Your Ruin

“Gina, can you get the door?” Bill called from the kitchen.

It was the postman with their mail. He tipped his hat to her after handing her a stack of letters and a package.

“Bill, your hooks have come,” she called into the back of the flat.

Over the sound of clattering plates, he shouted, “Great! And just in time. I can show Peter up when we go fishing later.”

Gina rolled her eyes at her husband's boasting tone.

“Why do you two insists on trying to one up another? Can’t you just have fun fishing?”

Not that I understand how that is possible, she thought.

Her husband laughed and she could hear him shrug. “It’s a man thing, honey.”

“Uhuh,” she answered back.

Gina placed the package on Bill’s office desk and then made her way to the living room couch and opened the letters.

Most of them were invoices from her job and the others just junk advertisements.

When she picked up the last letter up, she frowned at it.

It was pink and had a red cross pressed into a wax seal. Trying to find a return address, she turned the letter around.

“It’s for Mary,” she said.

"What was that, honey?"

"Oh, just another letter for Mary. I swear, the postmen don't even look at our first names anymore. Anything to get out of walking that extra staircase."

"Well, you can just bring it to her after breakfast," Bill shouted back.

She nodded to herself and put it to the side.

Who could have sent Mary such a letter? They mostly had the same circle of friends and acquaintances they traversed in and no one came to mind who would do such a thing. Moreover, no one bothered sending letters anymore anyway. Everything was done over text nowadays.

She shook her head and helped her husband set the table. Afterwards, he kissed her goodbye and set out with his silly fishing hat, his new hooks and a big smile on his face, promising to bring home a big catch.

Settling back on the couch, her gaze fell onto the pink envelope.

Her fingers itched with an urge and she tapped them against her knee.

“It could be from that sketchy church on the corner. Their mail always looks weird. If it is, then it would be a waste walking up the stairs to give it to her,” she reasoned.

“I better open it, just in case.”

Carefully, she broke the seal and pulled out thick white paper that had a rough surface. She frowned at the old look of it all. Especially the cursive words written in red ink.

My dearest Saint,

How are you, my Love? I have yearned for your presence in our special realm, but alas, I have not been able to connect with you.

I hope you are not avoiding me.

I did not mean the words I said in anger. Please forgive me.

I was blinded by jealousy and taken over by rage. But those emotions have left me now.

The only thing remaining is my devotion to you.

When I close my eyes, I see the beauty you are and the gifts you have blessed me with.

Gina’s confused frown at the first few sentences turned into a wide-eyed, hot faced expression as the letter went on to explicitly retell the details of the last rendezvous the two lovers had shared.

For the rest of the page, Gina was fanning herself, her mind conjuring up images of the detailed tryst.

When her embarrassment faded, white hot rage took over.

“She’s been cheating on my brother! How could she?!”

She violently flips the first page.

My Love, it is true that I have overcome my anger. But sadly, I cannot forgive you for your betrayal.

You promised me that I was your only one. That I was the one you will bring salvation to.

“Congratulations, Mary. You’ve found yourself a complete freak show.” Gina re-read the sentences again and frowned. “What betrayal? Did he find out you’re married? Or did you have another piece on the side?”

I have come to the conclusion that I was wrong in choosing you. But despite that, I cannot seem to forget about you.

But I also cannot forget the hope you have robbed me of.

My Love, I have come to a difficult decision.

I neither have the strength nor the time to search for a new Saint. So, I will take what you have freely offered.

Go to the dungeon, there is a gift for you.

I hope you find the same satisfaction in it as I did gifting it to you.

Yours truly,

Ruin

Gina slumped back into the couch.

What the hell? What has Mary been doing?

Her fist tightened around the letter.

“Cheating on my brother, that’s what she’s been doing.”

Gina grabbed her keys and marched out of her flat, stomped up to her brother’s and threw the door open.

“Mary, you slut! Where are you?”

