"Ruby's Afternoon Snack" (Lost Episode)

I am slightly far beyond more than two-hundred percent sure that I am honest when I say this, because I clearly have no idea what I am doing with myself, and I still don’t even know what to do to this very day. Because, I’m still petrified of what I have just witnessed before my very eyes.

I didn’t know where to begin at first before I have even typed up this post, but I still need you to read it. And it’s highly recommended that you have to read it, and honestly, I want you to spread the word. As you can see, you are starting to wonder what I am doing with my life during this very day, and why I’m still so antisocial around my family and my real life friends, well…here’s the reason in case you want to know why I am still traumatized during my high school experience.

About a month or so, maybe about 2 months ago, I chose to get myself enrolled in a technical high school that has an animation class installed in the interior of the school. For that, my friends and I have made the choice of taking that class. And, during my experience with the school, I loved it. I loved it all, the classes are great, and I have learned. I have learned like, a lot, and I find the classes very enjoyable for someone quite like my age. Surprisingly enough, if I liked the classes, then it appears that my friends liked them too.

During that day, it was my first time being in the animation class, and when my classmates and I took our seats, the professor walked in, and he looked like he wasn’t nice. Although, he looked quite the opposite in appearance, but personality-wise, he is in fact, very nice. He had a bald head, a pair of glasses, a white suit, a black and red striped tie, long black pants, and black, shiny shoes. Once he made his way over to his desk, he stood there while crossing his arms behind his back with a firm look on his face. The first thing he said to us was, “So…is this your first day of school, class?” he asked. “I see. This class requires no books, but we are going to learn about animation. If you have watched animated franchises of your very interests, then I’m going to give you an assignment. You are going to create your very OWN animation of whatever you desire to make in your own creativity, original or not.” He announced. No response from my classmates, or even me. Assuming that we all understand, he continued to speak to us in the same calm manner that he has been speaking to us before in the first place, and fortunately, we were all ears for him. “Before you start, I want all of you to obey the guidelines of this classroom. No explicit, violent, or graphic material, no lollygagging, no gross-out humor, no cartoon crossovers, and NO stealing content that isn’t yours, and claiming ownership over it. Any student, and I mean ANY student who simply breaks one of these rules will automatically get an F on their project. Obey these guidelines, and you will get an A on your project. Am I understood, class?”

After listening to the professor’s lecture, we all quietly said ‘yes’. “Good. Now, get on your computers, and start animating. I will leave you all unsupervised for now, and by the time I get back, there better not be any nonsense. Am I clear?” The professor said, as we once more said ‘yes’. After that, he left the classroom, and slammed the door shut.

Everyone got busy and got on their computers, with the exception of me. All I did was just sit there, like I had no clue of what I am supposed to do. That was until someone who decided to help me had become my friend after my clueless, puzzled self just sat there for at least 30 seconds, darting my head from left to right at the other classmates as they got onto the computers.

This person’s name was Nathan, and he seemed like a really nice person when I looked up at him. Now, looking back at him, he was a matter of fact a very helpful person. I mean, he had used some of the classmates, or well, at least a few of them, as voice actors for his animation. “Need help, buddy? Come on, I’ll show you what I have so far. It’s our animation after all, am I right, or am I right?” he said. When I followed him, I found myself next door with a few kids whose names I don’t even recall, just sitting there in their own seats, with a microphone in front of each of them. The first person was male, that is younger than the other, and the other person that was female was slightly older than the other person. When they noticed me, they slightly smiled at me in a welcoming manner, as if they were to be glad to see me. I smiled back and waved at the two before following Nathan over to a desk that had a computer on it, with cables, wires, cords, and plugs, all perfectly plugged in with one another.

Nathan motioned me to sit down in a chair that was in front of the other one with him, and the two of us began a conversation. The first person out of the two of us was Nathan, since I am rather quiet.

