Camden Home
Simon had just pulled into the driveway with Martin and Ruthie in the backseat. Martin had Ruthie in his lap with his jacket wrapped around her. As much as Ruthie wanted to slap him and go into the front the seat, she couldn't. She couldn't because Simon would just yell at her, and she had almost run Martin over with Simon's car. So slapping him right now probably wouldn't be a good idea. But what kind of bothered her was the fact that Simon wouldn't take her to his place to get away. He was her brother and refused to help her. Out of all her siblings, Simon was the one she was closest to, the one she could depend on. And now, now she didn't know what to think because he brought her back to the very place she was running from.
Martin looked at Ruthie and asked, "Are you ready to go in?" In that second Simon responded for Ruthie, "It doesn't matter if she is or isn't. She's going in and she's going to tell them what happened and that she's sorry."
"Don't tell me what to do. I'm not saying shit to anyone. All I'm doing is going straight to my room." Ruthie got out of Martin's arms and opened the back door. Before getting out, she looked at Simon and said, "I thought you were my brother. You said you would always be there for me. And when I ask you to take me to your house because I really can't stand being here…what do you do…you bring me back here. I hate you Simon. Thanks for nothing." And with that, Ruthie slammed the car door and walked to the back door of the house. She was soon followed by Martin who was a bit shocked that she had just told Simon off.
Simon, who was still in the driver's seat, had this look of terror on his face. She hates me? I wanted to bring her back to my place. I understand not being able to stay here when you're angry and hurt. But I just couldn't. As much as she needs to get away, she also needs to stay and work things out. Maybe after things are done here she can stay with me for a while. It might help; Simon pondered to himself and got out of the car.
Annie and Eric eagerly waited in the kitchen for their baby girl to come walking in. All they wanted to do was to hold her in their arms and never let go. But that probably wasn't going to happen. The next thing they knew, Ruthie came flying through the back door in a heat of rage with Martin following close behind her. Both parents looked at each other like oh know…this can't be good.
"Ruthie he was just trying to help." Martin pleaded. If looks could kill he'd be dead. The look Ruthie shot him was full of rage and pure evil. For a second there, Martin honestly thought she was gonna go all exorcist on him and that her head would start spinning. That would be a sight to see.
"Help…if he wanted to help he could have just taken me to his place so I didn't have to come back to this shit hole." Ruthie roared back. If this had been the wild, Ruthie would be the one lioness everyone would be afraid of because when she roared…she really roared.
"What are you two talking about?" Annie was confused. "Ruthie I'm glad you're ok." Annie went up to Ruthie and pulled her into her arms. "I was so worried something had happened to you. Why did you runaway? You know running away from problems never solves anything." Annie inquired. She looked into her daughters eyes and saw not hate this time, but sadness and fright; something she hadn't seen in Ruthie's eyes for a long time.
One of the great things about Annie was her ability to see that something was wrong. She knew exactly what someone was feeling by looking into their eyes. For Annie, the eyes say it all because the eyes are the windows to the soul.
"I found her at the park swinging on the swings. When I confronted her we had a fight and then it turned to talking. Kevin came and annoyed her and then Simon pulled up and she ran to his car. She begged him to take her to his place and he said no. Then she lied and asked to stay in the car to warm up before she came out and talked to me. Well when Simon came over we asked about his car not being on. To make a long story short, Ruthie tried to drive away and almost ran me over." Martin informed.
Annie's mouth fell open, Eric tried not to laugh, and Ruthie eased out of her mother's arms and felt like she wanted to throw up again. Just then Simon came through the back door. "Why is dad laughing?" Simon asked.
"I'm not laughing. I just can't believe Ruthie did that." He turned and looked at Ruthie. "Do you know how stupid that was? You could have killed someone or been killed. The thought of you trying to drive your brothers car away is funny, but you almost killing this boy over here," He pointed to Martin, "whom I consider one of my own children…is not funny." Eric said calmly, trying not to get all worked up.
"YOU DON'T THINK I KNOW THAT!!! I GOT SICK AFTERWARDS. I GOT OUT OF THE CAR AND THREW UP…I DIDN'T WANT TO ALMOST HIT HIM...I MAY HATE HIM, BUT I WOULDN'T WANT TO KILL HIM. A BITCH I MAY BE…BUT A MURDER I AM NOT." Ruthie yelled yet again and went to her room.
This time she didn't slam the door. Instead, she got on her bed, pulled her pillow that was covered with blue and pink swirls to her and cried. Her long, brown, curly hair lay sprawled out over her shoulders and the pillow. At the edge of the bed there lay a purple blanket. Reaching over to the edge of the bed, Ruthie grabbed the blanket and pulled it up over her. All she wanted right now was to wake up from the nightmare she was in and have everything go back to normal. But the sadly, the world she was living in was reality. A reality she wanted so desperately out of. If one thing is for certain it's that reality bites.
"I'll go up and talk to her." Martin offered.
"No…I will." Simon intervened. "I need to talk to her about something and then you can talk to her."
Martin nodded. He knew that Ruthie needed at least one sibling to open up to. Even though she was angry at him, he knew that Simon would find a way to make her forgive him.
Ruthie's Room
Simon walked up the attic stairway hoping that her door wouldn't be closed or locked because trying to talk to someone through a closed door is hard. Luckily, Ruthie's door was indeed open.
"Ruthie…we need to talk."
"I'm not speaking to you." Ruthie mumbled.
"I know you're angry at me, but please don't be. You know as well as I do that you needed to come back. You can't runaway when life throws you problems. You've just got to deal with them. If you'd like, maybe after you talk to Martin you can come stay with me for a little while. It might do you good." Simon offered.
Ruthie jumped off her bed and ran into Simon's arms and cried. "Could I really stay with you?" She asked making sure she had heard right.
Simon chuckled at her outburst and said, "Of course you can. But I have some rules," Ruthie groaned when he said rules. "I don't want you walking around like your dead. If you're staying with me for a while you're going to try and get better and get out of this depression/black hole that you're in. This means no more acting out, no more of this wall you have put up, and you're going to start feeling again. It's going to be hard, but I know you can do it. If you break your promise to me and don't try, I'm taking you home and I won't speak to you until you're better." Simon declared.
Maybe staying with Simon won't be so bad…but I hope he realizes that it's going to take some time for me to get better, Ruthie thought to herself.
"Fine…but I hope you know that I don't intend on forgiving Martin anytime soon. I'm only agreeing to go back to my old self. I'll take down the wall and start living and feeling again. But I'm not forgiving him that easily." Ruthie stated.
"I'm not asking you to. Like I said, it's going to take time for everything. We're just taking it one step at a time." Simon smiled. "I'm going to go talk to mom and dad about you staying with me. In the mean time, Martin is coming up. Just talk to him…please."
"Fine" was all Ruthie could say.
With those final words, Simon went downstairs to talk to his parents about having her stay with him. When Simon came down, he looked over at Martin and nodded. It was now Martin's turn to talk to her…
AN: What would she say? Would she try and run? Or maybe even fling something at him? If you want to find out, please r&r…don't just read and not review. Remember, reviews make me want to write…the more reviews, the more I know people want me to continue…
