Hexus: Neo

>18< Hollow

[9:23AM, January 11, UTC +08:00]

"Hannah, please tell your sister to give us our privacy."

"Why? So you can give more pathetic excuses? Haven't already you done enough?"

"Look, this is between both of us, alright? I just came for a talk, not a confrontation. Besides, I don't understand why you're getting involved when we all know you're not exactly the queen of moral support."

PAULA scoffed at Tim's smug expression; he probably thought his words had struck a nerve. She couldn't say she was sorry for choosing not to stick by her sister's side through this whole messy impending-divorce situation. She wouldn't have been able to do much anyway, and their last argument only reduced her motive to be around. The only reason she was here now was because she had been in Perth for the last four days – trying to convince her cousin Walter to move his children into the clubhouse, which had proven to be complete failure – so she decided to use the opportunity of being in the same geographical area to hold out the olive branch and see how her sister was faring. And possibly get some breakfast in the process.

Then Tim came in and she had to let her tea go cold.

"Paula, it's okay. Just...leave us for a minute."

She turned. Hannah's eyes were sunken and bloodshot, her face a mask of indifference, like she had shut down all her emotions and given up on everything. Paula swallowed her retort as she turned and gave Tim her best withering leer.

"I need to pee. But make one false move and I'll turn your lying cheating ass into an unsolved mystery."

She walked out of the kitchen and stomped up the stairs, trying to dispel her irritation with every forceful step, and made a beeline for the bathroom, stepping over the spot on the carpet where a small nearly-invisible bloodstain marked the tether point she used for her exit portals. She was halfway down the hall when she heard a shuffling sound. She frowned as she looked in the direction it came from. The door was slightly ajar, and she nudged it open tentatively and walked in. The room was dank, like it hadn't been properly ventilated in days, with shoes and clothes strewn about and pop icon posters on the wall. She was about to step out when she heard a muffled squeak behind her, and turned to meet wide fearful brown eyes.

"Oh, it's just you," she said with a sigh. "Wait, shouldn't you be in school?"

Violet eyes reflected guilt as she wrung her hands. "I...I saw Daddy's car coming and I came back because I wanted to...Please don't tell Mummy."

Paula exhaled. She used her foot to slowly close the door behind her and moved to sit on the unmade bed. Violet remained beside the door, staring vacantly back into the room.

"Daddy is never coming back home, is he?"

Paula wasn't sure how to respond, and any comforting words she had to say would have been fruitless considering the raised angry voices coming from downstairs.

"No."

"Are they going to have a divorce?"

The truth was bitter, but giving the girl false hope was worse.

"Yes."

"Mummy said he has another family. So he doesn't want us anymore?"

"I guess not."

Violet's shoulders started shaking and she squeaked out a sob as she slid to sit on the ground.

"Doesn't he love us anymore?"

Paula gripped the edge of the mattress as a sensation of panic rose. She knew this was coming, but she still felt unprepared for it. She had virtually no experience with children nor their feelings, and now she was trapped with a thirteen year old who was having an emotional breakdown and looking to her for answers.