That One Night

Chapter 2

Ruthie lay in her room, quietly praying and crying herself to sleep. Ruthie never took naps, but the stress of everything going on in her life was taking its toll.

After an hour long nap, Ruthie didn't feel well at all. She changed into something more comfortable and laid back down in bed, hoping to get some more sleep. However, dreams of Martin kept coming back to her head. She saw themselves getting married, having kids, growing old together. Yet, she also had nightmares.

Nightmares of that night at the party, nightmares of Vincent and voices in her head that scared her. After a while, she decided to give up on sleeping and kept herself awake by trying to read a book.

"Ruthie!" Annie yelled up the stairs. "Ruthie, honey, dinner's ready! Could you grab the twins for me, please?"

"Ugh..." Ruthie groaned, rolling over in bed and hiding her face in the pillow. A few minutes later, Annie walked up to find her.

"Ruthie, I said dinner was ready. I made your favorite! Chicken pot pie!"

Annie became concerned when mentioning Ruthie's favorite food in the world did not cause her to stir.

"Ruth, hun, are you feeling okay?"

Annie forced her to roll over and seeing Ruthie's face scared her. The teenager was extremely pale, her lips almost white, and Annie noticed how much thinner she looked.

"Ruthie, are you feeling okay? Should I take you to the doctor?"

This somewhat perked Ruthie up.

"No! I don't need to go to the doctor! Please don't take me there! I'm fine, really. I just ate too much at lunch."

"She didn't eat anything today, Mrs. Camden. I saw her. When she walked into the lunchroom, she threw her bag in the trash. Then she ran to the restroom. She probably vomited in there, because she did that twice after school" Martin had suddenly appeared in the doorway and his testimony suddenly made Ruthie nervous. She didn't want anyone to know what was wrong, and she was scared herself. She was fine, though, wasn't she?

"Why do you always appear out of nowhere at the most inopportune times? You're like... a... ghost." With that, Ruthie suddenly passed out. Annie shook her violently, desperately trying to wake her up.

Martin, still standing in the doorway, ran to Ruthie.

"Ruthie, babe, wake up! Please, wake up!"

Annie topped for a brief moment, noticing the pet name Martin had used for her daughter. Martin, quickly realizing what he'd just done, ran downstairs to look for Eric.

Martin, now close to tears, found Eric in his study.

"Eric, Ruthie just passed out! She hasn't been feeling too well and she just passed out in her room. Annie's trying to wake her up."

"I'll call an ambulance." Eric said with no emotion.

What's wrong with Ruthie? Good Lord, please let her be okay. Please heal my baby girl.

Martin ran upstairs, where Annie was checking for a heartbeat.

"She's still got a strong heartbeat and pulse! I don't know what's wrong with her!" Annie told him.

"Well, she's been really stressed about something lately. Maybe it just took its toll on her. I'm sure she's fine, Annie. She has to be."

"Yeah, she'll be okay. Is Eric calling an ambulance?" Annie's question was answered by the sound of sirens in the distance.