With a friendly smile, he nudged me with his shoulder playfully while winking. “So, how’s-a ‘bout ya tell me your name, eh? I’m Nathan, an animator, and an artist! Hoo-hoo, boy! Trust and believe, friend. You’re gonna like me, I promise you! C’mon, don’t be shy, just tell me your name!” I backed away slightly, and faced away from the kid I was talking to, and being the quiet kid I am, I said, “I-I’m…” I began. “S-Stan…” I said quietly. “What was that?” Nathan asked, and this time, only a little louder, I said my name again. “I-I’m…S-Stan…”

“Stan? Not too shabby of a name. If you are attending an animation class and you don’t know what to do, then I’m the guy to help ya! Say, if you don’t have any clue how to animate, then I’ll be the one doing it for you, now that doesn’t seem like I’m all just too kind, right?” Nathan lounged in his chair with a grin on his face that I suppose wasn’t to look mean or anything, but all he was trying to do is be my friend. I, on the other hand, didn’t know how to dignify that as a response.

I just sat there, quivering slightly the whole time. Nathan raised a brow at me like I was some lunatic or something. His smile was gone, and he just asked me what was wrong. Now, if I didn’t tell you before when I started typing this post, I suffer from Asperger’s Syndrome, and I am highly timid. I still am today, but I have improved a whole lot as time had passed by. “What’s up with you? Is everything okay, Stan?” Nathan asked me in a concerned manner, and as he glared at me in a non-menacing way, but menacing or not, this made me even more nervous. “Y-Yes…?” I said to Nathan, making him put his smile back on his face. “Excellent!” Nathan blurted a little. “It’s going to be a surprise, so if you have any questions, you can ask one right now, and I’ll gladly answer it for you!” I put my index finger and my thumb on my chin and thought for a moment. 15 seconds later, I came up with the best kind of response that I could think of. “W-What’s the animation going to be about…?” I asked. Nathan chuckled quietly, before he opened his piehole and answered my question, and he was so loud, that I fear that even the professor would be able to hear him, despite he was miles away from here.

“Good question, Stan! I can’t tell you EXACTLY what it is, but I am going to give you just the hint you need!” He blabbered. “And...t-that is…?” I muttered under my breath, but fortunately, Nathan was able to hear my mumbles. “If you want to know what it is, then you can solve this riddle; it’s about two bunnies that share friendship, kindness, and love with their friends. One is a troublemaker, and the other one is the one who takes care of the little bunny. It’s a sunshine TV show that you love oh-so-dearly, and it’s been watched by tons. What is that show called?”

Acting like I have no clue what it is, I turned around to look at the voice actors of whoever they are voicing in the animation. By looking at the male voice actor, he was shorter and younger, and the female voice actor was taller and older.

I suddenly had the clue, and I figured out what the answer to the riddle was after at least, well, 4 minutes of struggling to solve the riddle, it came to me. Remember Nick Jr.? The answer to the question is obvious to you, but it’s meant to be rhetorical.

When I was little, I have been watching Nick Jr. before my teenage years had came to me. One of those very shows I have watched was Max & Ruby, and in fact, this sunshine show is about two bunnies that go around spreading love and kindness with each other.

Well, I suppose that you think that Max & Ruby is not the case during this scenario, but trust and believe, it is. And in retrospect, Nathan made an episode of Max & Ruby of his very own, which I’ll get into that later on, because I want to tell you the full story, and I’ve always wished to in the very beginning before I made this post.

Answering the riddle, I said, “I-Is it...M-Max & Ruby…?” I looked away for a second before turning face-to-face to my friend again. “Well now, it seems that you have finally figured it out, my friend! As you can see, Stan, I’m making an episode of Max & Ruby of my very own! I won’t spoil the whole episode for you, because I know how much people just HATE spoilers, ya dig?” Nathan glimmered, nudging me with his shoulder as he did before. “Don’t you worry your head off, Stan. I’ll produce the episode...starting right about...now!” Nathan motioned me to hop on a computer, and as I did, he didn’t tell me anything about my role for the episode’s production sequence.

Logging on the computer, I started to browse, and every now and then, I turned my head to see Nathan, drawing, animating, composing the background music, and using the voice actors to narrate Max Bunny and Ruby Bunny. And by looking at Nathan, he looked like he was having fun with making the episode. Wait, no. Having fun is a little bit of an understatement. He looked as if he was having a blast. While I looked at both him, and the voice actors whose names I have forgotten, I turned my head back to the computer and continued to browse, and watch YouTube videos, since I had nothing else to do.

