Their Game of Family

Before our family’s Thanksgiving dinner, my younger sister, Raina Kirk, suddenly offered to braid my hair. I had barely sat down when I heard a sharp snip behind me. Seven years of growing my hair out, gone in one cut. She’d chopped it off right at the roots. Raina froze for two seconds, then burst out laughing, collapsing onto the couch. "Oh, shit, I cut off too much! Hahaha! You look like a man who just escaped prison!" Mom saw the piles of hair scattered across the floor and started laughing too. "What’s so bad about it? You walk around with your hair all over the place like some banshee anyway. At least now you’ll save money on haircuts." I clenched my fingers into fists, my throat tight. Dad, however, impatiently urged me to come eat. "Hair grows back. Why didn’t Raina cut anyone else’s? Because she’s close to you. You’re the easiest to tease." My eyes instantly filled with tears. I turned to look at my boyfriend, Zayne Herring, only to find him looking down as he transferred money to Raina. "Two hundred bucks. A bet’s a bet." When he noticed me staring, he waved his phone. "Raina bet you’d cry in one minute. I bet three. Come on, you didn’t even give me a chance to win!" The whole room erupted in laughter again. I stood there, frozen. For the first time, I suddenly felt so tired of all of it. When I was sixteen, Raina wrote "Dumbass" on the back of my school uniform, and my entire class mocked me for the rest of the semester. When I was twenty-one, she hid my glasses and caused me to miss my college graduation defense. Every time I got angry, they would laugh and ask, "Why are you such a sore loser?" All these years, I hadn’t been their daughter, their older sister, or even someone’s girlfriend. I was nothing more than a toy they used to keep Raina entertained. But this time, I didn’t want to play along anymore. Chapter 1 My younger sister, Raina Kirk, finally stopped laughing and picked up a lock of hair from the floor, holding it under her chin. "Mom, look! Don't I look like some caveman?" My mother, Kyla Kirk, laughed so hard she nearly spilled her soup. "Throw that away! That's disgusting." Raina pulled out her phone and snapped several pictures of me. I raised a hand to cover my face. "Don't take pictures." "Too late." She edited the photos as she giggled. "A Thanksgiving special! I've already got the caption: One Snip Took My Sister from Princess to Escaped Convict." I reached for her phone, but my boyfriend, Zayne Herring, stepped in front of her to shield her from me. "Hey, what are you doing? She hasn't even posted an ugly picture of you." The next second, a message popped up in the family group chat. Raina had sent everyone a picture of me with red, teary eyes and hair that was long on one side and chopped short on the other. The chat immediately filled with laughing emojis. My aunt sent an emoji covering her mouth. My cousin asked if it was a new hairstyle. Mom even made a point of replying: "Raina got carried away and butchered Blakely's hair." She added three laughing-so-hard-I-was-crying emojis. I stared at the messages, my palms growing colder by the second. "Delete it." Raina clicked her tongue. "It's just the family chat. I didn't post it online." My father, Langston Kirk, slammed his cutlery against the table. "Are we eating or not? Everyone's been waiting for you. Does the whole family have to act like we're enemies over a few strands of hair on a holiday?" I was the one whose hair had been chopped off, yet somehow, I was the one ruining everyone's evening. I fell silent. After I sat down, Mom put a piece of fish in my bowl, as if nothing had happened. "Your grandma is video-calling us tomorrow. Don't sit there with that miserable face. She's old. She'll see you and think we've been bullying you." Raina immediately chimed in, "Then wear a hat, Blakely. Otherwise, Grandma's blood pressure might shoot through the roof laughing at you." The whole table burst out laughing again. Zayne even reached over to rub my head. "Yeah, it's a little prickly." I jerked away from him. His hand stopped in midair, and his expression cooled. "Seriously? Is that necessary? I haven't even complained about how ugly you look now." I looked up at him. He had already lowered his head to put a shrimp in Raina's bowl. "Raina, take it easy. If you keep laughing at Blakely until she really loses it, I'll have to spend the whole night calming her down." Raina stuck out her tongue at him. "Isn't that the perfect chance for you to show off?" The two of them clinked their glasses with easy familiarity, as though they were the ones who had known each other for years. Halfway through dinner, my supervisor, Cameron