We all live lives that no one around is aware of. We all have secrets nobody knows of. But we cannot hide our secrets from everyone forever. Sooner or later, the truth does come out.
This is the story of Ruth Ratliff, a 70-year-old woman. She managed to keep a secret from everyone around her for 70 long years, but now it was time it got revealed. Her neighbor Kevin Burns started doubting Ruth when he noticed that she had stopped entering her own house. She was sleeping in her car for a very long time and her car was her little home.
The secret that Ruth had kept for 70 years and the reason why she had abandoned her own house will leave you wondering about what all a person is capable of doing. The strangest of reasons and the things that can scare you can be someone's secret.
Kevin Burns and his wife shifted to Redding, California in 2018. The couple was very excited to start a new life in a new city. The Burns' had been very helping people and were generous to everyone they met. Possibly one of the best kinds of humans that you would come across.
When the Burns left Ohio, all their neighbors were deeply saddened and did not want them to leave. The couple made everyone around them very happy and everyone enjoyed their company. But in Redding, things seemed to be different for the couple.
70-year-old Ruth had been living in the house right next to the one that the Burns' had just bought. Ratliff lost her husband two years ago and had been miserable after that. She had no one to take care of her in the time of need. The poor old woman was all alone.
When Kevin and his wife came to know about Ruth, they decided to talk to her and be friends with her. The couple was ever ready to help people around them. And they would have been more than happy to give company to Ruth. But what Kevin was going to find out would leave him stunned.
However, when Kevin was on his way to Ruth's house, he noticed something strange. He saw that Ruth was not in the house, since the last night. She was asleep in her car which was parked right in front of her house. And after that Ruth started to notice that it was not just a one-day thing.
Kevin noticed Ruth for days and that is when he realized that she had abandoned her house. She never went inside the house. Her car was her home for all hours of the day. But why would Ruth do that? Her house was right in front of her but she did not go inside. Why?
Kevin and his wife discussed the matter and came to a conclusion. They were both worried that something might not be fine with Ruth and that they should help her out if that was the case. Kevin finally went out to have a word with Ruth.
Ruth was very happy to meet her new neighbor. She showed Kevin her little car-house and asked him about his family. Kevin felt that Ruth was a very kind and friendly person and so he went forward to ask her about her house. But as soon as he asked her why she did not live in her house, there was complete silence.
There was an awkward silence between Ruth and Kevin after Kevin asked the lady about her house. She quickly changed the topic and started to ask him about his wife. Kevin realized something was definitely wrong, but why would Ruth tell about her problems to a stranger?
Kevin understood that he would have to be friends with Ruth to get to know about her secret for abandoning her own house. It was very obvious that no person would tell their story to a stranger. So Kevin started talking to Ruth as often as he could.
All this while, Kevin noticed that Ruth's car was not in good condition either. The car could not be driven, it was out of service. Neither could Ruth switch on the heater of the car on cold nights. Kevin was more than concerned now as to why Ruth was not going back to her house instead.
Days passed and Ruth and Kevin talked every day for an hour or so. They had become good friends and Ruth had started sharing about her personal life with Kevin. But few things were still left untold, and those were the things Kevin wanted to know the most.
One day, Ruth asked for a favor from Kevin. She cried in front of him and told him that she had forgotten her parent's faces. There was a picture of them in her house and she asked Kevin to do her a favor and get the picture for her. But why could she not go in herself?
When Kevin asked Ruth why does she not go in herself and see the picture, Ruth broke down. She sat down and started crying. Finally, she took a deep breath and told Kevin, "My home has become a dump because my husband died, and I lost my mind." But it hardly seemed to be the truth to Kevin.
Kevin could not trust Ruth even if he wanted to. He decided that going inside the house was the only way to find out the truth. He told Ruth that he would find her parent's picture for her and get it. She explained to him where the picture would be and told him to look for it at the precise place and nowhere else.
Kevin opened the lock and then the door of Ruth's abandoned house. As soon as he stepped in, there was a pungent smell and it was difficult to breathe in there. Kevin looked around and the house was indeed a nightmare. But he was soon going to find something that would give him goosebumps.
There was trash and human waste littered all over the floor. What was even Ruth up to? Kevin decided to look closely all around the place and find out what was going on. He saw something weird, and the truth would be revealed now...
Kevin saw a shelf leaning against the wall and when he touched the shelf, it opened a secret room. For a second, Kevin wanted to run away. Why would someone so old have a secret room with such a strange opening? But then he went inside.
