.
Almost everyone was here, including the hot Zack Russell and Jeffron Davis. Both used to date Maureen, and Jeffron was famous for giving Maureen the nickname ‘Molly’. In the corners of the room was Sean Bates, with his highschool girlfriend Samara Jade, and a bunch of cheerios. As soon as the Rubies entered the room, the crowd cheered. As usual, Maureen puts on her prideful face, scanning the room. To her surprise, Ferida Sky was there. The one who can’t walk Ferida…
The other Rubies might’ve seen her too, and they were stunned. Ferida’s broken leg was the reason why Emma killed herself, and they surely did not want to remember it. Trying their best too look like nothing’s wrong, they took the center seat and sit like a boss.
The reunion went perfectly fine when everyone was just talking upon how fast they grew or how they missed high school life. But everything went wrong since Ferida starts talking about Emma.
“She was so kind to me,” she said. “I am not popular, but she even visited me at the hospital.”
And then people started talking about Emma and the Rubies. Some even dared to say to the Rubies that they forgave what the Rubies did to them. A girl named Shauna Marie, Ferida’s BFF gave them a dirty look. This things made the Rubies felt a strike of rage, but they did their best to hide it.
The clock strikes 10, and it was time for everyone to go home. As usual, the Rubies parted goodbye and head their own directions.

***
Maureen entered her car and drive through the road. She had things in her mind, like ‘did Ferida knew what we did to her’ or ‘did Emma get to tell anyone about Ferida’s incident’ and ‘why does Shauna look so ugly’. She steered her wheel towards her favorite bar, and ordered a cup of martini.
She was enjoying her drink, when suddenly her iPhone buzzed. She looks it up, and saw a notification of a text, from anonymous. She slides the screen to open it.
‘Hi Molly, forgotten what you did?’
Maureen was surprised, and quickly sent a reply.
‘who r u’
Beep
‘Hi, I am Maureen Bell, and I have dirty secrets.’
***
Perry Gray was exhausted. The scotch she drank at the reunion made her feel sick. She was never a good drinker, and with Maureen Bell forcing all Rubies to ‘culturize alcohol’ is a definite no for her. She’d ask Jeffron to give her a ride, and now she was home, sitting on the driveway. In the opposite side of the road she saw Quinn Mercer, her fellow Ruby, who happens to just arrive home too.
“Quinn!” Perry shouted.
“Hey Pers,” Quinn answered. “You drunk?”
“Almost. I can’t drive, so I got Jeffron’s”
“WHAT? Why don’t you join me?”
“IDK Quinn, this whole reunion just, sucks. Ferida starting about Emma and all, reminds me of what we did…”
“Shhh!” Quinn shushed her up. “I know it’s terrible. But talking about ‘it’ again was not right. That incident never happens. Okay?”
Suddenly, both girls’ phones let out a beep. It was a text message, from anonymous.
‘Too bad :( If I am alive, I would tell…’
Both girls’ eyes was wide awake, surprised by the text message. They looked at each other to confirm the text, and both had got the same text. Perry decides to reply ‘Emma’s dead!’, and both started to look around the bushes in case anyone’s sneaking around. Another beep from their phone comes up.
‘SOS. Meet me at Martini’s. –M’
It was Maureen.
The two girls raced into Quinn’s car, heading off to the bar Maureen was talking about…
***
“I think someone knows.” Maureen started. She showed the text she got from anonymous to Perry and Quinn and vice versa. “The only one who knows about the Ferida incident was the Rubies. Did any of you tell?”
“Of course not!” Perry and Quinn cried. “We swore an oath to not tell anyone.”
“Maybe Emma did?” Perry whispered.
“Tell who? Ferida?” replied Maureen.
“We need to find answers, girls. How about we talk to Ferida?” suggests Quinn. “We could say that my cousin broke her leg real bad and ask her where does she take her medication. In that way, we could ask her what happened, and when she explains, we can ask her who did it.”
“That’s a good idea. Maybe we should try…” said Maureen.
The Rubies took off, and headed home. The next morning, they went up to the Sky’s home to see Ferida.
“Ferida?” Perry called as she knocks the door. Nobody answered. But suddenly, a text message appeared on her screen. It was Anonymous.
‘A friendly reminder: she gave up her dreams to be a runner.’
Perry trembled, then shows the screen to the girls. They started looking out around the house to see if anyone was spying on them. Perry replied ‘what do u want’ , and she got a reply almost immediately:
‘Bullying : 5 years in jail. Attempted murder (Ferida could be dead if she fall deeper into the cliff) : 10 years in jail. Turn yourselves in, Ru-bitches.’
