"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.
But when the morning came, she realized that it wasn't a dream. It was real. As real as the boy standing by the door of her room with eyes that were too cold for someone who looked like a fifteen year old.
"What are you doing here?"
"You're my sister." He stated, his voice showing no trace of emotion. He walked into her room like he'd been there before.
"I'm your half brother, James." He said it like it was funny. "I'll be living with you from today."
She blanked. What? Was that even possible?
****
Words were thrown about harshly. Her parents were in a heated argument behind closed doors, again. Ruby heard snippets of their conversation. She pressed her ear to the door in other to hear clearly.
"You're a fool ,Bill, if you think I'd let that bastard stay here. In my house."
"Bridget... I didn't think she'd do that," Her Dad spoke. "I didn't think she'd just leave him here."
"Oh shut up! You knew you had a son. Hid it from me and your oh so precious daughter for fifteen good years." She hissed. "Is that why you've been so distant for so long? Making me to work so hard to make our family perfect." Her voice shook at the end and Ruby's mouth quivered as she listened.
"Bridget please don't. Don't leave me." He pleaded.
"If that boy is staying, I'm not. I'm going." Her voice held finality. "You only get one more of us, you cheating fool. And to think I still love you." Her voice broke at the last part. She sobbed loudly.
As she turned the knob, Ruby quickly flew away from the door.
"Ruby." Her mom breathed out as soon as she caught sight of her. Ruby noticed the lines on her mom's face. She looked stressed. And she was holding a bag. Holding a bag and crying. Tears where trickling down her face, her eyes red.
Ruby didn't want to think of the implications of that. Her mom wouldn't leave, right?
"Mom.. Tell me everything I heard is a joke." She asked, not wanting to believe that her family was really falling apart.
"It's not a joke. It's real. I'm leaving dear. I can't stay." Her eyes were misty and she looked like she was going to break down from the pent up frustration.
Ruby nodded as she felt her heart beat faster than usual. Her hands were clammy so she wiped it on her jeans.
"Are you coming or not?" Her mom asked her with a hopeful look. "We won't be gone for long. Just till your Dad fixes," She gestured around the hallway, "his mess."
Ruby stood, rooted to the spot. How could her mom ask her to make such a decision? She wanted her parents together. She wanted the three of them to just pretend like they were still a happy family. That last night didn't happen. She almost laughed at herself. She was the same person who had gotten angry at her parents for pretending. Now that everything had blown over, she wanted them to do just that. Maybe that was selfish of her. But she needed her family. Especially during the winter.
"I .. I can't mom. Do you have to go? Just stay." She pleaded.
"You are the one who'd called us out for pretending. I thought about what you said ya know. I need to go. To think about everything. If I stay here, I'd go mad. Because its not perfect anymore, Ruby. Our family is not perfect." She looked down at the floor, her knuckles white from clutching the small travel bag too tightly. "I failed."
Ruby wanted to hug her mom. She looked so vulnerable. She wanted to make everything go away. But, sadly, she couldn't.
"Take care of yourself. I'll call you regularly. And please don't do anything drastic. You're my only child." She kissed her forehead and gave her a tight hug.
"Goodbye mom." Ruby whispered and watched her mom leave.
"Ruby..."Her Dad came behind her, trying to talk to her.
Don't." She turned to him with disgust, pushing past him to her room.
Grabbing a jacket from the pile up clothes on her bed, she walked out of the house as fast as her legs could carry. She wasn't going to follow her mom, she just needed to breathe away from her house.
Feeling a burning stare, she turned back to find James standing at the door and looking at her with a blank expression. He was the catalyst of whatever was wrong with her family at that moment, but she couldn't blame him. At least not then.
A/N
Yay! New chapter.
Secrets. Secrets.
How was it?
Mackenzie the 2nd..... Out...