Black Rose

Colouring in.

"Ophelia, really?" She smirked. "I mean, come on. It's Fendi. It's literally all over it."

"Am I supposed to know what Fendi is?" I asked, bitterly.

She smiled and reached forward, taking the coat from my hands. I didn't bother fighting. There was no point when I couldn't do anything with them anyway.

She took it across to the closet, found a hanger and put it away, then turned and held her hands out to pick up Jackson.

"Come on then, baby boy. Ophelia can help us too, hey?"

He glanced across at me then hesitantly nodded. Gwen smiled and lifted him into her arms, before turning to wander into the adjacent kitchen.

I pursed my lips and followed them, ignoring the annoyance and frustrating curiosity still inside me. Gwen set Jackson on a stool beside the island bench and hummed.

"Will we have banana pancakes or chocolate chip?" She asked Jackson. The little boy grinned.

"Chocolate chip!" He said excitedly.

Gwen smiled. "Alright, you're the boss."

She began pulling bowls and ingredients out and I just watched, not knowing what else to do. After a few moments, I cleared my throat and mustered up the courage to speak.

"Where is Blake?"

She stiffened, for a moment before shaking her head. "He's not here right now, Ophelia. He has work."

I frowned. "What happened last night? How come I am up here?"

She glanced at Jackson and set her jaw. "Let's talk about this later, Ophelia."

She was obviously trying to avoid talking about it around Jackson, who was watching us with a captivated curiosity.

I glanced at the little boy for a moment before slowly nodding. "Alright." I said.

She gave me a weak smile. "How about you go grab Jackson's markets, and you two can do some colouring in?" She asked.

"Alright." I said, giving Jackson a nervous smile. His face lit up.

"Go ahead, they're in his room down the hallway, in one of the cubbies closest to the door." Gwen said, and I nodded.

I moved past the kitchen and headed towards the room I had witnessed Gwen put Jackson to bed.

Sure enough, inside was filled with stuffed toys and kids furniture. Beside the door was a row of cubbies, and sure enough, when I looked in the closest one I found a big pencil case and a handful of colouring books.

I pulled them out and headed back to the kitchen.

Just as I was brushing past Jackson to put the colouring on the counter, I caught sight of something that made me stop in my tracks.

A purple and red bruise across the back of his neck.

Slowly, I set the colouring down on the bench, carefully reached over and lifted his curly hair to take a closer look. He paid no attention to my interest, instead choosing to focus on the colouring books I'd just given him.