It was now almost 3am as Alexandra stood at the front porch of her parents' house. A small lamp above her lit up the place just enough for her to see. She reached for her keys and slowly unlocked the door, making sure not to make a single sound for fear of waking her parents up.
Yet, she pushed open the door to reveal her parents already sitting on the couch as if they already somehow knew she was coming home that night. They had their arms crossed over their chest and a serious look was etched onto their faces.
Their eyes met and they were only looking at one another for a while before her eyes landed on someone else.
The same woman who was once all up on her husband was now standing in the living room in the same dress as earlier but with a mug in her hand this time. She had a smug look plastered across her face.
"Hey Al," she greeted with a knowing smile.
Shock and anger washed over her all at once and she could almost hear herself breathing heavily. A heavy silence hung in the air for what felt like an eternity before Alexandra finally broke it.
"What is she doing here?" She pointed at the woman as she spat those words out like they were poison in her mouth while the woman stood there with her eyes wide, feigning innocence.
"What do you mean? Hannah is your older sister," her mum explained like it was nothing while her sister only stood aside with a slight grin on her face.
And for a split second, she felt as if her whole world stopped spinning and everything came to a pause. She couldn't believe her ears. Her sister? Was everything a lie?
"Hey lil sister," Hannah greeted as she slung one arm over her shoulder with a smirk plastered across her face, jolting Alexandra back to reality. "Did you forget about me already?"
Everything suddenly made sense now. The dark hair, the dark brown eyes, and the dimple. She didn't know at that time but it turns out that Hannah was her dad's daughter he had with his first wife and she had grown up overseas elsewhere as a child.
"Get your filthy hands off me," Alexandra demanded as she shoved her sister's arm off of her shoulders. From the corner of her eye, she could already see that her room was now filled with a mess that wasn't hers.
"Alexandra! Is that how you speak to your sister?" Her mum's voice boomed loudly in the back.
"No, but that's how I speak to homewreckers," she retorted with a grin on her face.
"Alexandra Willow Smith!" Her dad clenched his fist and banged it against the table in front of him as he stood up from the couch. The loud bang rang beside her ears, echoing in the tiny space, making her jump a little.
"Dad!" Hannah rushed to her father's side almost instantly, and Alexandra watched as her sister gently rubbed his arm to calm him down while looking at him with her tear-stained face.
"It's okay, don't be mad, it's bad for your health. I'm sure she didn't mean it," Hannah comforted as Alexandra let out a cold chuckle.
"We heard what happened from Hannah," her mum started.
For a moment, her eyes lit up in hopes that maybe this time her parents would finally be on her side, that maybe for once her parents would be comforting her instead. For some stupid reason, she actually believed they would stand up for her.
But that glimpse of hope disappeared as quickly as the fire in the strong wind.
"Dad and I think that you should apologise to your sister," her mum continued, looking straight in her eyes, as though what was coming out of her mouth didn't sound like it was absolutely fucking nuts.
Growing up, Alexandra doesn't exactly have the best relationship with her parents but they do still talk every now and then. She knew her parents were never really there for her, but she didn't exactly expect it to be the same this time round, especially not for a girl who didn't even spend her childhood with them.
Alexandra dropped her bags on the ground with a loud thud. "Why should I? If anything, she should be the one apologising to me!" She yelled, her voice breaking towards the end.
"Stop being unreasonable Al. Did you know that she injured herself because of you? You were in the wrong for pushing her, because of you she cut herself in her arm."
"I don't fucking care what happened to her!"
"Hey, watch your language young lady," her dad warned once again.
"Did she forget to tell you that she was also fucking around with MY husband?"
The shock that was once on their faces quickly faded as if it was nothing, seemingly convincing themselves that it was normal and okay in less than a second.
"She's still your sister, you know? Can't you be a little more understanding? Besides, you are always at work, Ethan probably just wanted some company. You wouldn't want him to be lonely, do you?"
"Stop calling her my sister, she's not my sister, she's a fucking whore!" Alexandra screamed at her mother this time.
"Don't say that about your sister." Of course, her dad would be siding with her sister instead just as she had expected the moment they opened their mouths.
"Dad…" She could hear Hannah mumbling to her dad once more.
"Don't yell at Alexandra, she's still my little sister after all."
Her dad took in one deep breath as if to calm himself down before he spoke again. "You should be grateful that Hannah is always so kind and understanding even after all the nasty things you have just said about her," he remarked ever so casually.
There was a short pause as silence lingered in the air. She wanted to scream at her parents for taking her sister's side again. She wanted to grab the chair that was sitting next to her and throw it right at her parents. But she couldn't even muster the strength to do so, all she felt was the looming disappointment as she continued to stare at the ground.
There was a lump in her throat as she had one hand on her chest, her voice was barely above a whisper. "Do you guys even care about my feelings? About me?" She looked back up at both her parents with tears filling up at the brim of her eyes and a sour feeling in her nose.
But of course, she was only greeted with silence, it was nothing unfamiliar to her anyway.
"Why are you guys always taking her side? I'm your daughter too, you know." A tear rolled down her cheek this time as she bit her lower lip to stop it from quivering.
She watched how her own mother rolled her eyes in front of her. "You are being ridiculous, we are not taking anyone's side," her mother said with disdain, dismissing Alexandra while watching her cry her eyes out.
"Are you seriously crying?" Her dad asked. It felt as though he was almost mocking her, she didn't care if that wasn't his intention. Upon hearing this, Alexandra quickly wiped away any signs of tears off her face and let out another cold chuckle involuntarily.
She took in one deep breath and looked up at them with a forced smile. "I shall not interrupt you guys and your little family time," she said sarcastically as she started grabbing her things.
"What do you think you are doing?" Her mum asked, her eyebrows furrowed together, a slight frown on her face as if to show that she disapproved of what she was doing. Alexandra looked up and they locked eyes but she didn't say another word, only giving her mother a wry smile.
"Where do you think you are going, young lady?" Her mum asked again as Alexandra headed out towards the door with her bag in her hand.
"As if you would care," Alexandra replied coldly, without even turning around to acknowledge her. She was now already numb to everything, the feelings of sadness, anger, and disappointment were gone, at least for now.
"Alexandra Willow Smith, you do not speak to your mum like this."
Alexandra usually dared not defy her parents or even dared to be the reason for their anger. But that day it was as if a switch flipped and she couldn't care less when she finally realised how little her parents cared about her.
"I can speak however I want."
She slammed the door shut behind her as she walked out of the house with Sunny beside her. She could still hear her parents yelling for her in the back and Hannah's voice amidst the chaos, but soon everything seemed to disappear into the background as she was lost in her own thoughts.
Soon enough, she found herself standing on a "Welcome Home" floor mat, in front of a familiar wooden door as she made a call to the one person that came to her mind.
"Hey, could you please open the door? I'm outside your place."
It wasn't long before the door soon flung open.
"Hey."