After approximately 3 hours of browsing the internet, I figured that if was time for me to log off of the computer and check on Nathan. Proceeding to do so and so, I stood up, and checked on Nathan. The voice actors stopped narrating Max Bunny and Ruby Bunny, and Nathan was done with the animation. “A-Are you...finished with your...animation, N-Nathan?” Nathan turned around, and he had his arms crossed behind his back. He didn’t look as jolly, he looked a little more so professional. He had what appeared to be a smug grin on his face, but I assume that he did look a little more calm than he was before.

“Why sure I am, Stan. I won’t let you see it yet, BUT…” He paused. I stepped back slightly, but I still kept my balance, and my eyes on Nathan. “I’ll show my project to you tomorrow afternoon, and then to the whole class when the professor says we can show our animations.” Nathan finished his sentence, and accepting his terms, I nodded, and agreed.

“Splendid! Catch you on the flight side, Stan!” Nathan spoke one more time, as he and the voice actors made his way out of the animation room, leaving me as the only person in the room. I seemed...alone at this rate.

The lights suddenly turned off, but the only things that remained activated were a few lamps. Some generic lamps, and some unique lamps, like lava lamps and LED light lamps.

The dull, generic lamps flickered repeatedly, as if they were to die off any minute now. But, impressively enough, they were still alive and kicking. I made my move to check out what kind of episode of Max & Ruby that Nathan had made. I got onto the computer that he had used, and being smart, I made sure that I didn’t spoil myself for the episode. All I wanted to do was to find out what the title is going to be.

As soon as I got onto the system that Nathan uses for animating as assigned by the professor, just like everyone else uses, I saw a text on the screen, of what appeared to be what I was looking for. On the top-center of the screen, read “Ruby’s Afternoon Snack”. Below the title, was a play button in the center of what appeared to be the episode. The thumbnail appeared to be the interior of Max and Ruby’s house, where the kitchen was located. On the table was a few sandwiches separated individually on small plates.

No characters were present at the time, so I got bored, and I got off of the computer. Luckily for me, at least I found what I was looking for. I stood up, and I made my way out of the room. I opened the door, stepped foot outside the room, and slowly closed the door behind myself.

Well, I could’ve watched the episode, but I didn’t want to because I just had this feeling that Nathan could walk in the room any second now. And I didn’t want him to become concerned with my actions, because he told me that he’d show it to me tomorrow afternoon before showing it to the whole class when the professor says we will present our animations on the projector.

When I got out of the room, I suddenly noticed Nathan and the voice actors in a private chat in the professor’s classroom, with no one else other than them being present. In fear, I hid as quickly as I could before Nathan could even see me. Funny thing is, I didn’t want this weirdo to ask me where I was this whole time, and if I were to be caught by him, I would have to lie to him. That is why I am not going to enter the risk of not being able to see the episode, nor do I want to lose a friend. And to say that I am not an idiot, I will say that I did not even watch it before the day the professor and I watched the episode. While I was hiding, I was overhearing what the trio was having a conversation about, but I don’t know all of it, because it’s been a month or 2 since I have made this article.

Here was what I thought I heard:

[Nathan]: “You fellas did a great job with the voice acting! Maybe next time when the professor says we are going to make another animation, you can take it from here!”

[Male Voice Actor]: “Honestly to say, Nate, I kinda had fun with narrating Max screaming while being eaten alive.”

[Female Voice Actor]: “You made Ruby look like she was insane, and I’m sure of it that you can keep making more animations like this one!"

This was all I could remember what they said in their conversation. When I heard something about Max screaming while being devoured, and Ruby becoming, well, downright insane, curiosity got the better of me, and I was curious as curious can ever reach the fullest extent of curiosity can ever be, probably deeper than the depths of space. That was how curious I was. And this was when I had to ask the professor if we could watch Nathan’s animation. But of course, with his permission.

The time I was able to come out from my hiding place, and look for the professor was when Nathan and the voice actors left the classroom to do Lord-knows-what else they will do now.

