On the way up the stairs, I paused to look at the many photos that lined the wall, almost all of them of Stevie, from her first day of school to her graduation, and photos of her on her birthday—well, our birthday.
The one that got my attention had Stevie, Dad, and me in it. We must have been about 4 years old, and one of us was perched on each of his knees and smiling. I wished I could have gone with my Dad and Stevie when they left, but my mom wouldn’t let both of us go. Truth be told, she only wanted to keep one of us so Dad had to pay her child support.
Stevie noticed I had stopped following her up the stairs, and she came back down and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. She knew it was hard for me to see the photos. She had a happy childhood and a loving parent. I had neither.
“He never stopped loving you, and he talked about you all the time.”
“Then why did he never fight for me? He never came back once after you left, Stevie, He left me with her! I would have given my firstborn child to have been with you and Dad. I never had a choice.”
I knew she wouldn’t have let me go with them, no matter what Dad said, but it still hurt to have been virtually abandoned. My sister looked at me with such pity in her eyes, but I didn’t want her pity or anyone else’s. I had no intention of letting my mother’s abuse define me. I am not a victim; I am a survivor.
“I don’t know, Ryan. For years I asked him if you could come for the holidays or if I could go visit you and Mom. He always said no to me visiting you. He rang Mom a few times to ask if you could come here. He told her it wasn’t healthy to keep us apart. She would always tell him he could see you again when he got over himself and came back to her.”
After that, there wasn’t much to say, so I just sighed and started my trek up the stairs. Once at the top, she opened the second door on the right. The room was beautiful, with painted pink walls and a queen-sized bed in the middle of the room. There was a unicorn plushie perched on the bed, even. I used to love unicorns. There was a single dresser on the far wall with little snow globes on top. I made my way over to inspect them further, only to be distracted by a note on the side table by the bed that was addressed to me. I raised a brow at Stevie in question.
“The letter is from Dad. He wrote it to you the week he passed. It was like he almost knew what was coming. Dad always said one day you would come back here. He never gave up hope, Ry. He wanted his girls back together. This was supposed to be your room.”
I looked to my sister, my mouth hanging open. Her words set an ache in my heart. I had dreamed of a room like this when I was little, instead of the dirty mattress on the floor with no sheets. Mom never spent money on things that weren’t an absolute necessity. She always told me I should be grateful it wasn’t the floor.
“If he wanted me to come back here so bad, why didn't he open the front door and let me see you when I came here, Stevie? I don’t understand any of this.” I was trying so hard to hold back the tears.
My sister looked at me with utter heartbreak in her eyes, and I forced myself to swallow down the pain. I couldn’t take that look from her.
“Don’t worry, Stevie. I just want to grab a shower and relax. It’s supposed to be a happy time. We’re finally together again, and no one is here to tear us apart this time. We'll deal with all this other crap later.”
She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She simply took my hand in hers and squeezed it tight once before leaving me in my pink room with my unicorn and my grief.
---
After having a long, hot shower, some of the stress from my drive and my childhood memories start to ease. I was thankful for that; I didn’t want to spoil this time with my sister and cousins by living in the past.
While brushing out my hair and staring at myself in the mirror, I thought about how different mine and Stevie’s personalities are. She has such a carefree spirit, and I always worry and over-think things. She has so much confidence and could hold her own in a room full of beautiful people, whereas I would sit in a corner, hoping no one would notice I was even there.
I leave the bathroom quickly and changed into my favorite pair of jeans, which had tears on the knee part. I grab the first shirt I can find: it’s a Harley Quinn and Joker printed T-shirt. What can I say? I loved their crazy, unorthodox love. It made me want to find someone who would love all my craziness. I loved how they both changed to fit together as one. I wanted someone to love me the way the Joker loves Harley—but with less homicide.
As I started to descend the stairs, I could hear raised voices. I wasn’t planning on listening to their conversation, but when I heard my name, I couldn’t help it. I crouched on the stairs and listened intently.