Stone, messaged me. The transfer to our Port Sterling branch that she'd discussed with me last month was still available. The branch manager had been holding the position for me. Double my salary. A three-year contract. I'd turned it down twice before. The first time, Mom said it was too far from home. The second time, Zayne said we were getting engaged at the end of the year, and there was no point in making such a big change. Cameron sent one last message: "Are you sure you don't want to reconsider? You can still change your mind before midnight." I stared at the screen for a long time. In the living room, Raina was reenacting my expression when she'd cut my hair. Mom said my eyes had gone wide as saucers. Dad said I used to be more fun as a teenager, when one little scare was enough to make me cry. Zayne laughed and added, "She's still exactly the same. Hasn't grown up at all." I lowered my head and typed: "I'm in." Chapter 2 The next morning, I went to the hair salon downstairs. The stylist studied the jagged, uneven mess on one side of my head for a long time. "There's no way to blend this in. Whoever cut it was pretty brutal. The hair underneath is damaged, too. We'll have to cut the whole thing short." I nodded. "Go ahead." The scissors began snipping away. In the mirror, I watched the hair I'd spent seven years growing get shorter and shorter. It wasn't that I'd never had my hair cut before. Seven years ago, when I'd just started working, I barely made enough money to get by. Every day, I spent more than an hour packed into the subway. During the hardest times, Zayne would sit with me outside my tiny rental apartment and eat microwaved mac and cheese. Back then, he loved twirling the ends of my hair around his fingers. "Don't cut it. Long hair looks beautiful on you. Keep it that way when we get married." I'd listened to him and kept it long for seven whole years. As the stylist draped a cape around me, she tried to reassure me, "Short hair will look fresh and sharp on you, too." I smiled. "Yeah." Suddenly, I realized I wasn't as reluctant to let it go as I'd thought. When I got home, four pairs of shoes sat by the front door, but no one was in the living room. I was about to call someone when I saw a new post on social media. Raina had uploaded a series of Thanksgiving parade photos. Mom and Dad each held a balloon. Raina stood between them, and Zayne was beside Dad. In the fourth photo, all four of them were making heart shapes with their hands for the camera. The caption read: "Everyone's here." I stared at it for a long time. Mom had explicitly promised we'd all go together after I got my hair cut that day. Maybe she'd gotten tired of waiting. Or maybe they'd never planned to wait for me at all. Half an hour later, the door opened. Raina came in carrying a pile of things. The moment she saw me, she let out a whistle. "Well, look at you. You really do look like you just escaped prison." Mom came in behind her. "That short?" She looked me over with a frown. "That stylist must be terrible. Why'd they cut it like a boy's?" I asked her, "You went to the Thanksgiving parade?" Mom paused. "It was a last-minute decision. Raina said it would be crowded tonight, so we went for a quick look. You were getting your hair cut, so we figured we'd all go together next time." Dad chimed in as he changed his shoes, "It's just a parade. It's not like they're never holding another one." Raina had already run back to her room. When she came out again, a pearl hair clip was pinned in her hair. I froze. That was mine. Zayne had given it to me for my birthday last year. I walked over to her. "That's mine." Raina touched the clip. "I know. You can't even wear it with your hair like that now. I'm borrowing it for a couple of days." I held out my hand. "Give it back." Her face immediately fell. Mom hurried between us. "What are you doing? Raina's only wearing it for a little while. You barely have any hair left. It's just going to collect dust in a drawer." Dad was getting annoyed, too. "Are you seriously going to fight over a stupid hair clip?" I looked at Zayne who stared at me blankly for a few seconds. "What clip?" Something inside me suddenly went hollow. "The one you gave me for my birthday last year." "Oh." He sounded as though he'd finally remembered. Then he smiled. "Just let Raina wear it. It goes perfectly with the dress she's wearing today." Raina immediately tossed her head, looking pleased with herself. "See? Even Zayne agrees with me." I didn't ask for it back. That evening, my company sent over the transfer paperwork. I was to report to Port Sterling in three days. After signing it, I began packing. Mom pushed open my bedroom