*Lucy's POV*

            "I'm home!" I announced as I opened the door to the house 3 weeks later.  When I got no response, I sighed and muttered to myself, "Not that anyone cares."  Ever since dad had died, I had been trying to be cheerful and perky too make up for the rest of the family's depressed silence.  It wasn't working.  Since his death, we had been having a pretty rough time.  The church said we could keep our house for a year before they were going to kick us out, so mom had gotten a job as a teacher at a high school across town, which she hated.  She was always quiet and depressed now, spending most of her time in her room crying.

            I had had to drop out of my classes at college to save money and had gotten a job as a secretary at a large company.  The work was boring and tedious, but it was a paycheck.  It seemed like Robbie was trying to earn his keep around the house.  Since mom had apparently lost interest in keeping the house running smoothly, he had taken over all of her duties.  He left for school early in the morning, then went to work.  When he got home he did laundry, dusted, vacuumed, made dinner, and took care of the twins.  I tried to help as much as possible, but my job was keeping me pretty busy. And since the twins weren't in school full time yet, I had to pick them up from the babysitter's after work and then watch them until someone else was home. 

            Simon was done with his rebellious faze, but his grades were dropping. Lucky for him mom was too preoccupied to notice.   He spent most of his time locked in his room, doing who knows what.  Ruthie was getting in trouble almost every day for fighting.  She had become a bad girl, she had lost all of her friends, and her grades were also dropping.  The twins were much quieter since Dad's death, but sometimes asked when Daddy was coming home.  It was heart breaking to see how innocent they were, they really didn't understand that Daddy was dead.  Kevin was the only one who was acting normal.

            "Oh, hey Lucy," Robbie greeted me as he walked downstairs carrying a huge pile of laundry. "I was just gonna throw in some of the laundry.  After that I was going to make dinner.  What do you want?" 

            "It doesn't matter.  But Robbie? You don't need to be doing all this."

            "Oh, I don't mind.  I like helping out."  After that he disappeared into the laundry room.

            I headed upstairs to the room Ruthie and I shared.  She was lying on her bed staring into space.  Last month she would have been reading or doing homework, but not now.  "So?"  I asked sitting next to her.

            "So what?"  She snapped.

            "Did you get in trouble today?"

            "Yeah," She responded, pulling a crumpled sheet of paper out of her pocket and handing it to me.

            "You got into another fight with Katie Jones?"  I asked, studying the paper.  "And they want to talk to mom about it?  She's not going to be happy."

            "That's why you're going to call and pretend to be Mom."  Ruthie informed me, barely even glancing at me.  In the old days, she would have begged, pleaded, and bribed me to get what she wanted.  These days, she didn't even bother.  It was depressing. 

            I sighed and reluctantly agreed, mainly because I knew how upset Mom would be to hear about Ruthie's problems. "Ok," she said.  "Come back around 7 and I'll give you the number."  Then she turned away and ignored me until I left.   I missed my little sister.  This wasn't the Ruthie that I knew and loved.  She had changes into a different person since dad had died, and I wasn't sure if she was ever coming back. 

*Simon's POV*

            I heard Lucy coming down the stairs from her room, and knew she would knock on my door next.  Two seconds later she called "Simon, can I come in?"

            I sighed and climbed off my bed to open the door for her.  "Do you have any homework?"  She asked.  It sounded like an innocent question, but I knew what she meant was, "Do you have homework? Why aren't you working on it now?  You have to try or you're going to fail,"   It would turn into a huge lecture, the kind I used to get from Mom and Dad.  But Dad was dead and Mom didn't want anything to do with us, so Lucy was taking over. 

            "Yeah," I muttered.  I had tried to do my homework.  It was algebra, my best subject, but in the last few weeks it was making no sense. I looked at problems that used to be simple for me and they looked like another language.  I couldn't concentrate in school, and had trouble paying attention in class.  My teachers had had several "talks" with me, but because of the "hard times your family is going through" they hadn't called
Mom.

            "Ok," Lucy said brightly "I'll help you" 

            "I don't need help," I snapped, heading toward the door.  "And I'd appreciate it if you'd leave me alone!"  She shot me a hurt look before leaving the room and I slammed the door after her.  I just wanted to be alone.  I missed my dad so much and I still felt guilty for the things I had said before he died.  He told me he forgave me, but I wasn't sure if he really meant it.  I had been depressed since he died, and being around cheerful people only made me feel worse.

*Robbie's POV*

            I slammed the washer shut, then walked off to find Sam and David.  I groaned when I found them on the floor in the living room shredding all of the tissues that had been in the box on the coffee table.  "C'mon guys, let's go upstairs," I said, picking them up.  When we got to their room I pulled out several of their favorite toys and sat them on the floor.  "I have to go downstairs now, you two be good," I called on my way out of the room.  I was already thinking about the rest of the chores that had to be done.  Ok, first clean up the mess in the living room.  Make dinner.  Finish the laundry.  Give the twins a bath.  Write report for school.  Mop kitchen floor if I have time.  Since Rev. Camden had died, I had been responsible for all this and more everyday.  I got up at 5:00 every morning and got to bed by 11:00 pm if I was lucky.  I didn't mind helping out, but I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep up my grades, keep my job, and keep the house running smoothly.  I was getting help from no one, except Lucy on occasion, and it was tough. I kept telling myself that after everyone had had a chance to recover from their pain of missing Rev. Camden, they would be back to their old selves.  But it wasn't happening.  Maybe I just had to face the fact that things would never be the same again.

I am either going to have the next chapter be the last, or end here and start another story about the Camdens trying to deal with Eric's death and running out of money.  What do you think I should do?  Please tell me!