“What do you mean, Ryan doesn’t know?” Alex snapped.
“Keep your voice down, Alex, I haven’t had a chance to tell her, and Dad never got around to it. He thought he had more time.” I could hear the hurt in Stevie’s voice when she mentioned our dad.
Our father died suddenly, three months after Stevie and I turned eighteen. I did not attend his funeral, as I thought he wouldn’t want me there. I would learn later that was not the case at all, and I would forever regret not attending and saying goodbye to my dad.
“She has to be told who she really is and what she is capable of before she hurts herself or someone else, Stevie.” Chase sounded annoyed at Stevie’s reluctance.
“I plan on telling her when the time is right. She has been through a lot, and just being here, in this house, is hard for her. She didn’t grow up like us, with a loving parent. She has built all these walls up around herself, and I don’t want to drop this on her and risk her having a breakdown.” Wow, clearly it was something big if she thought I would have a breakdown.
I couldn’t quite understand what this big secret was that they were keeping from me. I mean, I know we didn’t all grow up together, but we always found ways to talk on the phone.
When they came to visit, I would sneak out after Mom fell asleep or passed out. She only caught me sneaking out once, and let me tell you, I couldn’t sit for a week afterward. She whipped me like a dog, splitting the skin on my rear open. I screamed so loud I thought the neighbors would call the cops.
Hell, I wanted them to call them. After getting whipped twelve times, I was locked in my room for the next two days, with no food or water, just my mattress and a bucket in the corner.
“You need to tell her soon Stevie, or Chase and I will. She has a right to know, for God’s sake. She could have protected herself from your mom, if you or your dad had just told her,” Alex whisper shouted. This was getting more interesting by the minute.
“Don’t you fucking think we wanted to, Alex? We tried to tell her so many times. We went to their house six times and got turned away by my so-called mother. She said if we ever came back, she would expose us to the humans! What do you think we should have done? Kept going back? Risk being exposed to the world? That drunken, drugged-up bitch would have sung like a bird, and you know it!” Stevie had so much hate in her voice when she mentioned our mother.
I was done listening to their conversation about me, which was happening without me, my fury building as I heard about things for the first time. Unfortunately, as I turned to go back upstairs, my foot caught on the stair tread, and I fell, letting out an involuntary shriek as I bounced and rolled. I was waiting for the last bang when I knew I would connect with the tile floor, but suddenly I stopped.When I opened my eyes, I saw my sister and cousins in the kitchen doorway, mouths hanging open and eyes wide. I looked down and realized my body was levitating a few inches off the floor and emanating a blue light. I let out another scream, and my body dropped the remainder of the way to the ground with a thud. Within seconds, the others were on either side of me, barking questions.“Are you ok, Ry?”“How did you do that?”“Are you hurt anywhere?”I couldn’t t
Stevie and I were dragging our bags down the stairs, when we heard Chase yell out.“Yo! Cab’s here! Move your asses, ladies; we need to go.”Stevie and I glanced at each other, grinning in anticipation. We hurried the rest of the way down the stairs to the front door. I followed Alex out with my suitcase trailing behind me, and Stevie stopped just outside the door. I turned to see her holding her hand over the door handle whispering something, and then I saw her hand glow.I gasped and almost tripped on the path by the taxi. I thought I was the only weird one—a freak, as my mom used to say. Stevie began to walk toward me with her bags in tow, eyebrows raised as she saw my expression.“Ry, why do you look so shocked?” Stevie asked“Your hand! I saw what you did. I saw your hand glow,” I screeched.Stevie shared a look with the boys before bringing
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling silly for saying that to someone who was just a figment of my imagination but compelled to apologize for all the same.“Never be sorry, mi amor. I will take whatever time you give me.” I smiled at his sweet words.“Now that I am here, what would you like to do?”“I wish we had time, mi amor, but you are nearly at your destination now, and I must get back. I will visit you soon and explain everything, I promise.” What the hell was wrong with me? My dream guys were always weird like they actually had somewhere else to be. Sometimes I wondered if my subconscious was trying to make them seem more real.“Okay Kai, sure thing. Next time I want les
