Kaylee couldn't remember the last time she had made snow-angels.
Ever since Ruby went missing, Kaylee's stepmother had forbidden Kaylee to set foot out of the house. That had been five years ago, as they awaited her sister's return, hearts breaking a little more whenever the bed adjacent Kaylee's remained untouched.
When would Ruby return?
Kaylee continued to glare at the falling snow, as if it were their faults Ruby was gone while she was trapped inside, but the snow paid no heed to the anger boiling in the 17 year old. Instead, they continued to dance in the air and plaster themselves on the windows, until all Kaylee could see was white.
Sometimes she wished she were snow; she'd waltz through the chilly air, dissipating when spring arrived, and do it all over again. If she were snow, no house could lock her in.
Kaylee slid off the windowsill and walked toward her bookshelf. Her hands glided past the fragile spines, before it stopped on a noticeably thicker one. With a steady grip, Kaylee pulled out the Grimm's Fairy Tales Collection and opened it to the page she had caressed more than a thousand times. She started to read
Once upon a time, a queen sits sewing at an open window during a winter snowfall when she pricks her finger with her needle, causing three drops of red blood to drip onto the freshly fallen white snow on the black windowsill.
Then, she says to herself, "How I wish that I had a daughter that had skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony."
Some time later, the queen gives birth to a baby daughter whom she names Snow White, but the queen dies in childbirth a short while later.
She loved reading fairytales. When Ruby disappeared, she'd immerse herself in the world full of princesses, castles, and knights who kissed you awake, while stepmother raged and yelled at the world full of despair, heartbreak, and the daughter who ran away.
Sometimes she'd also yell at the daughter who didn't.
Kaylee would find solace in the pages filled with true love's kissed and happy endings to mask the pain of her stepmother's slaps.
When would Ruby return?
Kaylee was about to turn the page, when her stepmother came stomping into the room. The temperature immediately dropped to a chill, and it wasn't because of the cold weather.
"Dumb girl! Why are you reading those stupid stories, when you can be doing something useful like me around here! You're as useless as your sister, and she's not even here!" her stepmom yelled before wrenching the book from her grasp and boxing Kaylee's ears.
This had happened one too many times that Kaylee just sat there, absorbing all the hatred like a sponge helplessly submerged in a barrel of acid.
Sometimes she only got slapped once in a week, but other times she would be flung around like a ragdoll and it would take all her might not to burst at the seams of her sanity.
She didn't remember exactly when her stepmom started using her as a punching bag, but she did remember the fatal consequences she would face if she tried to avoid them.
A year back, her stepmom had had a bad day. Walking into the house, she hurled a can of soup straight at Kaylee and it would have dislocated her jaw if Kaylee hadn't ducked.
The can of soup spiralled into the wall behind her, leaving a splattering mess of liquid, and Kaylee almost wished she hadn't ducked. Her stepmom started screaming about how Kaylee was ungrateful and spoiled, and all Kaylee wanted to do was run away, run anywhere as long as it was away from the monster her stepmom had morphed into.
That was the day Kaylee received her first of many scars.
Her stepmom had brought out a small pocketknife and started swinging it viciously at her. She missed any vital parts but it gashed Kaylee's face from her left eyebrow to her chin, breaking the porcelain-like skin, replacing it with jagged patches of red lightning.
Kaylee knew later on that evening, her stepmother's fire would fizzle out the way it always did, and Kaylee would remain silent as her stepmother take antiseptic and bandages out of the cupboards. She would then proceed to tend to Kaylee's wounds, while whispering words of affection that rang hollow in Kaylee's ears.
Kaylee instinctively touched her imperfect face, and her hands strayed to the various scars she had earned for the last five years.
Her body was a map of purple mountains and black valleys no Prince Charming could fix.
Of course Kaylee had considered crying for help, but who would be there to hear her plea? Their house was located ontop of an isolated mountain, there were no powerlines in the vicinity, no phones in the proximity, and she was never allowed outside.
There were times she was on the brink of escaping, but the unfathomable hope for Ruby's return was far greater than Kaylee's yearn to break free of her stepmother's iron grip.
She remained locked in the tumultuous cycle of torture, holding onto the fact that one day, her sister would come back and all would be well.
The way it used to when they were still a happy family.
Snapping out of her reminiscence, Kaylee found herself on the cold linoleum floor, as her stepmother's footsteps faded into the background. Her bookshelf had been overturned, and books lay scattered on the floor alongside what once was her safe haven.
Glue could fix a book from tearing, but it couldn't stop her heart from breaking.
When would Ruby return?
The Ruby who would stand up for herself, the Ruby who wasn't afraid of anything and anyone, the Ruby who faced the world with fierce eyes and a bold red lip. Without Ruby, Kaylee crumbled to dust under the slightest pressure, just how snowflakes disintegrated when you touched it.
