spanner in the works **samuel

[Ruth Andrea Zadora]

”RUTHIE! GET THE FUCK IN HERE!” Immediately, Ruth jumped up from the couch. Without even asking to see what was wrong, or marking her page in her book (pre-approved by Gage, of course), she ran into the kitchen. Barely one step into the room, though, she stopped dead, her heart pounding as if it was trying to escape through her chest. It was thrumming almost as quickly as a hummingbird's as her eyes widened. Gage was in front of the pantry door, gesturing at an empty shelf. ”Oh shit.” She thought, already trying to edge out of the door. ”I forgot his snacks. It's band night. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh God.” Through the heart in her throat, Ruth managed to answer. ”An empty shelf, Gage.” Her tone was quiet, subdued, apologetic. She had to answer in all literal terms, because an apology without answering his question was almost as bad as defying him, and the last bruise had only just started to fade. ”I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'll go get them now. Right now. Please don't hit me.” Tears sprang to her eyes, and she blinked them away furiously. Crying was not allowed. Begging wasn't either, unless he wanted it, but she couldn't help it. Holding her hands up in surrender and backing out of the kitchen, she turned and sprinted out of the front door, snagging her bag off the hall table, before he could decide whether or not he was going to hit her.

Fumbling her keys out of her bag, she got into the car as quickly as she could – she could feel the wind on her midriff through the blue lace, and Gage would be even more pissed if anyone saw her dressed like that. Pulling her sweater from the passenger seat over her head, she just hoped it was clean. Pulling her brunette curls out from the confines of the thick cream sweater, she pulled out the one concession she ever gave herself – a pair of shoes that Gage knew nothing about. After all, he'd never be seen dead in her rust bucket. Kicking off the awful tan Uggs that he made her wear almost everywhere, she replaced them with a pair of cream suede wedges, and immediately felt a little better. Funny what a bit of fashion can do for a girl. She screeched out of her assigned (and paid for, thank you very much) parking space, probably leaving a set of perfect tyre marks, and sped towards Gage's favourite supermarket.

Outside of the car, where she couldn't have the radio on full and sing along with wild abandon, she pulled her hair back into a statement ponytail (the only way people ever saw her have her hair since she had been with Gage) and huddled into her sweater as if it was cold. Her wallet was stuffed into her front pocket, and her eyes were directed at the concrete about ten feet in front of her, just to be sure she didn't collide with anyone. She took a cart without looking at anyone else that was near the bay, whispering her excuse me's until she got into the shop. Inside the building, she hardly even looked where she was going. Her feet went automatically to the correct aisles, and her hands pulled down what she needed. Her eyes afforded them a cursory check before they were flung into the cart with no regard.

Twenty minutes later, and the trunk was full of his favourite snacks, and the favourite snacks of all of his band members. She had been made to memorise them and buy them every week for when they practised at the house. What had made it slip her mind, she had no idea, but she needed to fix it, and fast. She was going over the speed limit, perhaps only by ten or twelve miles per hour, but nevertheless, it was obvious that she was in something of a hurry. Why, then, would God choose then to strike, to decide that her car was going to give up the ghost? She searched her bag frantically for her cell, and then an image flashed into her mind. Her phone, sat on the end of the couch. He was going to confiscate it for a month for this. Closing her eyes and resisting the urge to bang her head on the steering wheel, she got out of the car, found all of the tools she could put her hands on, and then popped the bonnet, as if she had a clue what she was doing. Looking around at all of the parts, Ruth found a whole new respect for mechanics. Finding the source of the smoke, she attempted to unscrew the cap, but she found that she didn't have the leverage or the strength.

