Chapter 2: Got Nothing To Hide

Ruthie woke up sweating and scared. She breathed heavily and her heart was beating fast. She looked around making sure it was just a dream. A tear rolled down her cheek. 'Why me?' she kept on asking herself over and over again that night. On a night when she'd have nightmares, she'd usually go into her mom and dad's room and curl up with them, but she couldn't let them know what had happened, and hopefully Lucy hadn't told Kevin. She put her head back down on the pillow, laying back down, and tried to fall back asleep.

After waking up a couple more times, Ruthie was finally able to get a few consecutive hours of sleep. A few hours later, she woke up to see sun shining into her room, she squinted her eyes as she pulled the covers over her head. A few moments after she had finally fallen asleep again, her mom walked into her room. "Ruthie sweety, time to get up, or you'll be late for school." she said as she opened up the blinds and let more sun shine in and took off the covers. Ruthie pulled them back up.

"Mom, I'm not feeling to well." she lied, she really didn't want to go to school. She thought that if maybe she could play sick, then she wouldn't have to face anybody at school.

"Do you feel like you're going to be sick? Do you have a fever?" Annie asked, as she placed her hand on her daughter's forehead, "you are quite warm, you stay in bed and try and get more sleep, I'll be up with some ginger ale later." she said as she started to head out of the room.

"Uhh...mom?" Ruthie asked, and her mom turned around.

"Yes?"

"Could you close the blinds?" Ruthie asked. Annie smiled, and walked over to her window, and pulled the string to the left and then the blinds slid down, not letting the sun in.

"Thanks." she said as her mom walked out of the room, and Ruthie stared at the ceiling. She was afraid to fall back asleep, she didn't want to have another nightmare. Her eyes were starting to go heavy though, and she couldn't help it, a few moments later, she had fallen asleep.

Lucy had waken up, not feeling good, just as Kevin walked into the room. "Hey, good morning sleepy head." he said and kissed her on the forehead.

"Hey." she yawned.

"You feeling okay?" he asked.

"Not really." Lucy said as she started to get up and out of bed.

"No, you stay in bed." Kevin said.

"But I have sessions at the church." she said.

"I'll call Dad, and tell him that you won't be coming in today. He'll understand, now you, you have to get back into bed. I'll make you some breakfast." he said as he pulled the covers back and tucked her in.

"Thanks." she smiled. Kevin smiled and kissed her forehead again, before walking downstairs into the kitchen, turning on the baby monitor and taking out some eggs.

--

"Ruthie?" Annie said quietly. Ruthie's eyes fluttered open. "I have to go run some errands, will you be alright by yourself? Or should I call Kevin?"

"I'll be fine." Ruthie lied, she wasn't sure if she'd be okay or not.

"Okay, I'll be back as soon as I can. If you need anything call Kevin." she gave Ruthie a kiss on the cheek and walked out of her room. Ruthie sighed and laid back on her bed. After she was sure her mom had left the house, she got out of bed and slowly made her way downstairs into the kitchen. She searched through the fridge for something to drink and found some ginger ale, she grabbed a can and walked into the living room.

--

Kevin walked back up into the bedroom with a tray full of different breakfast foods, "I wasn't sure what you'd be willing to keep down, or eat. So I just made different selections." he said, as Lucy sat up, and he placed the bed tray in front of her.

"Thanks." she smiled, "it looks so good. You really didn't have to make all this."

"Yes I did. You're sick, and I'm your husband, I'm supposed to take care of you." he smiled, "We're out of milk, so I'm going to head next door to grab some for Savannah. She's still sleeping though."

"Okay." she said as she took a sip of apple juice.

--

Ruthie was lying down on the couch, watching a movie when she heard the door in the kitchen open, she jumped up. "Hello?" she called up, starting to get scared.

"Hello?" a familar voice replied back.

Ruthie got up and walked into the kitchen in her sweatpants and sweat shirt. "Kevin?"

"Ruthie, what are you doing here? Why aren't you at school?" he asked as he grabbed a glass of milk to bring back to the house.

"I don't feel so good."

"That seems to be going around, Luce is home sick too. Where's mom?"

"She's out running some errands." she replied as she stuck her hands into her sweatshirt.

"Well would you like to leave a note for your mom and come over?" he suggested.

"Sure." ruthie said as she grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and wrote a note to her mom.

'Mom,

Gone to Kevin and Lucy's

-Ruthie'

She propped up the note against the fruit bowl on the kitchen, and followed Kevin to his house.

When Kevin reached the house he walked in through the back door, "Lucy's upstairs, you can go up there. Do you want anything?"

"I'll have some soup please." Kevin nodded, and Ruthie headed up the stairs.

Ruthie walked down the hall upstairs and walked into Lucy and Kevin's room.

"Hey." Lucy said seeing her sister in the door way, she patted the spot beside her on the bed, "not feeling well? Or do you not want to go to school?"

"I didn't want to go to school." Ruthie said, telling Lucy the truth. Lucy nodded.

"Understandable." she said, "so, you want to watch some television?"