I snuck out of the classroom, and I made my way down a hallway, and proceeded to search for the professor. As I walked, and walked, I looked left and right around the studentless hallways, and the first thing that came to mind was trying the conference room. As soon as I got there, the results were horrid. There was nobody present. However, I corrected myself when I thought in my head that the professor hasn’t even had his first meeting. I thought that I had the answer, and I HAD the idea. He could be in somewhat of a teacher’s lounge or something. When I made a turn, and I made my way over to where the teacher’s lounge was, or Lord-knows-where it was, I politely knocked on the door, and called the professor’s name. Through the glass, I could see the professor get up off the sofa and turn the door handle.

As the professor opened the door, he saw me jabbing both index fingers together like jackhammers having each of their own seizures. “Stanley? If you are here to talk to me, please make it important.” he said, with a stern look on his face. He crossed his arms and awaited my acknowledgement with the most patience he could ever hold. “I-I-I...was w-wondering...i-if I c-could watch N-Nathan’s animation w-with you...b-before we present o-our animations…” I shyly asked the tall, bald man, slowly stepping back from him.

“Hmmmm...you seem to be giving me the idea to add that as a new rule to the guidelines, but very well then. If you want the two of us to watch the animated project, ask the original owner of the project for his permission. You have 10 minutes to ask Nathan, and report back to me so I could make a disc of the project.” The professor instructed. In response, I nodded my head and told him that I understand.

“Good. Go now. I will be waiting in the lounge. Again, you have 10 minutes. Be back as quick as a bunny, Stanley.” I nodded, and the professor went back into the room, and shut the door behind himself, and sat back down on the sofa.

I made my way down the hallway to find Nathan, but I didn’t know where he was. I had a time limit to ask Nathan if I could watch his project. Actually, no. I lied. The best lie I have ever thought of was about the professor sending me down to ask him if the professor could watch his project himself.

Fortunately, it had worked as soon as I found him. He was in the back room of the professor’s classroom with the voice actors, talking about something. I had the feeling to interrupt the conversation, and I had a reason to. The best I could do was approach the trio, and when I got closer, and closer to the trio, the female voice actor caught me. She got Nathan’s attention, and when Nathan shot his head up, and looked at me, I had stopped dead in my tracks from the inside. I froze right where I was.

“S-Stan? What are you doing here? Did you come to talk to me? Cause I sure did miss you, after all!” Nathan beamed, now making a large grin on his face that spread a little, and by that, he was starting to kinda creep me out at this rate. I took a deep breath, and exhaled before talking to my friend. “N-Nathan…? I have s-something to t-tell you...a-and it’s very important…” Nathan looked at me, and raised a brow, now losing the smile he had on his face earlier this very moment.

“Uh-huh? I’m listening.” Nathan sat down in a chair, while I just stood right where I was when I was caught. “I-I w-was sent down b-by the p-p-professor...t-to ask you if h-he could w-watch your project…?” I asked, but still in a timid way. Nathan thought for a moment, before answering the question. It was quite obvious, so I’m going to tell you that he just said yes, and he, however, gave me the case for the episode. We shook hands, and I went back to the teacher’s lounge to find the professor.

As soon as I got there, the professor was still sitting on the sofa as he was casually. I knocked on the door, but the professor just looked at me through the glass, and motioned me to walk inside.

“Did you ask Nathan if we could watch his project, Stanley?” My professor asked. I nodded my head, and before he could say something else, I showed him the DVD case. If you want to know what the DVD case looks like, I’ll just describe it in a few words. It wasn’t really that exciting, and there was just nothing but white except for handwriting in black marker that read: “Nathan’s Project”. My professor raised an eyebrow, and held his hand out, and motioned me to hand it to him.

Doing what I was told by my wonderful gentleman of a professor, I handed the case over to him, and he told me to follow him back to his classroom. Once we got there, he turned on his EPSON interactive whiteboard, and while he was getting everything set, I pulled a black swivel chair over in front of the EPSON board, and I planted myself on the seat.

Over to my left, was the professor at his desk, placing the disc into his computer’s optical disc drive, and closing the tray. I turned my head to the whiteboard to see that the file folder automatically opened up by itself, to reveal something in the Quick Access folder.

