"RUTHIE..." Martin screamed and ran over to her. The car tried to swerve but it didn't do it fast enough. Ruthie was hit by the car.
Martin knelt down by Ruthie's body and picked her up slightly.
"Please, God no, please don't take her away from, me please." He begged for her to be ok. He noticed that she was breathing and had a slight pulse.
"Ruthie can you hear me."
Ruthie fluttered her eyes just a bit." Mar...Martin..." Just then, Ruthie had lost consciousness and passed out.
Martin quickly called 911 and had an ambulance sent over.
"Hello? please I need help..." His voice was shaky." My friend was...just...hit by a car" He was crying and stuttering so bad.
"Ok listen, I need you to calm down sir and tell me where you are." The operator asked him very calmly.
"I'm in Glen Oak Park on the north end. Please just get here." Martin looked down at Ruthie's unconscious form and placed a soft kiss on her head.
"Someone will be out there soon." As the operator hung up, Martin thought how he had let everyone down.
He told Eric and Annie that he would bring her back safely and unharmed. Why did this have to happen? Why did it have to be Ruthie? If only it were him who had gotten hit by the car instead of her. Things would have been so different if he had told her months ago instead of her finding out that day. He looked down at her and saw the bruises start to form on her delicate face.
The sounds of sirens could be heard from down the street leading up to the park.
Martin prayed for her to be alright to wake up. He never realized how much she really meant to him until now. He heard a slight whimper from her causing him to jump.
"Ruthie please hold on, please." He saw the ambulance coming down the road and was relieved.
When the ambulance came, they gently picked Ruthie up and placed her on the gurney.
"Can I ride in the ambulance please? I can't leave her, I won't..." Martin asked very shakily and worriedly.
"Sir I need you to calm down, ok." The paramedic knew Martin was scared." Now you may ride in the truck if you wish."
Martin sat near Ruthie and grabbed one of her hands." I'm right here Ruthie. I promise I won't let go." He began to cry. Of all the people why did it have to be her? The one person in his life who was always there for him might be taken away because of his mistake. Martin couldn't bear the thought of losing her like he did his mother.
Martin thought to himself, please God don't take her away, please. I need her in my life. This wasn't supposed to happen. If only I had ran faster held her tighter or something, this wouldn't have happened.
He still had to tell the reverend and everybody else what had happened. They would never forgive him for not keeping his promise of bringing her back safe. Was this his punishment for not telling her about Sandy sooner or for sleeping with Sandy? All he wanted to do was take back everything that happened, but the reality was that he couldn't.
Meanwhile
At the hospital, Eric, Annie, and all the others were waiting to hear from Martin on whether or not he found Ruthie. Not knowing if he found her or not was driving them to the breaking point.
"Do you think he has found her yet" Lucy asked very worriedly.
"I hope so Luce, I hope so." Annie was so anxious to know how Ruthie was and if she was ok.
Not knowing where her daughter was; was killing Annie. For the first time in her life she couldn't help Ruthie. She remembered when Ruthie was little how she would always come to here for everything, hoping she could fix it. Looking over at Eric she saw how distraught he was and walked over to him.
"Eric it's going to be ok. Martin is going to find her and bring her back." She tried to comfort her husband who was so lost in his thoughts that he barely noticed her.
"I'm sorry Annie I didn't hear you. I was just thinking about my little girl." He began to cry. His little girl was heartbroken, angry, and scared. Eric thought back to when she was just a baby in his arms. In his mind he thought back to times when he would rock her to sleep or sing her a song. It was so long ago, and now she was a teenager going through the worst time of her life and not a song could take the pain away.
Meanwhile, Simon was walking down the hall to Sandy's room. He needed to tell her what was going on. He entered her room slowly and quietly.
"Hey, can we talk." She needed to know and he had to be the one to tell her.
"Oh hey Simon, what's going on? Where's Martin? I thought he'd be here by now." She wondered what had been going on.
"Ruthie came out from the room crying. She asked Martin if it was true about him being the father and he finally told her." Simon started to get upset thinking about the scene that had taken place a while ago.
"Is she ok? Please tell me Martin is still talking with her." She felt horrible about this, she really did.
"Ruthie got so upset, she started yelling and fighting with him and us that she ran out of the hospital. Martin left to go find her; we're hoping to hear from him soon." Simon informed. Why did this have to happen to Ruthie of all people?
"I thought he didn't want to see the baby. I figured he chickened out and decided not to come in and meet his son." She thought the worst of him, but it turns out, she was wrong.
Lucy was in the hospital chapel thinking and praying to herself. God please bring Ruthie back safe and sound. Please let Martin find her and make things right between them. The guilt of knowing about Martin's secret and not telling Ruthie was too much for Lucy.
