The mistake of second tries

Day 1- Dressed up mansion

Chapter two

Violet

Mom practically has to shove me through the front gates once they're open, and keeps her hand at the small of my back all the way up to the front door.

I watch her hands, fiddling with the keys till she finds the right one and pushes it inside the lock.

When I was four I drew on that door. Four stick figures. Joe, Evelyn, Colton and me- all hand in hand. Back then, when I still had hope that we were going to be a happy family eventually. The door was replaced after that.

Mom pulls me inside and I let my gaze wander around, avoiding the pictures littering the wall of our hallway. For guests, who didn't look too closely, it seemed perfectly normal. Maybe some actually thought we were a happy family. If you took a few steps closer, you'd notice that there were barely any photos with me on them. The newest one with my brother and his girlfriend- next to me on my graduation.

Sometimes it felt like even my mother couldn't stand me.

As I hear footsteps coming from the kitchen, my head shots up just as dear Colton enters the hallway. His mouth drops open, his words stuck in his throat. "Brother." I raise my hand with a tight lipped smile, willing my words to sound soft and nice.

"Hey Vi, you good?" He smiles but the excitement I read in his eyes is limited. Three years. And he asks 'you good'? Wow, this is going better than I expected it to.

He doesn't hug me and I'm not disappointed that he avoids it, more relived that he does not make me act like we give a single fuck about each other.

"Evelyn, is your daughter-" Joe's voice comes from the upper floor and I take in a shaky breath when the old man appears at the top of the stairs. He halt's in his steps when he sees me, hand tightening on the railing. I'm your daughter too, dad. I wanna say, but I don't.

"Hi dad." I greet him, my voice void of emotion. It doesn't sound annoyed, but not excited either. Just..neutral.

"That answers my question then. You're here." He pauses, running his tongue over his teeth and huffing, as he walks down the rest of the stairs, before continuing.

For a second I think he might hug me and a cold shudder runs over my back, leaving goosbumbs in it's wake. "Why?" His voice is colder than I feel at the moment. I gulp, fixing my gaze on a picture of five year old Colton on a bike.

"I thought I'd made it quiet clear that, once you disappeared- you weren't welcome here anymore." I don't look at him, balancing my weight on one leg, then the other.

Joe wanted me to go to our college two towns over once I graduated high school, but when I told him that I wanted to move to New York instead, that I was accepted at a university along with Stace, he kind of disinherited me.

Not that I thought I would inherited anything anyway.

"Joey- please, we've talked about this already, I-" Mom flinches when he interrupts her. "Shut up, I'm not talking to you."

I shrug when he looks at me again, finally dropping my gaze to his eyes. "I wanted to see my mother, she wanted to see her daughter. You must not forbid us from seeing each other."

It's quiet for the following ten seconds, and Joe shakes his head, before asking; "How long will you be staying?" I shrug again. "So long as it takes till I have enough of your shit. I'm guessing a week. Don't worry, you don't have to bear my presence for too long." His face turns a deep shade of red and I glance at his hands, clenched into tight fists. I think of how they've caused the holes in the walls- littering the whole house. They're all covered up now.