Summer kills

The afternoon sun, which once danced upon her skin and painted it a healthy bronze, now felt like an intrusive spotlight that sizzled against her paper-dry skin. Ruby had taken to hiding away during the daylight hours, living in the shadowed cool of their villa away from prying eyes and casual conversation. The sky, which once told stories of azure days and star-speckled nights, was now a stark canvas with no tale to tell; just an empty expanse that mirrored the hollow echoing chambers of her heart.

Her friends' laughter once sounded like sweet music - a symphony of joyous notes harmonizing with waves lapping against the shore - but now it rang shrill in her ears. Each giggle, each jovial back-and-forth served only as a cruel reminder of her own solitary battles and silent sufferings. Ruby would watch them from afar, her friends in their colorful swimsuits, their smiles as radiant as the sunbeams they luxuriously bathed in. She felt like an artist robbed of colors, looking at life's vibrant painting which she could no longer partake in.

As night fell over the idyllic villa, the glorious sunset went unnoticed by Ruby. For her, it wasn't a stunning masterpiece painted by nature on a cosmic canvas; it evoked nothing more than images of the boy who held her heart captive. His hair was as golden as the falling rays; his eyes as mesmerizing as the vast open sea reflecting the dying sunlight.

Each night brought forth not rest but tormented fantasies - vivid encounters where she could almost feel his warm breath brushing against her skin, his fingers gently tugging at her heartstrings playing a melody that left her yearning for more. Some nights he was tender and caring; others he was cold and distant - flickering between extremes like a faulty light bulb that threatened to plunge her world into darkness.

But within each gut-wrenching nightmare, Ruby found a strange kind of solace. The dreams served as a twisted lifeline, a bridge between her heart and his memory. As she fell asleep, curled up on the linen sheets that still faintly smelled of him, she knew she was slipping further into this labyrinth of insanity. But then again, hadn't all great lovers been a little mad?

As the dawn approached, pulling her back from the dreamlike trance, she couldn't help but cling on to his phantom presence. With every breath she exhaled, her heart whispered his name; and with every inhale, it echoed through the hollow caverns of her being. The morning rays poured into the room - illuminating the chasm between reality and fantasy - and for another day, Ruby stepped across the border into madness.

All the while knowing, in the deepest recesses of her heart, that madness was but love denied its rightful expression. Or was it love that was simply madness cloaked in passionate remnants of longing? The line blurred further with each passing day. But one thing was clear - Ruby had embarked upon a journey that twisted reality into a dream, a dream which seemed realer than her waking life.

The villa pulsated languidly with the soothing tunes of some unnamed, forgotten artist. The air was thick with the intoxicating aroma of frangipani and salt-tinged ocean breeze. She could hear the distant laughter of her friends, their voices carried on the wind like fragments of a far-off symphony. Yet, in her solitude, she found a perverse serenity - a quiet that allowed her to hear the relentless whispers resounding within the sanctuary of her own heart.

Lingering within this solitude, Ruby found herself teetering on the edge of an abyss - a chasm between what was real and what she yearned to be reality. Every moment held him close, every breath tasted of his essence, every beat of her heart played out a symphony in his honor. She was lost in this wistful dreaming - a dreaming in which he still existed, not as a memory, but as palpable as the warm sand beneath her feet.

Funny, how madness resembled paradise when painted with hues of love. The lines between both states of being were now indistinguishable. The once familiar landscape of sanity was slowly eroded away by the relentless tides of longing and loss. Yet, she found an odd comfort within this disarray. A solace that was uniquely hers - A harbor in the stormy seas of pain.

As the sun dipped below the horizon painting the sky in shades of crimson and gold, Ruby floated listlessly in the pool. The world twisted and turned around her yet stood eerily still within her heart. Was it madness? Or was it merely love distorted under the weight of unexpressed feelings? She pondered this thought beneath the canopy of stars - each one winking down at her like silent spectators to her upheaval.

Fingers brushed against the cool metallic surface of the USB drive, drawing Ruby back from her musing. A bridge had manifested, extending from the realms of her solitary madness into the reality she had thus far evaded. It held a promise - a promise of either salvation or further immersion into the chaotic symphony of her madness. The night held its breath as Ruby, with strong yet trembling fingers, reached out to cross that bridge. With a soft click, the USB drive slipped into her laptop, and the screen sprung to life.

She held her breath as she entered yet another labyrinth of her journey, this one digital and unknown. Love or madness? Fantasy or reality? The questions hung in the air as she dove headlong into the enigma that was left behind by his phantom presence.