A loud bang came from the kitchen before Mary came out to the living room with a bewildered look on her face.

“Gina? What’s going on?”

She shoved the letters into her chest, “You’ve been cheating on my brother, that’s what’s going on.”

Mary’s big eyes landed on the pages in her hands before jerking back to Gina. “Why would you think that?”

“Well,” Gina threw her hands in the air, “is it not true then?”

Mary lost all tension in her body and answered in a small voice, “It’s true.”

“How long has this been going on, Mary? How long have you been sleeping around behind Peter’s back, huh?”

Tears built in Mary’s eyes as her mouth pinched into a fine line.

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry.”

Her tears were big as they flowed down her cheeks and dripped off her face. “I didn’t mean for it to get this far.”

Gina sighed and tugged on her hair, trying to think over Mary’s pitiful wailing.

“How long has this been going on, Mary?” She leaned down and looked the crying woman into her eyes. “The truth.”

Still sniffling, she said, “A-about a y-year ago– “

“That long?”

“NO! No, listen. About a year ago, I started playing this online game. It was fun. It had dragons and wizards and quests you could go on. And there were people you could match with to go on adventures together.”

Mary hugged her still shaking body, looking down as she spoke. “I was lonely with Peter away on business so often and my job was stressful, so it was nice to get away to somewhere fun and carefree.”

She bit her lip and her voice dropped. “I started forming this party with one player. He was nice and funny and he liked playing with me. I- I liked his voice and he liked my jokes. W- We decided to meet up in the real world.”

Her chin quivered as she continued. “He was handsome and found me beautiful. Of course, I told him I was married but he said that we were just playing a game together, so it wasn’t cheating. And we were still calling each other by our in-game character names, so it was like we were continuing the game.”

Her gaze lowered further and her feet started shuffling.

“About two months ago, we started meeting up more and more and then before I knew it, we kissed. We said it was just a one-time thing, but it kept happening. A-And then we slept together.”

Mary’s hands came up at Gina’s furious expression. “I felt terrible afterwards and told him we had to break it off.”

Gina folded her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrow. “But you didn’t.”

“No,” Mary whispered. “It was like I was addicted. With him, I was this wonderful character of light and power and he was drawn to me. It was like living a real fairy tale.”

“So, what happened? He sounded mad about something.”

“Yeah. I- I formed a party with another player without him and he got angry. I couldn’t understand why that was such a bad thing and fought with him. We ended on a bad note and I didn’t go into the game for a few days.”

That must have been the betrayal he wrote about, Gina thought.

Mary’s shaking took on a different note with her next words. “When I logged back on, we had a talk that freaked me out.”

“Why?”

“He kept going on and on about me taking away his salvation by abandoning him for someone else.”

“What does that mean?”

Mary looked up at Gina. “It’s the story of the characters we play in the game. I am a saint who goes around purifying evil and his character is a demon prince who has been cursed. The only way for him to find redemption and be free of the curse is by obtaining the love of someone pure.”

Gina shook her head. “But that doesn’t make any sense. It’s just a game. Why would he be so mad about what you did in the game? And something so silly.”

Mary chewed on her lips for a while, her breathing shallowing out.

“That’s just the thing, towards the end, he was acting like the characters we were playing were real.”

Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Because he was freaking me out, I haven’t logged on to the game since.”

A shiver ran up Gina’s spine. “He said in the letter that you’ve been avoiding him.”

Mary’s spine straightened and she jerked her hands to her front, reading the letter.

The more of it she read, the more she paled.

“Gina,” she whispered, “I never told him my real name.” Her big eyes met hers. “I never told him where I lived.”

Goosebumps spread out on Gina’s body. “But the letter is addressed to you. Here.”

The two women looked at each other, one shaking, one frozen.

“What is the gift? In the dungeon.”

