My Sweetheart -Newsies Racetrack Higgins-

[31]

Ruth

Ruth fell cold. Her body seized and became rigid, and she felt her breath leave her body. She stared in shock at the boy in front of her, who was looking at her with tears in his eyes. She couldn't hear him tell her, "goodbye, Ruthie." She couldn't hear him close the front door and scurry down the steps before her parents came home. She couldn't hear her sisters bursting in the room, singing to some tune they had heard. She couldn't feel her mother take her into her arms and ask what was wrong. She couldn't feel her mother guide her to her bed, and sit beside her.

It felt like hours, and perhaps it had been, when Ruth finally came to. A tear fell down her cheek, which led to another, and another, until Ruth was sobbing into her mother's chest. Her mother rubbed her back, shooing Alice and Sarah away as she comforted her daughter.

"What's the matter, dear?" Her mother softly cooed, rubbing circles in her back. "What's wrong?"

Ruth wiped her eyes and her nose, before hugging her mother. She was barely able to mutter, "He's gone, Mama. He's gone, and it's all my fault."

Ruth laid in her mother's arms for hours, as her sobs turned to hiccups, and her breathing slowed until she fell asleep. Her mother laid her down, and quietly took off the dress and replaced it with a nightgown, before she pulled the blanket over her now calm figure.

Ruth awoke the next morning with a painful headache and a stuffy nose, both of which she attributed to her episode the night before. She laid in bed for hours, refusing to move for even a sip of water. She stared at her ceiling, too tired and distraught to look for shapes in the paint. Her sisters and mother tried to comfort her, but she would roll over, and croak out that she didn't feel well.

"I will murder that boy with my bare hands!" Alice said, clenching her fists and she shut Ruth's door after a failed attempt to get her up.

"Should we try cousin Katherine?" Sarah wondered, making her oldest sister think.

"I'll find her. Keep an eye on Ruth while I'm gone." Alice ordered, making her sister nod. Their father had left early that morning to discuss last minute business with a colleague, and their mother had left to do the shopping. Alice and Sarah elected to stay behind and care for Ruth, much to the middle sister's dismay. She wanted nothing to do with people today, and her sister's constant badgering was not helping.

Alice grabbed her hat and scarf and made her way to her cousin's house. She ran as fast as she could, pushing past many people who were giving her dirty looks. She frantically knocked on the front door, and was greeted with one of the butlers of the Pulitzer residence. "Please, I need to see Katherine." Alice pleaded, and the man nodded, going to fetch the young woman.

Katherine came running down the stairs, a confused and worried look over her face. "What's wrong?"

"It's Ruthie. That boy, he walked her home last night, and when we came home, she was sobbing and saying he left, and it was her fault. Please, help us. She won't get out of bed. Or speak to anyone. Your our last chance."

Katherine nodded, telling the same butler who answered the door to notify her father, before the pair took off down the street.

Katherine and Alice made it back in record time, and Sarah was still sitting at the kitchen table, eating her peas from breakfast with a disgusted look on her face. She perked up when she saw her sister and cousin. "Ruth's alive, but she won't talk to me."

Alice lead Katherine to Ruth's bedroom, and slowly opened the door. "Ruthie? Katherine's here."

Ruth clenched her jaw at the nickname, trying to keep tears from falling. She bundled herself in her blankets more, hiding her face from her cousin.