Fraying Edges

| SIXTEEN |

"Hello Dad."

Two words. Just two words set off a bomb inside her. She felt her insides explode into a million pieces. She had known that something had been wrong with her family, but she just hadn't guessed this.

She had a brother. How? Why?

She felt her heart twist and turn. Her face burned. Her breathes came out in an irregular pattern. The snow didn't seem so beautiful anymore. She'd thought that the winter would be peaceful. It was just the start and this had to happen.

Winters were always sad for her. Cold. Empty. Dark. So why did she think that it'd be any better? The news she had heard had shattered her. It had crushed her, from the inside-out.

Her family had always been her support during the winter season. Now, it seemed like they were worsening it. Like they were slowly grinding the little pieces of sanity she had. Into powder. And leaving it to float in thin air, dancing in the cold winter air and mixing with the snow.

She had a brother. It felt too much. She had a brother, she sang it in her head over and over. Like a song she couldn't get rid of. No matter how much she tried to.

Her mom looked still. She did not look shocked, she just looked still. Her face was as blank as a clean sheet. Ruby did not understand. How did her mom not look shocked? Could she have known about all this? She turned to her Dad, he looked ashamed. His face was contorted and filled with anguish.

He'd known, she thought. She felt betrayed. She'd trusted her Dad more than anyone else and he had failed her. She couldn't believe that the man she had watched marathons of Barbie and Captain America with was a cheater.

Sudden rage sparked inside Ruby as she spoke up with a sneer. "What's the proof?" She needed to see tangible proof to confirm it. She needed to feed her questioning mind with answers.

"Look at him. He's clearly mixed." Madeline pronounced the words like Ruby was a five year old.

Ruby looked at him - really looked at him, the boy who'd uttered the words she was sure she would not forget in a long time. He had brown skin, his mom's eyes she guessed, but his hair had the texture of her dad. It could be anyone, she thought. "Any black man could be his father," she stated.

"Ah... What a genius you are, my dear." Madeline reached into her purse and brought a paper and handed it to Ruby. She grasped it with forceful need. The need to know. To believe.

Ruby opened it with shaky hands and gasped. No!

"It can't be..."

"Oh but it is."

She handed the paper to her mom who stood rigid beside her. Her Dad was oddly quiet and refused to make eye contact with her, his eyes finding deep interest in the floor.

Madeline was smiling sickly, watching the family slowly fall apart. She was a sadist. As sadist as she could be.

James stood in front of her. His face a blank mask. Why would he show any emotion? He was trained by a woman like Madeline. So he just stood still after uttering a statement that would forever change the lives of the Grayson's.

Ruby let the ache wash over her. She let it pass over her soul and inner mind. In order not to break down in front of everyone, she pulled herself up, adjusted a few powdery pieces of the little sanity that she had left and fumbled with their house key.

She needed to be away from the madness.

Opening the door, she fled to her room. Her sanctuary. The only place that she felt like she had control of, wishing that she'd hear it was all a stupid dream in the morning.