The Rubies’ faces turns beet red, and the incident from two years ago was shown clearly inside their heads…
***
It was 6.30 in the morning. The Rubies was walking in the forest, bringing along a sack of plastic spiders for their next prank on Ferida Sky, the girl who was nominated prom queen instead of Quinn. Maureen, Perry and Emma were all nominated, but the last spot goes to Ferida. So they decided to prank her by putting plastic spiders along her jogging track, causing her to trip and fall down a slope, having a face-dip into a puddle.
The worst case scenario was that, she did not only ended by getting splashed, but also trip once more, and falling again down the cliff nearby. The cliff and the puddle was separated by some space, but who knows?
Along the way, the Rubies were spreading out spiders, Ferida’s biggest fear, while chuckling and chatting. Perry was ready with her camera, to capture the funny moment of ‘Prom-queen-to-be with black face’. But suddenly, Emma stopped.
“This isn’t right.” She said.
“Oh my gosh Emma, Ferida deserves it. She took Quinn’s place, remember?” Maureen sashayed.
“But this is dangerous! Look, I know we’re all mad at Ferida, but this prank could cause death. Quinn, if you want the spot, I’ll resign. Then you should have my spot as a nominee.”
“Emma, we all agreed that we should give Ferida a lesson.” Said Perry with a glimpse of anger.
“Right. You are always the nice ones, right? Do you even want to be a Ruby anymore? Cause you’re acting like you’re more of Ferida’s friend then ours!” shouted Quinn.
“Girls, if Emma doesn’t want to agree with us, let her be. Emma, I can’t believe I said this, but you’re not a Ruby anymore.” Said Maureen. The three girls turns their back, continuing their spider-spreading and leaving Emma alone. Emma tried to stop them, but none of them turn their backs. Emma felt that her heart is racing, and her ears felt a rush of heat. She sat down on the ground and cried.
From the distance, Emma could hear thuds of running shoes onto the ground, indicating that target Ferida was nearby. After sometime she heard Ferida’s screeches of fear, maybe she saw the spiders. Then, a falling sound was heard, followed by a scream. But the scream does not sound like someone just face masked her face into a puddle; it sounds like someone is hurting…
Emma ran off into the prank stage, and found the Rubies hiding behind the bushes with fear. As guessed, the prank went wrong.
“Oh my gosh is she dead?!” Emma whispered in panic.
The girls answered her with handsigns signaling I don’t know.
Emma attempted to run towards Ferida, but Maureen pulled her.
“Girls, whatever happened to Ferida, it wasn’t us. When you get home, I want you to bury those shoes you’re wearing, or burn it. We were never here, and Ferida fall by herself. Now cross your hearts, hope to die. If you ever talk about this again, may fortune kill you.”
Perry and Quinn swore the oath, but Emma refused.
“No, Maureen. I’m not your stupid little doll anymore, and I’ll make sure anyone would know what all of you did.” She dared.
“Fine.” Maureen said calmly. “From now on, you will lead a miserable life.”
A few hours later, Emma went to school. She was outraged with the whole incident, and was ready to reveal that all. As expected, Ferida wasn’t at school. She broke her leg, they say, and might not be able to walk again.
But when she entered the class, her whole world was flipped inside out.
Everyone was laughing and pointing at her. Some gave her dirty looks. In the far corner, she heard Maureen spreading rumors; ones which is about her…
“I know right!” Maureen said to Rachel Wayne, a girl she even does not recognize. “I thought Emma was a good girl, but I just can’t believe she slept with most guys to get votes!”
Emma’s face turned beet red. She can’t decide whether to be angry or to cry. In the other corners she saw some other boys confirming Maureen’s gossip, probably paid with a couple hundred bucks. After a few days, Emma just couldn’t handle it anymore. She overdosed herself with pills that took her straight to death the minute after.
***
“Sorry I took so long,” Ferida answers the door. “Wanna come in?”
The Rubies was hesitant, but they decided to come inside. Ferida provides them some tea, and Maureen started the conversation.
“Um, Ferida, I’m sorry if this may bring back a bad past in you but… My cousin Helene just broke her leg and I would like to ask you where you get your medications…”
Ferida answered in detail, and the conversation goes on. When it feels like it’s time, Perry started to open her mouth.
“Who did that to you? I mean, your leg?”
“The Rubies did,” Said the voice from the kitchen. Suddenly, Shauna appeared behind the wall, ready to confront the girls. “I am anonymous, for your information.”
The Rubies face turned pale, and left speechless.
“I know what you did to Ferida and Emma, Rubies. I was there at the forest the morning Ferida broke her leg. I trailed you after I saw you guys spreading spiders, and I saw it all. How you threaten Emma and ruin her reputation.
“I was about to call the cops, but then I figured I did not have solid evidence. But now, I studied law, bitches. I am a witness, and I can turn you in.”
Ferida’s eyes were widely opened, showing a look of disbelief. “It was you all along,” she cried.
When the Rubies went out of Ferida’s house, police cars were everywhere, surrounding them. Now, it’s their turn to face the music…
-END-

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