After trying for five minutes with increasingly frustrating results, she threw the spanner on the ground and kicked the car, the most angry she had been in months. Seconds later, though, despair hit as she realised that she had a trunk full of reconciliatory gifts and no way of getting home. The ice cream was melting as she stood there with no idea what to do next, and by now, she had been gone so long that Gage was sure to punish her later. She dropped to the floor next to the spanner, hyperventilating and shaking, hoping that someone would come along soon that could help her and wouldn't ask a lot of questions. Her hands were over her ears, in a futile attempt to block her thoughts from herself. ”He's going to go crazy. I'm dead. He's going to kill me. This is how I die. I'm going to die. This is not good. Not good. Not good. What the hell am I going to do? Where is everyone? Isn't anyone going to help? I need to get home. But he's going to kill me. What the fuck do I do?”


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word count: 997
tag: samuel radke
outfit: clickers
notes: car

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[alex90]

Sammy woke up that morning tired as hell. Jonathon had been sick all night and he had been taking care of the four year old little boy. Sammy still couldn't believe that Jonathon was starting kindergarten. They needed to go shopping soon for school stuff but not today. Sammy had to work today because he'd already taken a few days off. He didn't want to live Jonathon with a babysitter, especially since the boy was still going to be sick, so Jonathon was going to work with Sammy again today. Sammy got out of bed and looked towards the door, waiting for Zephyr to come in all excited and remembered... Zephyr had to be put down. He'd gotten poisoned by the neighbor and there was no way to save him. Sammy had chosen to put the Golden Retriever down. He'd also chosen to get a Husky from the pound. Boss was the new dog's name. Boss was a complete sweetheart but he was a bit shy. Boss was scared to death of Jonathon still but was loyal to Sammy.

Sammy got some breakfast, and fed Boss his breakfast. He woke Jonathon up before he got in the shower. He got Jonathon a bowl of cereal and then hopped into the shower, letting the warm water relax his muscles. He really had no desire to work but he didn't have a choice. Sammy finally got out of the shower and got into some clothes. It didn't matter what Sammy wore because it was just him. He survived on the money society gave him when they had him fix their car. Samuel Radke was a mechanic. He put his cell phone in his pocket after checking it for any missed calls. Then he went back to the kitchen to see if Jonathon was done eating. Boss was already done and was carefully watching Jonathon's plate. Sammy went into Jonathon's room and picked out some clean clothes. He went back into the kitchen and put Jonathon's bowl in the sink and got the boy dressed. Jonathon looked just as tired as Sammy felt.

"It's okay bud. You can sit in the truck today and just sleep. Sound good?" Jonathon nodded and yawned. Sammy sighed. Today was going to be a long day. Sammy picked Jonathon up and put him in the truck, putting the heater on high so the truck would warm up quickly. He buckled Jonathon up securely in his car seat and motioned for Boss to jump in. Boss had already claimed the middle seat right in between Jonathon and Sammy, but as close to Sammy as he could get. Sammy went into his garage and grabbed all his tools and headed out. It was a long day. Some teenager had broken down so Sammy had to give them a ride home and then tow the teen's car to his house to see if he could fix it. He spent a few hours under the hood and under the car when he realized he needed to pick up a few parts before the car could be fixed. He started up his truck, where Jonathon was still sleeping and motioned for Boss to get in too.

Boss jumped in and Sammy started driving towards the parts store. He got the parts he needed and stuck them in the back of his truck. On the way back, Jonathon woke up and said he was hungry so they stopped at McDonald's for a bit. Then Sammy decided they needed to head home and loaded Jonathon back up. Just as they were about to get there, Sammy saw a girl stuck on the side of the road. He sighed and pulled over. He got out and Jonathon insisted on getting out too. Of course, Boss was already out. Jonathon ran over to the stranded girl and said, "Hey, it's okay. My big brother is going to help you! There's no need to be so scared!" Then he gave the girl a light hug and Sammy smiled. This was one of the reasons he knew that he was raising Jonathon right. Sammy walked over with the husky at his heels and said, "I'm Sammy. It looks like you need some help here. Calm down. You okay?"

word count ;; 715
tagged ;; Ruth Zadora
wearing ;; click !
muse ;; The radio
notes ;; poor Ruthie D': and bear with me, it's been a while since I've used Sammy.