As Kaylee repaired her weary bookshelf, something glimmering caught her eye. Her trembling fingers clasped the shiny metal box, and she slowly opened it.
The first thing she focused upon was a sheet of parchment paper, with ink hastily scribbled all over it. It reminded her of a 12-year-old's handwriting, when realization hit her. Her eyes greedily inhaled what was left of Ruby's younger self.
Dear Kaylee,
I never meant to leave you. We've spent literally every waking moment together, and i couldn't have asked for a better sister. But when father never came back, i had to find him.
I've always been the more adventurous one between us two, but you've always been the more nurturing one, and i believe you can take care of our stepmother while i'm gone. I can sense father's departure is taking a toll on her.
I don't know why i decided to hide this letter from you, perhaps part of me still thinks this isn't the right choice, but we can't give up. I can't give up on someone who was is a main character in our lives.
I will return. Do protect mother and yourself. I love you.
Ruby
Despite being in pain, Kaylee managed to voice out a sarcastic laugh. Protect her stepmother? Kaylee was the one who needed the protection. She lifted up the letter when her gaze zeroed on what lay underneath.
It was a knife.
The blade mirrored her own shocked face as she stumbled back from the box as if the knife had cut her. She had seen knives before, but only kitchen or pocket knives her stepmother always kept well-hidden.
This knife had a solid leather hilt, and a needle-sharp tip. It wasn't just a knife, it was a dagger.
And everyone knows you used daggers to kill.
Kaylee cautiously cradled the weapon as if it were a fragile piece of glass, as the gleaming metal reflected the winter sun spiralling through her frost-bitten windows. Adrenaline surged through her veins with the sudden knowledge of power, but doubt still resided at the back of her head. If her stepmother would get worse, would Kaylee dare to stab her in the heart?
Would she even dare raise the dagger at all?
Before Kaylee could put much thought into it, heels came clacking into the room. Kaylee frantically stuffed the blade under her sheets, as her stepmom appeared with tape and glue. All traces of anger were gone from her complexion, masked by what Kaylee had once perceived as love. But now she knew better.
"Oh dear! That's your favorite book! How could you let it tear like that?" her stepmother gasped in an innocent manner, as if she wasn't the one to blame for the ruination of the book. "Let me fix it for you, because i'm sure you wouldn't be able to repair it yourself." She continued condescendingly, and at another time, Kaylee would have let the snide remark slide.
But the blade beneath her sweaty thighs gave her a voice to say something, say anything.
"Why are you so evil to me?"
The words were out of her parched lips before Kaylee could do anything else.
Her stepmother froze, shoulders tensed as the mask of deception slowly peeled off from her face. "What did you say?" she replied in a deafening whisper, although her demeanour indicated she had heard Kaylee the first time.
"Ever since father and Ruby left, y-you've turned into this monster-" Kaylee didn't get to finish her sentence because her stepmother had slapped the words right out of her mark. It left a burning mark on Kaylee's cheek, but it only added fuel to the fire raging inside her.
"You're always mad, you always hit me and even after you cool down, you never ever say sorry, or explain what and why you punish me." Kaylee's voice rose an octave, as her stepmother turned paler than the snow, not used to having someone talk back to her.
Kaylee's left wrist was nearly yanked out of its socket as the monster forced Kaylee to face her. Its demonic eyes seemed to pierce into Kaylee's soul.
"I'm doing this for you! I'm doing this so you don't grow up to be as completely useless and ugly as you already are! This is called discipline, so stop being an ungrateful brat and a disgrace to your mother who's the fairest of them all!" spittle flew out her stepmother's deranged mouth, as a wicked hand slithered around Kaylee's throat and started squeezing.
Moving to its own accord, Kaylee's other arm reached beneath the sheets for the hilt.
Her stepmother's razor-sharp eyes identified the slight movement, and pounced upon Kaylee. Kaylee couldn't think, but she didn't have to. Her hands did all the work for her as she watched her right arm come up and plunge the blade into her stepmother's thigh.
A blinding scream, followed by an ocean of red was all Kaylee could see as she raced out her room, towards the dining area, and finally out the front door.
A gust of air raced mercilessly toward her, nearly drowning the breath out of her lungs, but Kaylee kept on running, the blood-soaked dagger in one hand, and her tattered book in the other.
Droplets of scarlet danced across the snow, as Kaylee ran from the place she had once called home.
•
From a far, the Tree cracked open one eye. Winter was no place for apples, so it had gone to sleep, but the innocent cry from a fragile young girl woke it from its slumber.
As if by magic, the Tree magically sprouted a single red apple. Unbeknownst to the wonders uncurling above her head, Kaylee continued to run, until the forests swallowed her up.