"I didn't want this to happen. She didn't deserve this God…not Ruthie. She's such a good person. Why couldn't Martin have just told her before? God if you're listening, please make everything alright again, please..." She began to cry as she thought about her sister. Seeing her get so upset like that and saying all that she did was heartbreaking. The pain Ruthie must have felt after finding out about the baby must have been too much for her. Ruthie probably felt like she had betrayed, deceived, and lied to. Lucy could only pray that everything would be alright.
Eric had noticed his wife sitting in her seat with tears in her eyes. He knew she felt bad, but there is nothing anyone could do to change what happened.
"Annie? Are you going to be alright?" He asked as he placed a gentle hand in her back.
"No, no I won't Eric. My youngest daughter is out there somewhere with her heart broken and there isn't a thing I can do about it!" Annie roared. The tears fell from her brown eyes onto her blushed cheeks.
"For the first time in my life, I feel like I let her down. What if she never speaks to me again? Oh Eric I don't think I could ever live with myself if she didn't." Annie went into Eric's arms and cried.
For Eric, seeing his wife so upset like this was deeply painful. His wife, the mother of his children, was hurting deep down inside and he couldn't make her pain go away. He held her in his arms comforting her as they waited for news on Ruthie.
It was things like this Eric never wanted to happen to his family. He never wanted them to feel this kind of pain or anger. When he first became a father, he vowed to always protect them, but this was the one time where he couldn't.
"I promise Annie, everything will be alright. Martin will find Ruthie and bring her back her. She won't hate you, you're her mother, she loves and adores you." Eric knew Ruthie was going to be mad, but not mad enough to hate her family, despite what she said.
"I hope you're right about Ruthie…I really do." Annie wanted so much to have Ruthie come through those doors and straight into her arms.
"You'll see. Martin will be bringing her back any minute, I can feel it." His mind and heart were racing. What had been taking Martin so long to find Ruthie?
But little did anyone know that everything was about to change...
Suddenly, paramedics came rushing through the ER with Ruthie.
"Ruthie! Oh my God, what happened?" Annie inquired anxiously.
"Are you her mother?" Asked the paramedic.
"Yes we're her parents! Now what happened?" They were very concerned. Martin was supposed to bring her back safe.
Just then Martin came running in behind them. He knew how upset everyone was going to be about this. No one was more upset then him because he saw it happen.
"Mrs. Camden it's my fault. I tried to talk to her, but she just ran..." Martin was crying so hard that he couldn't speak." She...ran...from me...I tried to save her but the car came out of nowhere." Nothing he could say would be able to take back the guilt he felt.
"YOU PROMISED ME THAT YOU WOULD BRING HER BACK SAFE! MARTIN YOU PROMISED." Annie was so upset; her little girl was hit by a car. Why was everything going wrong in her life? First Ruthie finds out about Sandy the day the baby's born and now she gets hit by a car. What more could she possibly go through.
"Please, I didn't mean for this to happen…I swear." Martin was so upset that he was hyperventilating. Tears were falling from his blue, grey, sorrow filled eyes like an over flowing river.
"Please please forgive me...ohh God." He cried out and fell to his knees.
Annie's heart broke at the sight of this. Martin really did care about Ruthie. You could see it in his eyes the hurt he felt.
Just then, a very angry Simon came over, picked Martin up by his shirt, and slammed him up against the wall.
"YOU'RE SORRY! DO YOU THINK THAT'S GONNA TAKE BACK WHAT HAPPENED TO HER? DO YOU?" Simon was so angry at Martin for doing this to her.
"I told you I didn't mean for this to happen…she just ran from me." Martin had no strength left in him to fight Simon.
Simon kept slamming Martin up against the wall." SORRY ISN'T GONNA TAKE BACK WHAT YOU DID. LOOK AT ME DAMMIT."
Martin couldn't look Simon in the eyes. He knew that Simon was just being protective over her, she was his baby sister. Tears were now falling from both men's eyes.
"I'm sorry Ruthie…I'm so sorry for not being a better brother to you." Simon finally let go of Martin." It's not your fault Martin. I know it's not, but...she's my sister..." Martin pulled Simon into a hug.
"I know Simon…I know...I care about her too." Martin did care about her, a lot.
"Where did they take Ruthie?" Eric asked franticly.
"They took her to ER. We can't go there, we have to wait here." Annie answered emotionally.
"My baby…my poor baby. I've failed her as a mother." Annie felt like she had failed Ruthie.
Just then the doctor came out from the ER room. "Excuse me; are you Mr. & Mrs. Camden?"
"Yes we are." They said in unison.
The doctor looked at them and then at Martin and Simon." There is something I need to tell you..."
AN: well I hope you all liked this ch…I re did it...I want a lot of reviews or no more updates and I mean it lololo.