“rubys_afternoon_snack.avi”

“There you are...come to papa...” I thought to myself. My professor placed his mouse over the file, and double-clicked it.

Once he did, the file automatically fullscreened itself and went into Windows Movie Maker, showing a black screen for a second before revealing the opening sequence of Max & Ruby.

My professor was rather puzzled, to make a long story short, about his reaction, the video was 8 minutes long, about as long as a normal Max & Ruby episode, because to say this, one episode of Max & Ruby is 8 minutes long.

However, as soon as the intro ended where Max and his sister waved at the camera from the window, as the children in the background said the title and giggled, they just stayed there for a moment before Ruby slowly moved her irises over to Max, and her eyes locked onto Max’s without blinking, her smile still remaining. Max was oblivious of the way Ruby was staring at him, as he and his sister continued waving at the screen, as if it were to be an animation error.

“What in the name of…” My professor said to himself, as the screen fades into the episode title card. The title card featured Ruby in the house, and on the top-right, was Max playing with his toys. Ruby had a devious expression on her face. She was licking her chops, and her eyes were looking over to where Max was, while back-facing. The title of the episode read “Ruby’s Afternoon Snack”, in a dark blue color.

In the background, was Ruby exclaiming the title of the episode in her trademark sweet voice, like the way she’s always been talking to Max.

“Ruby’s Afternoon Snack~!” She chimed. Now, by looking at the image, I found it to be...well, suspicious, because it’s the best way I could describe it as. The title card faded out, to open up into the episode, and the opening circle revealed the very beginning of the episode.

It began with Ruby making what appeared to be a tea party with her dolls, and as she sat them down individually in each of their own chairs, she made her way over to a shelf to pick up some plastic tea cups and a teapot, all of them colored in pink, with a white shape pattern all painted on each and every one of them. Ruby placed the tea cups on small, pink plastic plates, and set them individually in front of the dolls that were sitting in the chairs. She was humming, pouring imaginary tea into the fake tea cups using the plastic teapot.

She sat at the small, round table, pretending to sip tea, and as she did, the camera pans over to Max in the living room, playing with his toys.

He eventually got bored, and went upstairs to check on Ruby. Max peered through the door, before slowly opening it and stepped foot into her room, unnoticed. He had his trademark smug expression, and proceeds to make a move.

He made his way over to the table, before proceeding to vandalize the tea party, such as taking off Curly Shirley’s wig and putting it on Pinocchio, or folding the Rapunzel doll’s dress over its head.

Max giggled quietly, before sneaking out of Ruby’s bedroom to play with his toys. When Ruby turned back to the table, she noticed that her dolls didn’t look right. Obviously, she knew this was Max’s doing. Without further hesitation, she shuffled out the door, and downstairs to find Max so she can lecture him. “Max!” she called her brother. Max giggled, before grinning and making his way out the back door. He drops a banana peel on the grass, and as Ruby ran outside, she slipped and fell when she planted her right foot on the banana peel.

Max giggles again, before running over to Ruby’s garden to make one of his nauseating worm cakes. He picked up the heap of mud and worms before running inside the house, and upstairs to his sister’s room. And when he did, he took off chunks of the worm cake, opened the plastic teapot, and dumped all of them into the teapot, before running out to hide in the bathroom, giggling his fluffy butt off.

The camera would pan over to Ruby, now in the hallway, looking for Max. “Max? Max, where are you?” Ruby searched door to door, room to room. The last place she checked was Max’s room, yet he wasn’t there. I have to admit, this animation is rather impressive, because it is drawn, animated, and narrated just like the original show itself. The fan-made episode continued on with Ruby searching around Max’s room, looking under his covers, under his bed, checking his closet, everything. “Max, where in the world are you?” Ruby said, with a bit of a mix of anger and anxiousness in her voice. The camera cuts to Max in the bathroom, and he was hiding in the bathtub. He barely even moved an inch, making this scene a little bit...concerning.

