[15] Not Venomous!

Ruby forgot how she gave everyone else the weekend off to allow Lolita to have a peaceful stay in such trying times as these.

As a result, there was no response from the other servants, and this terrified Ruby even more. Maybe the snake killed them all. The venomous creature might have bitten them all to death, just like Lolita and her... "Aaaaaaaahhhh!" The scream was even louder this time around.

The scream woke Lolita up who only mouthed a weak "too loud!" before placing her hands on her pet and going back to sleep. Ruby was shocked at the turn of events.

The snake which had its head raised in an attack stance dropped it when Lolita touched it. It was as if it heard her command to go back to sleep.

Before she could drift off to dreamland once again, Lolita said weakly "not venomous, Ruby!"

Ruby grew up in the countryside where life was only about simple everyday activities.

With both parents being farmers, she knew exactly what a venomous snake is, as she has had her fair share of encounters with them many times.

She even lost her husband to an attack from a black mamba but here was Lolita freely sleeping with one on her bed and she clearly said it's not venomous.

If only a black mamba was truly not venomous, Ruby wouldn't have lost her beloved husband to a black mamba attack.

She most probably would still be married and have her child with her. Her lovely family of three may even have increased in size by now.

She was lost in a trail of her thoughts as she remained rooted to the spot. On a regular day, she would have run out of the room upon seeing a black mamba.

However, she was currently standing face to face with one and just couldn't help her turbulent emotions from taking over her.

The black mamba however raised its head once again in a feigned attack stance which got Ruby fleeing for dear life.

The animal couldn't get how the woman could hate it so much when all it did was to lay down obediently at its master's side.

All the interactions between the human and snake went unnoticed by an exhausted Lolita who couldn't even manage another sentence after what she spoke earlier.

She was so tired that merely lifting her hands was considered a chore for her.

Back in her room, Ruby slammed the door shut and securely locked it from within. She checked around to make sure she was alone in the room before she sat down and started sobbing uncontrollably.

Her cries were so heart-wrenching that anyone who heard her at the moment would look on her with pity. Even Ruby herself can't stop feeling sorry for the situation in which she finds herself.

Hers was a happy family borne out of love. Both her parents were farmers who taught her everything she knew about farming. She also learned it diligently and was perfect at her job in assisting her parents and their many workers on the farm.

She met and married her husband who happens to be an only child of another farming family. He fell in love with Ruby for her mastery over what she does in farming.

However, after Ruby took seed, the two visited their farm on a hot sunny afternoon upon the request of the pregnant woman who wished to check their crops.

Her husband obliged and dismissed all the workers as the two took a stroll on the farm. Her husband suddenly spotted a black mamba approaching Ruby from the side and pulled her behind him without thinking.

However, Ruby fell on her butt and couldn't get up anymore. Her husband who tried to help her up got bitten by the black mamba but he ignored the pain and treatment as he carried a bleeding Ruby back to the farmhouse.

Before the workers could reach the Smallville hospital with Ruby and her husband, the venom had already spread to his heart.

No one told them he was bitten by a snake in the first place. He was pronounced dead on arrival.

Ruby however went into premature labor and delivered a preterm baby in the eighth month. She then had to spend a month in the hospital for the baby to receive enough care.

However, on the day of her discharge, she never found her baby when she returned from the bathroom in her ward to take a short bath.

The nurses only saw her mother-in-law at the scene who denied having anything to do with the missing child. She wasn't even spotted with a child anyway.

As Ruby's ward was around the stairs, many believed that someone else might have stolen her child.

Ruby lost her husband and her child in the same month, which made her terribly devastated.

However, granny Clint who happened to welcome her grandchild around the same time lost her daughter who went missing after childbirth, leaving the newborn child unattended.

The two met by a stroke of luck and granny Clint then took in Ruby who helped her raise Lolita like her own child.

Ruby can still remember the cold words of her mother-in-law on the night her child went missing "you killed my only child and misplaced my grandson. I regret ever welcoming you into my family. I promise you, woman, you will die a lonely death. You jinx!"

She never returned to her matrimonial home ever since then.

Her mother-in-law never reached out to her either. The only consolation Ruby got in the early days of the incident was treating Lita as her child.

This escape helped her overcome her trauma before she finally left to put her life back on track in Greenville, away from where she had everything but still lost it all in a month.

***

How could Ruby be calm after seeing the very creature that destroyed her family, lying on the same bed with Lolita?

The little girl even went further to say it was not venomous.