The room was dark, and Kevin shivered as soon as he stepped inside it. Strangely, there was no bad odor in the room and there was no dump either. It was a very small room and the walls of the room were covered with pictures. And the pictures were of a baby.
But who was the baby in all the pictures? Ruth had no children. And why was this room hidden that way? Was this room the reason why Ruth had become what she was like, now? Kevin had so many questions but he was scared to ask Ruth about anything.
Kevin had no other option but to go outside the house because Ruth was waiting for him in her car. He took the picture of her parents and went outside. After handing over the picture to Ruth, Kevin saw Ruth give the brightest of smiles but he was scared of her now. What if she had some dark secrets which she was hiding about?
At first, Kevin and his wife had decided that they would help Ruth out in repairing her house. They wanted to clean it so that the old lady would have her house back. But the house was in such a bad state that Kevin now knew that he could not do it alone. And secondly, he was scared now.
After Kevin saw the room, he was not sure if Ruth was even the right person. He felt like he did not know her at all and all that she ever told him was a lie. Suddenly, he could not trust the lady. But he knew he would have to do something for his own mental peace.
Ruth had noticed that after Kevin went inside her house and brought the picture for her, he had become distant. She could see that he ignored her whenever he could and hardly shared a word with her anymore. And then one morning she saw him come to her anxiously.
Without any indirect questions, Kevin decided to be straightforward and asked Ruth plainly about the secret room. Ruth smiled and told Kevin that she had no children of her own and it was no one else's but her own room. It was the place where she spent her childhood. But then why did she lock it like that?
Ruth had no family and children of her own. She could never get pregnant because of her health conditions and whenever she saw her childhood room, it reminded her of children. She, therefore, could not bear the presence of it and locked it, intending never to look back inside the room.
After hearing Ruth's whole story, Kevin and his wife hugged Ruth and decided to go forward in helping her out. They made her understand that she could not be living in the car forever. They had to find a way out for the lady.
Since Kevin and his wife had just moved to the city and started a new job, they did not have a big house either. Kevin was not so well-off to fully take care of Ruth. And about Ruth's own house? It only had one solution to it, to burn it down.
Kevin called in help and told the team the whole situation of Ruth's house. The team investigated the whole house, trying to see if something could be done to save the place. But the conditions were so bad that there was only one option left and that was to burn the house.
All the rooms of the house had walls that were covered in black mold. The mold made the air toxic and therefore Ruth had no other option but to leave the house and abandon it. Even the experts said that this was the worst case that they had ever come across.
Kevin felt miserable when he came to know that there was no other option for Ruth to save her house. Somewhere inside, the man was guilty because he felt like he had made Ruth homeless by entering her house and seeing the condition.
Kevin now wanted to immediately find a place for Ruth so that she does not stay homeless. But he was himself new in the city and hardly knew anything about his round about's. Kevin felt heart-broken. He would never even have enough money to build a new house for Ruth.
When Kevin and his wife saw Ruth's house being burned, they decided to open a GoFundMe Page to raise donations from the general public for a new house for the old lady. Everyone who read about Ruth's story got emotional and wanted to help her.
All this while, Ruth was unaware that Kevin had been trying to help her get a new home. She just stood there, watching her house being burned down. She had lost the place where she had been living for so many years, and she could not do anything to save it.
And then came a call to Kevin, which changed everything. A non-profit organization saw Kevin's post on the GoFundMe Page and told Kevin about the home for the elderly which was willing to take Ruth in. Kevin finally had a solution for his dear friend!
Kevin told Ruth about the new home and the offer that he had received on call. The place was just ten miles away from Kevin's house. This meant that he could visit the place any time he wanted to and be in touch with Ruth. He would not have to lose his friend to a far off place.
Ruth accepted the request that Kevin made. She herself knew that she could not stay in the car for the rest of her life. And now her only other belonging, her house was also gone. So she would need shelter and Kevin's option seemed a nice one.
Ruth shifted to the home for the elderly and was finally under a roof after so many years. She felt happy there and the old lady now even had a family. All her friends at the place were like her family. She started enjoying that lifestyle.
Kevin visited Ruth every weekend and he was more than happy to see his friend recovering in her new home. Her mental health was now improving and she was leaving her depressed feelings behind. Each new day was better than the previous one.
Ruth had lost all her past memories and everything related to it when the house was burned. But she seemed happy in her new house. And Ruth would have missed all of this, her new friends and new family if she would have been still staying in her car.