The screen zoomed in on Max’s face, and he appeared to have lost the grin. Instead, he had a little bit of guilt plastered on his face, before the scene transitions over to Ruby, making her way to the kitchen to make lunch. “If looking for him doesn’t work, then I suppose making lunch for him will.” Ruby proceeds to open the fridge, and when she does, she grabs the bread, a sliced tomato, some lettuce, slices of ham and cheese, a ketchup bottle, and a mustard bottle. She made two sandwiches for herself, and her brother. “Max, come downstairs, it’s lunchtime~!” Ruby called to her brother. The screen cuts to show Max’s face, now with a smile on his face. He ran out of the bathroom, and he makes his way downstairs and into the kitchen.

Once there, he was greeted with his sister, who watched him walk over to the dining room table, and sit down. When Max sat down, Ruby sat in front of Max, picked up her sandwich, and took her first bite. Max looked at Ruby, and the next thing he knew when he arrived to the dining room was Ruby was looking at him funny.

Max tilted his head slightly at his sister, and since he was usually nonverbal, he took his first bites of his sandwich. Ruby started to speak to her brother, still in the sweet, and calm way she talks to other bunnies. “Max, I just want to know why you have barged into my room behind my back, and messed with my dolls. Is there a reason why you did?”

Max, despite the fact that he was an infant, responds to his sister with his usual one-or-two-worded dialogue. “Tea party!” Max replied, still eating his sandwich. “No, Max. You can’t join my tea party, because you always mess things up whenever I let you play with me.”

Ruby clarifies, now lecturing Max in the same voice she uses whenever she lectures Max. “When you get done eating, go straight over to the living room, and just go play with your toys. Do you understand, Max?” Max just glared at her sister, as he slowly nodded and took his final bite of his sandwich. He stepped down from his chair, and did what he was told by his older sister. He opened the toy box, and he started to play with his toys. I truthfully thought that the title card had just messed with my head for a second, and that is...until the final four minutes of the episode.

The last four minutes play out with Max going into the living room to play with his toys. And while he was, the camera pans over to Ruby, now with the same sinister expression she had on her face, locking her eyes onto her brother’s, while facing away from him. She licks her lips slowly, and things were starting to become well...intense, by all means. Before it became as intense as possible to straight-up dark and traumatizing, Ruby went upstairs to her room to continue her tea party. And, when she got there, she would notice some dirt falling down from the spout of the teapot.

“What the?” Ruby mumbled under her breath, as she made her way over to the teapot. And, once she opened the cap, she found dirt and worms from inside of the teapot. The worms were wiggling around the dirt clumps. When Ruby saw the worm cake chunks that remained in her teapot, she squealed in terror, and immediately put the cap back on the teapot in a flash. Her fearful reaction turned into more-so an angry one; she balls up her fists, raised them up, and she started to shake and growl viciously.

“He’s going to get it...he will get it today...I don’t know when...I don’t know how I will do it...but he will get it…” Ruby hisses, under an intimidating, soft-spoken voice. That was when I heard a loud growl that was coming from Ruby’s stomach. She looked at her gut...and then, she looked right back at the camera, at me, and she slowly formed a demented grin. “I’m hungry…” Ruby said, in a way to creep both me, and the professor out. The scene fades out to show Max, still playing with his toys, and he eventually got bored. He puts his toys up, and then brainfarted. He didn’t have anything else to do, so he started to wander around the house, and cause as much trouble as possible. That didn’t work either, as he grew more, and more bored. The camera pans over to the stairs, as Max walked upstairs to the second story to check up on his older sister.

He approached the door to Ruby’s bedroom, and strangely enough, there was no music in the background, which makes it a little freakier than expected. When he got there, he saw his sister, standing still next to her tea party table, with her back facing away.

Max slowly approaches his sister, and when he got close enough, he tugged on her skirt, wondering if she’s okay. Then, Ruby turned around very slowly, and looked down at her younger brother, with the same grin she had during the previous scene.

The way Ruby was looking at Max was just...wrong. Except that her smile had already worsened, and her ears were drooping down the sides of her head. “What’s wrong, Max? Don’t you want a hug from your big sister?” Max stepped back, and what was heard was a faint whimper from him. Ruby was slowly walking over to him, and she was licking her chops in a freaky way. As Ruby was slowly approaching Max, Max was backing away from his sister. He was backing away to the door to Ruby’s room, and Ruby just kept approaching him, and her arms were barely moving an inch.