Mary’s shaking hands lifted the crumpled letter. “I don’t know what it is. We never exchanged gifts. But Gina,” she whispered, “I think it’s in the cellar. Our cellar. He knows where I live.”

Tears welled back up in Mary’s eyes.

Before she could think any further, Gina shook herself of her heavy emotions and grabbed Mary’s arm.

“This is ridiculous. He is just a geek who got too engrossed in a video game. There is nothing creepy going on.”

She pulled the crying woman out of the flat and down the flight of stairs.

“Where are we going?”

Mary sounded frantic. She already knew where Gina was taking her.

“To the cellar. I’m going to prove to you that this jerk is just some horny geek who got too engrossed in this stupid fairy tale.” She looked behind her shoulder. “And after we are done, we are talking about how you are going to come clean to my brother about what you’ve been doing behind his back. And you better pray that he loves you more than I do right now.”

At the very bottom of the stairs, Gina pushed the heavy door open with her shoulder and stepped into the big cellar room.

Their steps echoed off the low ceiling and thick stone walls.

“Gina, I don’t want to be here. Let’s go back,” Mary whined.

“Shhh. Get it together, girl.”

They looked around the sparsely lit room with squinted eyes.

Mary abruptly stopped, jerking Gina to a halt. “What the he– “

They stared at a figure standing awkwardly with his arms raised above its head. It wasn’t moving.

“Gina. Oh my god, Gina,” Mary was unsuccessful choking back sobs.

Gina didn’t want to, really didn’t want to, but her body moved towards the figure and she dragged Mary with her.

The closer they got, the more details they could make out.

The clothes were wet, clinging to a podgy male body. His mousy hair hung in front of his face and his shoulders were slumped forward despite his arms being raised above his head, tied together by metal chains attached to the ceiling. Gina had to squint, but she could make out that his fingers were an odd black colouring.

Her breath hitched when she noticed it.

There was no movement from him

No noise

No fall and rise of his shoulders or chest.

He wasn’t breathing.

Gina’s body was statically charged, wanting to move.

She turned to Mary–

“Do you recognize him, my Love?”

The voice was sultry and low.

And so terrifying.

Mary started shaking behind Gina.

“R- Ruin?” she called out.

“Yes, my Saint, it is me. I have brought you a gift. Aren’t you happy?”

Mary’s sobs cut through the hollow of the room. “Wh- Why are you doing this?”

“It is for you, my Saint. All for you.”

Gina moved closer to Mary as the shadows moved. The voice grew angry.

“He took you from me. Dirtied you. Took away your purity.”

The shadows sighed. “But that’s all over now. Your light is all gone now.”

“N- No, no, no,” Mary cried. “P- Please, Ruin. Let us go.”

The shadows moved again and then tsked. “You had the chance to save me. To blight this curse from me.”

The women jumped at a loud, violent clanging sound. “You didn’t keep your promise!”

“It was a game, Ruin. Just a game. Nothing of it was real,” Mary wailed.

“It was a game, how you played with me. How you dangled hope in front of me.” His voice was getting louder and hollower, echoing through the big room.

“And you took that from me!”

They screamed and jumped into each other’s arms as something shattered against a wall.

Their bodies shook, clinging to another, frantically looking around.

“You failed to save me,” Ruin says, his voice low, verging on whispering. “You lied. You aren’t a saint.”

Hot breath fanned over their faces.

“But I am still your Ruin.”

They jerked away, falling over each other.

“Gina? Mary? Are you down here?”

Their heads whipped around to the sounds of their husbands’ voices.

“What could possibly be so urgent that we had to put our fishing on hold?”

“Girls where are you?”

Mary and Gina reached for the voices and screamed.

“NO! Go away! Run!”

But instead, the two husbands found them and cradled them in their arms.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

Mary and Gina clawed at them, begging them to leave, to run.

Footsteps made all four turn and stare up at a dark figure holding a large object above his head.

“Now, you have brought them all to ruin.”

And then he swung down.