INICIAR SESIÓNHe smiled at that. "If I were you, I would still chase my dreams. Contract or no contract. Whatever arrangement you are in with whoever you are in it with, that is separate from who you are as a person and what you want for yourself. You should not have to shrink what you want because someone else is uncomfortable with it."I did not say anything."That is just my opinion," he added."I've heard you," I said.He nodded and then reached into the bag he was carrying. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and held it out to me. I took it and unfolded it. It was a flyer, printed on good paper, not the kind people made on a home printer. It had a photo of a large open gallery space at the top and bold text underneath.ARTISTS CONNECT. ANNUAL ART EXHIBITION AND COMPETITION.I read further down. It was an open competition for artists at any level. You submitted a piece or a series of pieces. A panel of judges reviewed them. There were different categories—Painting, sculpture, mixed media, di
Ruby's POVI could not sleep properly. I kept waking up and then lying there staring at nothing and then almost falling asleep and then waking up again. By five in the morning I gave up and just got out of bed. I sat on the edge of the mattress for a while doing nothing. Then I got up, brushed my teeth, put on my gym clothes and decided to just go. The gym was quiet that early. That was the thing I liked about going before the rest of the world was awake. There was nobody to look at me. Nobody was doing that thing where they glance over and then look away too fast. It was just me and the equipment and whatever was playing through my earphones.I started on the treadmill. I was not pushing it, just a steady walk to get my body moving. I had my playlist on and I was looking at the wall in front of me and trying not to think about the email I had sent last night.I had quit a job I actually liked after one day because a man I was contractually tied to did not approve of it. When I put
"Name a number," he repeated. "Whatever you think that job is worth to you. I will pay you that. Every month. You do not have to go anywhere, you do not have to stand on your feet all day, and you can stay here and do whatever you want."I stared at him."You want to pay me to quit my job," I said."I want you to be practical," he said."That is the same thing.""Ruby, think about it logically," he said. "You just started today. You have not even built anything there yet. It is easy to walk away now before you get attached.""I already like it there," I said."You were there for one day.""And I liked it," I said again.He exhaled and sat back. He looked frustrated in a quiet way, not yelling, not aggressive, just a tight expression around the jaw and the eyes."I do not understand why you are making this difficult," he said. "I am offering to solve the problem for you.""There is no problem," I said. "I got a job. That is not a problem.""It is when you are ignoring my messages all d
Ruby's POVThe rest of the day at the museum went fine. Andrew showed me a few more things after lunch. How to handle the loaned pieces when they came in. Where to store the packaging materials. How to fill in the condition report for each item before it got logged into the system. It was all straightforward and I picked it up quickly.It was a quiet, normal day where nothing went wrong and nobody said anything mean to me, not even my wolf and I just did my work and went home.I did not think about the painting again. I did not think about the mark on my wrist. I did not think about Malcolm or my father or any of it. I just worked. By five o'clock Linda came back from her meetings and did a quick check in with me. She asked how the day went and I told her it went well. She seemed happy with that. She told me my official schedule would be sent to my email and that I was expected at nine the next morning.I said goodnight to Andrew. He was wrapping up some paperwork at his desk and he ga
We kept walking. He showed me the storage area where new acquisitions were kept before they were logged and placed. He explained how the tagging system worked and showed me the software they used to track everything. It was not complicated. I had used similar systems before.We looped back into the main hall. This time we went through the right wing more slowly. He told me about a few of the pieces hanging on the walls. Not in a lecturing way. More like he was just telling me things he found interesting.I liked that about him. We stopped in front of a dark painting near the end of the row. It was small compared to the others around it. The frame was simple wood with no decoration. The painting itself was mostly black and dark brown, with some circular shapes drawn in what looked like a reddish paint.I looked at it for a moment. Something about it stopped me. There was a pattern in the center of it. Two small circles pressed close together, overlapping slightly. I looked at my wrist
Ruby's POVThe woman at the front desk told me her name was Linda. She was one of those people who smiled at everything, even when nothing was funny. She handed me a lanyard with a temporary staff tag and told me to follow her."We are so glad you joined us," Linda said as she walked ahead of me. "The Collections Assistant role has been empty for two months. We really needed someone."I nodded and tried to look like I knew what I was doing. She took me through a side corridor that the regular visitors did not use. It was plain and narrow compared to the main exhibition hall. There were storage carts pushed against the walls and a small office with a glass window where two people sat typing on computers."This is where the staff works from," Linda said, pointing at the office. "You will spend some of your time here logging items, updating records, and tagging new arrivals.""Okay," I said.She opened the office door and introduced me to the two people inside. A woman named Grace who ba
A yawn was the first thing that escaped my mouth. I opened my eyes partially and stretched my arms before closing my eyes.My forehead throbbed intensely and I took my palm to touch it. It burned like I was seated near a furnace.When the veil of sleepiness cleared from my eyes, I raised my head a
A tall man in a prison guard uniform walked towards us.“Coffee?” He asked, holding out a tray with two mugs while he held another which belonged to him in his other hand.“Thank you,” I muttered as I took mine. “No, thanks.” Millicent objected.“Really? This is the best black coffee you can find,
I dialed Millicent's number, and almost immediately, the call ended. I stared at the phone screen to see that her line was busy.I was about to set my phone aside when her call came in.Without giving it much thought, I answered the call and clutched the phone closer to my ear.“Good morning Ruby.
********Moon walkers camp.When I was just seven, my mother who had been barely taking care of me claimed that she was tired. She wanted to pursue a career and I had to leave for that to be possible.That day, I sat in a bus, sandwiched between two adult strangers as they drove to the famous Moon