Max, now developing an non-irrational fear of his sister, he turned his back and he ran over to the door. He opened the door, and stepped out. When he looked back into the bedroom, Ruby was charging at him, letting out a loud scream.

He slams the door to his sister’s bedroom, and the camera would cut to Ruby in her bedroom for a brief moment. She ran into the door, followed by a grunt from her. The camera now panned over to Max, trying to find the nearest exit. He looked left and right, and right in the corner of his eye, he saw the front door. When he approached it, he tried to turn the knob, and open the door. But unfortunately, it wouldn’t budge. He looked at the door that lead into the garden, and when he ran over to the sliding door leading into the garden, he tried to open the sliding door so he could find an alternate way to escape. Sadly enough, that didn’t work either, and that was when he heard Ruby’s footsteps, and he saw her shadow coming from the stairs.

The screen cuts to show Max, with an expression on his face with multiple feelings. He appeared to be confused, delirious, and at the same time, he was fearing for his life. He was alert, and he was looking left and right for a place to hide.

Ruby’s heavy breathing was heard as she made her way down the stairs. Max had no choice but to react quickly, and find the nearest hiding place, because Ruby was almost reaching the floor. “Come here, Max! I won’t hurt you!” Ruby said, giggling darkly. Still fearing for his life, Max crawled under the sofa immediately when Ruby was stepping down the second-to-last of the stairs.

The screen cuts to a first-person view of Max under the sofa for a brief moment. Outside of the sofa, was Ruby, searching around for Max, but her full body wasn’t seen, and the only parts on Ruby that can be seen was her feet. She was pacing, and pacing, and pacing over, and over, and over. I’d already thought that Max would survive this dreadful day, and me and my foolish self, I wanted to see how it ended. But, that’s until the final two minutes of the video.

I’ll of course, tell you the final two minutes if you want to know why I stated my high school experience was quote-unquote “traumatizing”.

When Ruby was going to leave the house as I have said before, Max let out a sigh of relief when his sister planning of going to the garden. Ruby stopped dead in her tracks, and she immediately shot her head back. She slowly turns around, and she walks over to the sofa in the slowest way possible.

As Ruby made a turn, the camera follows her as she makes her way over to the sofa. And when she made her way there, she looked under the sofa, and found her said brother, hiding under the darkness of the sofa itself. “There you are, Max! I was looking all over for you! Are you gonna come out so you could join my tea party?” Max looked at her, and noticed that Ruby did not look as savage as she was earlier, and he didn’t seem anymore afraid just by the way she looked. She looked perfectly normal, not looking as menacing.

Ruby slowly reaches her arm out to Max, and as Max did the same, Ruby pulled him out from under the sofa. Ruby, now looking Max in the eye with a giant grin on her face. And this part...was completely messed up.

Distorted music started trailing in the background, and Ruby started to open her mouth. Max’s ears drooped, his eyes widened, and his pupils shrank. Before he could let out a scream of terror, Ruby shoved his head into her mouth, and began from Max’s head, to his shoulders. A loud screeching noise was accompanying the messed up music that was playing, and as Ruby was shoving her brother down her throat, almost seizure-inducing lights were starting to flash rapidly in the greatest amount of speed. Max’s echoing screams were heard, as Ruby lifted her brother up with her mouth, she began to gulp him further, and further into her esophagus. “OH MY GOD…” My professor said, and speak of the devil, that’s what I would want to say too, but my professor already did that for me. Just about the last minute of the episode, Max’s feet were the only things that were left. They were no longer seen, when Ruby had completely swallowed him whole.

The distorted music and the screeching faded out, as Ruby made her way upstairs, and went down the hallway to her bedroom. She sighed, and she would enter her bedroom, and slammed the door shut, concluding the episode. The closing circle of would enshroud the episode into a black screen before cutting to the ending credits of the episode. After the first few seconds of the credits played out, my professor paused it, and he would stay silent for a moment, before looking right at me. I was in a complete panic attack. All I did was sit there, and shiver, and cry. I did not speak. I did not reply to anything my professor said. I did nothing else but do the following. “Stanley, you stay RIGHT where you are. You aren’t in trouble, but Nathan is, and I will be giving him a serious talking to…” The only reply I made was just a whimper of trauma. The professor angrily stormed out of the classroom, and he slams the door shut. All I did was do nothing other than just cry like a softie.