“Keep your damn voice down. I have no idea how he would even know she exists. Dad made sure no one knew about her to keep her safe. I wonder how long he has been visiting her if it is him?” Alex butted in. “Long enough for her to feel the need to protect him from us. She doesn’t want us to know that he visits her, and she doesn’t even know who he is.” I came around the corner then, having had enough of all this talk behind my back. They needed to start telling me the truth, right now. “I need to learn what? And who the fuck is coming for me?” They all spun around in shock. Stevie pursed her lips, obviously annoyed that I had been listening in on their conversation, but I didn’t care about her feelings right now. “Why don’t you have a seat, and we can start from the beginning and work our way up to the why and what, okay?” Chase was looking at me with pleading eyes, so I nodded and took a seat
“Stevie, it’s not your fault...” I didn’t get a chance to finish before Alex cut in. “We have company.” Chase moved to stand in front of me as if to shield me from our visitor. Stevie and Alex stood on either side of Chase, their bodies coiled tight with tension. I didn’t hear a car or even footsteps. “Well, well, the infamous Knox family has returned.” The man’s voice sent shivers down my spine, and not in a good way, either. “Tell me, Miss Knox, where is your father? Surely the great Ralph Knox did not let his prized daughter come here alone, unprotected?” The man’s voice had a harsh edge to it, and you could tell from the condescending way he spoke my father’s name that he hadn’t liked him. I didn’t understand why. This was the first time Stevie had been here, so how did he know her or my dad? Before I could think about it more, my sister spoke. “Randall Can
While standing in the shower, letting the water rinse away the day, I couldn’t stop my mind from going over all that I had learned, not only about myself but my family and even the world as I knew it. I would never have thought that a family could keep such secrets from each other. I finally gave up on trying to piece the puzzle which was my life together, and sighed and got out of the shower. I put my robe on and left my hair in a towel, deciding it was best to worry about my unruly mane later. As I was going through my bags, I realized I didn’t have anything suitable to wear. Or at least I didn’t think so. I’d never been to a party with witches, warlocks, vampires, and werewolves. I was just working up the nerve to go ask about the dress code when someone starts knocking on my door. Without waiting for an invitation, the door opened and my sister poked her head in. “Jesus, Stevie, I’m not even dressed yet.” “Oh please, Sissy
With that said, she slipped out of the back seat to join the boys. I took one last deep breath and did the same. Chase offered me his arm, and I linked to mine through his and gave him a nervous smile. He patted my arm and gave me a wink. Alex and Stevie led the way. Aswe approached the stairs leading to the front door, I start worrying I might trip and break my ankle.I was never any good at wearing heels, but Stevie insisted I wear them because "Converse was not acceptable to wear with a dress."I felt like everything was on display: my back was bare; my breasts were just barely covered. The slits up the sides were making me worry if a gust of wind came, everyone would be able to see the G-string I had on.As we reached the top of the stairs, Alex gave the guards a curt nod. The guards opened the two massive wooden front doors, and immediately I am assaulted by classical music and voices and laughter. I don’t know what I was expecting, but t
After making our way back inside and maneuvering through the crowds of people, Stevie leads us down the hallway near where we entered. We stopped outside a large wooden door. Alex knocked and we waited to be invited in. “Enter!” a voice shouted from behind the door. Alex opened the door, and we all filed in. The room was decorated in rich browns and maroon, with oil paintings in elaborate gilded frames. The fire was lit, and above the mantle, there was a portrait of a woman in a lavender gown, with a small hat atop her head. Her face was fanned with black curls and her skin was luminescent, even in a painting. She had the richest and vibrant violet eyes. They reminded me of Nico’s. I heard someone cough and turned to see Randall standing behind a massive oak desk. Behind him were floor-to-ceiling windows that perfectly framed the view of the forest and mountains. He waved us over to the other side of the room, where there were two couches and