Misfits (#2)

2

Ripley and Leia like it too. I lug up Ripley's cage with Leia following my feet every morning for sunrises. They're used to it.

The slim and tiny room itself is where I paint. Easels and brushes and flecks of paint all over the walls. Not much room for anything else. Half-finished paintings lay scattered between rough sketches that I ripped from notebooks.

Messy. The only place where I can be a little messy.

I shut my eyes and breathe in the air from the open windows, sun gleaming onto the small lake. A moment, just a moment.

Once the sun's comfortable in the sky, I kiss Leia and rest her back in her spot. I look to a blank canvas and debate whether I start a fresh piece or perfect other ones. Shrugging, I lift up the large blank canvas, working on a new one.

I'm not a good painter, at all. But it's calming so I took it up. The hour passes by swiftly until the manor starts waking up and distantly, I hear Ruth calling. Tossing my supplies on the table, I make my way out.

With Ripley's cage under one arm and my sphinx curled up in my other, I do my best to tiptoe down the sunlit halls and staircases before Ruth can reach me. I'm not supposed to be awake and we secretly play this game every day. Beating the other.

I smile when I reach my room and don't see her, awkwardly attempting to use my pinky to open the door to my bedroom-

Someone clears their throat.

I almost drop my cat.

"Ruth!" I gasp at the same time she scolds, "Violet."

"You could've made me kill Leia." I look up at her accusingly, blowing the hair off my face with one leg in the air to rest Ripley's cage atop it.

That's a lie. I have a pretty good theory that my cat's immortal.

I also have a theory that Ruth's actually supernatural. Or she's just deathly silent. Someone's gotta get a bell on this woman. Or a loud speaker, alerting everyone of her presence.

She looks me up and down, my unusual position and snips bitterly, "One would think you're a zookeeper. Not a mogul's daughter."

"One would think you're a ghost. One also normally announces their arrival. What if I'd stood on her paw?" I do my best not to drop my girls, knowing I look stupid.

"I told you when you brought it home. That thing looks more like a wrinkled monstrosity than a cat." She says pompously, proud of herself now, "Where were you?"

"With my monstrosity." I hold Leia close to my chest and lift my chin, "And unless you want me to unleash her, in all her wrinkled glory, I suggest you be nicer to Leia."

We stare-down for a second. She's a tall woman, all hard lines and sharp glares but beautiful. Ink black hair and dark blue eyes to compliment them.

She's also as familiar to me as anybody. She's watched me grown up, scolded me like a mother and patched up my cuts. Ruth's the caretaker pretty much and has been there for my older brother's childhoods also.

Doesn't take away from the fact she's a meanie and her cold heart could probably survive in sub zero temperatures.

I'm exaggerating.

She doesn't even blink, "You look like a horrid mess."

Never mind.

I try to straighten up, knowing I hadn't really brushed my hair and frown, "It's seven in the morning."

"You still look like a mess." She says dryly, standing tall above me in all her confident glory.

I manage to grasp a hold of my doorknob, twisting it and sending a tight smile to Ruth as acknowledgement for her great help. I slip inside and kick the door shut behind me.