I did not know what was going on, but I am sure of it that Nathan is receiving the lecture of his life. Just a few minutes later, the professor walked in the classroom, dragging Nathan by the arm in a way that would look like his arm would pop right out of his socket, but thankfully, there were popped bones. The professor furiously dragged Nathan into the animation room, and shut the door. And behind that door, I could hear the professor yelling at the top of his voice at Nathan, in the angriest way possible.

“I don’t understand, professor! What’s wrong with my animation?” Nathan asked. “Everything! Everything was wrong with it, and have you ever listened to the simple-to-understand guidelines I have explained to the whole class!? Everything would’ve went fine if you were to follow these simple instructions! But no, you chose not to listen, and thus, this rewards you with an F- on your project!” My professor hissed at the student he was yelling at. This conversation went on, and on, and on, until the point where the professor escorted Nathan to the principal’s office. I did NOT watch Nathan, I did not look at him, I didn’t talk to him, and he did not look at me.

Afterwards, I have stopped talking to him for at least a good few months, given the fact that he is the biggest weirdo I have ever met as a friend. I have explained to the professor that I have absolutely no clue how to animate, and as a response, he worked with me and helped me with my animation. It was poorly designed, but he still thinks it’s good. I eventually got an A+ on the project when it was time to present our animated projects.

I don’t know what happened to Nathan, but I think he could be suspended, or maybe had after-school detention. But, this wasn’t the case. What I am really wondering is if we are still friends. And if he were to ever read this post, Lord help me if he does, because I don’t want the friendship to end, and I still want to be friends with him, despite the fact that we haven’t talked in a while. From what I do know is that he was unenrolled from the animation class for the rest of the school semester.

As for me, I kept on getting As and Bs in my classes for doing what I was assigned. Nathan, on the other hand, was not. He just kept failing, and failing, and failing. I know you might think I am a soft kid, but I sense that he might have some sort of mental disorder or whatever he has. On the bus rides home from now on during this semester, Nathan doesn’t ride the same bus as I do anymore. He seems to be riding a different bus, and yet, I remotely don’t completely understand what the deal was ever since.

As the days keep coming and coming, Nathan’s personality has been changing gradually. He hasn’t been as social or friendly to other people, or even me. Instead, he’s been turning from a nice guy into a school bully, where he’d constantly torture other kids older than me, younger than me, or even my age. One day, he attacked my professor, demanding him to let him back into the animation class, accompanied by violent threats. Being sent to the principal’s office once more, he was expelled from school, and he cannot even come back.

The very last time I have ever seen my former friend, was that he was forlornly sitting outside the front of the school, and waiting for his parents to pick him up. As I said before, this guy was a complete weirdo, and I hope for the best for him, and the best kind of help he could get. I hope I never meet up with this student again, because of the way he took his unenrollment from the animation class.

Since then, I have learned a ton about animating, and I couldn’t have taken in that knowledge and stored it into my brain if it weren’t for the help of my professor. Yesterday, I made the choice of my animation class being my homeroom, and my homeroom teacher is my animation professor.

As I kept on animating, and animating, I reached the point where I had impressed my parents because of how I have been improving. Animation is really hard to learn, but somehow, I have gotten that A for my effort and my participance.

Despite my childhood was ruined by my “friend”, Max & Ruby isn’t gone from my mind forever. In fact, it’s going to take way more than that to ruin it forever. And I will still remember the days where I have used to watch the show as a small child.

If you were wondering how long it took me to type up this whole post, I would say that I took about 7 weeks to fill this out. And if any of you have questions, just ask me. For I will answer them as soon as I can, and I happily will. Now, heed these last words of this post when you have read this post until the very end. I have made this account dedicated for the purpose of being informational. If you have any questions, I am going to be all-ears for you, and I’ll gladly answer them at any moment possible. If one you has a question right now, at this very moment, please...just ask.