The Rapunzels ONC 2024

10: The House Made of Lies

I come up to Lu's room to tell my sisters I intend on waking the stranger, instead, I am greeted with stony faces and an open bottle of white wine waiting on Lulu's desk.

"What's this?" I walk to the wine and pick it up. The bottle of Pinot Gris looks like it belongs in my grasp. Like it was created to be a part of this moment. In the glistening light of the chandelier, the liquid inside looks precious.

"I stole it for you. For your birthday. Happy eighteenth, Fia," Lulu exclaims trying to sound happy but she sounds like a deflated balloon. "Lexi and I thought you might like it. We remembered that we tried Pinot once and you told us it was the best thing you'd ever drunk." 

"Thank you." Even though this belonged to my mother, as well, I'm grateful for a gift that doesn't look like puke. I am thankful my sisters thought of getting me something. It's not like they could venture out and grab a gift from a shop.

I bring the bottle to my nose. The scent of the wine washes over me like a caress. I am used to pouring drinks for my mother, but never for my sisters or me. I've drunk before, as have Lexi and Lulu, but only a handful of times. And apart from that one time, it's always been some crappy-tasting stuff my mother called Merry Melon Coolers which had the flavour of pity and someone wanting to destroy what cantaloupe tasted like.

"They were dancing again," Lu states. "There were two empty bottles of champagne on the table and flour on those little mirrors. Father must have a horrible cold. He kept sniffing into the mirror."

But that's not what upset us. Hell, we'd seen them dancing with their alcohol and flour before. It's what Lulu tells us next that dunks my heart into my toes and makes me want to run downstairs and bash their sickening skulls into the walls.

"I overheard them talking about us." Lulu clears her throat. "Imagine if they kneeew, Tyrone," Lu's impression of Lilin is spot on, even to the last detail where she meshes her Es and Ws together so they create a long EWWWW sound. "Those silly fillies."

Lulu shifts to Tyrone's tone, "Those rotten girls won't ever know, Lil. They are easy to sway. I could tell them the sun tastes like chili peppers and they'd believe it."

I hand the bottle to Lexi. Her lips are a fine line. She doesn't like what she's hearing either. I know she'd rather tell Lulu to shut it, but she hesitates and remains silent. Lex begins to pour. She is holding onto the items so hard I can see her fingertips pressing into the glass. "To the brim?" 

"You'd better."

"Shush you two, I'm not done," Lu scolds us. Clearing her throat, she continues, "Curses and NASA and for fuck's sake, flour... our lovely cocaine. Silly fillies believing -"

Cocaine? As in the drug? Lexi and I are holding our breath. "Believing what?" I demand?

Lulu flops on her bed and shrugs. "How should I know? Mother passed out. Father had to carry her upstairs." My sister fidgets with a lock of her hair, she's gnawing on her lips nervously so I ask her if she's sure there wasn't more for her to tell us. "Umm, well..." Lulu keeps chewing so I tell her to stop. "Mother was wearing red," she whispers and then slides her finger under her top to pull out her white bra strap. "It was really red." She lets go and adjusts her top modestly.

Lexi gasps and nearly drops her untouched wine. "The Devil!"

Lulu shakes her head. "No Devil came, Lex." Her voice is laced with hurt and betrayal.

What if the flour is cocaine? How the hell did they acquire it? They think we are idiots. What if they are lying...No, no, no, they are lying! I am certain! My world comes crumbling down.

I cradle my glass and bow into the rim. The scent is pleasant, like an old friend who I very much need. I want to down it and then head to my parents' room and start screaming. But I know it would all be in vain. "What if there's no curse," the words come out of my mouth before I even get the chance to think that was what I wanted to say. 

I look up. The contents of Lulu's glass are magically gone. She looks confused while Lexi looks three shades paler than usual.

"Girls, what if Tyrone and Lilin have been lying to us our whole lives?"