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[Ruth Andrea Zadora]

Ruth was very well aware that if she didn't get home soon, she wouldn't be leaving the house for a week. Not because he grounded her, or locked her in a room, or anything like that. He'd just beat her so badly and put her down so much that she wouldn't feel like she was able to. Gage was careful – he'd never hit her to bruising somewhere that she couldn't cover up. He was a bully, but sly, manipulative, and very practised in undermining the confidence of those that didn't have much to begin with. He hadn't always been like that, though. At the start, he was sweet, attentive, generous. It was spending all of his time with her that had made him change, she was sure of it. What else could it possibly have been? He had changed because she had made it necessary. She was a failure as a girlfriend – she couldn't even remember the simplest things like his snacks, or her phone. If she had had her phone with her, she'd be home by now. If she had known more about mechanics, she would have been home by now. If she hadn't forgotten the snacks in the first place, she'd be home right now. Of course everything was her fault. Everyone should be able to see that, and should be as angry with her as Gage would be. Stupid woman, can't even take care of herself and her car. She deserved to be left at the side of the road.

She was preparing to stand up, go to the trunk of her car, and walk home with all of the groceries when she heard a car approach. Thinking that she looked such a pitiful sight that no-one would bother to stop, she didn't even bother to look to see what kind of car was coming. When the sound of the engine died off, though, before a vehicle passed her, she frowned in confusion. Maybe it was a woman. Maybe their car had broken down too. Surely they couldn't be stopping to help. That was against everything that she had ever learned about people. There were no rose-tinted glasses in effect here – in fact, her world view was just about as cynical and jaded as it was possible to be without being suicidal or depressed. Seconds later, she felt a small, light hand on her shoulder, and a voice near her ear. She looked up, unable to keep a distressed expression on her face from the happiness in just those few words. Her smile widened as she was hugged by her little rescuer, and hugged him back quickly before she stood up. Dusting her jeans off, she looked down at the little boy and quietly said the only thing she could think of. ”Thank you.” All the while, though, she was thinking that there must be a reason behind this. ”Why would he want to help me? What does he want? Is he after what I think he is? And with a little kid with him too?”

She jumped as a voice sounded behind her, then immediately tried to hide the fact that she'd done it by moving back over to the open bonnet of her car. Knowing that there was an 'older brother' hadn't really prepared her for what she had heard – she had expected an exasperated male to stalk past her, do a completely trivial action under the bonnet, then look at her like she was stupid. Which she was. Looking back at Sammy, she blushed. She had forgotten the golden rule. Do not ever look at other men. Children were acceptable, because all women were constantly broody, but any male over the age of fourteen was to be treated almost like royalty – no direct eye contact. Looking at the dog at his heels, Ruth answered his question. ”I'm fine. It's my car...” Volunteering any more information would be impertinent – he didn't care about the trivial worries of an idiotic female that couldn't even work out how to fix her own car. If he asked, she would answer, but that was all that was allowed.

She stepped aside and backwards to let him look at the intricate workings of the car engine. Maybe he'd be able to understand them better than she could. It would be difficult to be more clueless than she was, though. Part of the car was still smoking slightly, and the curls were slightly hypnotic. Turning away from them, though, she made sure the confident little boy was nowhere near the car – she didn't want him getting hurt; she didn't need anything else to add to her guilty conscience. It was almost overloaded as it was. Sitting down on the verge near him, she spoke. ”So, what's your name? I'm Ruth.” Even speaking to him, though, she couldn't help but keep looking at Sammy. She didn't know what it was. Maybe she was just expecting him to turn into one of the men that she knew so well, and throw something heavy at her for being so dense.


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word count: 853
tag: samuel radke
outfit: clickers
notes: car

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