door and stopped when she saw the suitcase on the floor. "Why are you packing so early?" My hands paused. Then she figured it out herself. "Oh, right. You're getting engaged at the end of the year. Makes sense. You should start moving your things over to Zayne's little by little." As she spoke, she casually pulled an overcoat with its tags still attached from my closet. "Have you worn this yet? If not, give it to Raina. She needs a beige coat." I looked at her. Then I suddenly smiled. "She can have it." Mom smiled, too. "That's more like it. You're sisters. You shouldn't squabble over every little thing." She walked out carrying the coat. She never even asked why my suitcase was filled with all my important papers and clothes for every season. Chapter 3 The next morning, Zayne showed up with breakfast. I was taking the pictures off my bedroom wall. He leaned against the doorway and watched me for a while. "Still mad? Come on, let it go already. Raina told me she was so scared last night she couldn't sleep." My hands stopped moving. "Why was she scared?" "She thought you might actually fall out with her." He said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "She's got a big mouth, but she's not a bad person. You're her older sister. You can't hold every little thing against her forever." I put the last picture into my suitcase. It was one of Zayne and me from our first year together. He suddenly noticed my hair. "You cut it that short?" "Yeah." He stared at it for two seconds. Then, to my surprise, he laughed. "Actually, it looks pretty good. My mom's been saying for ages that your old hair was too long and made you look unkempt." I looked up at him. "Your mom?" "Yeah." Zayne stuck a straw into the soy milk and held it out to me. "She told me last time that after we got married, you should really cut it short. I never had the nerve to bring it up myself. Raina accidentally did me a favor this time." I didn't take the soy milk. "So you're the one who made her cut my hair?" His expression faltered for a moment. Then he smiled again. "A few days ago, she asked me what she could do to get the biggest reaction out of you." My fingers slowly curled into fists, but Zayne still hadn't noticed. "I just casually mentioned your hair. How was I supposed to know she'd actually cut it?" I stared at him. "You knew I'd spent seven years growing it." "Of course I knew." He looked at me as though I were the one being unreasonable. "That's what made it funny. If she'd messed with anything else, you wouldn't have cared. What would be the point?" For a moment, the room fell completely silent. After saying that, Zayne even laughed to himself. "Don't look at me like that. I just like seeing you get worked up. You keep everything bottled up all the time. Raina's the only one who can get you to act like a real person." Like a real person. So all those times I'd been so angry I cried, so frightened I trembled, so humiliated I stood there while everyone laughed at me... To him, that was me finally showing some life. Raina came back in from outside just in time to hear his last sentence. She immediately rushed over with a grin. "See? I told you! Zayne knows exactly which buttons to push." She counted off her little triumphs on her fingers. "Remember that white dress I wore when I met your parents last year? Zayne was the one who reminded me about the lipstick, too." My breath caught. Zayne's expression finally changed. "Why are you bringing that up?" Raina still hadn't realized anything was wrong. "Didn't you tell me that white dress was the thing Blakely treasured most, and that I shouldn't mess with anything else? "And the year before that..." "Enough." Zayne cut her off sharply. The room went quiet. I looked at him. The first time I'd met his parents the previous year, Raina had smeared lipstick across the back of my white dress. Throughout the entire dinner, Zayne's mother had kept looking as though she wanted to say something but couldn't bring herself to. I didn't discover why until I got home. Someone had drawn an enormous red heart across the back of my dress, right over my butt. I'd cried all night. Zayne had held me and comforted me for a long time. He had said, "Raina was completely out of line. Next time, I'll give her a piece of my mind for you." So all along, he'd been the one handing her the knife. Zayne seemed to remember that night, too. He looked guilty for a moment, then his tone grew even harsher. "How long ago was that? You're not seriously going to dredge up the past over something like that, are you?" Raina stood beside him and muttered under her breath, "Exactly. You're way too petty, Blakely." I suddenly let out a laugh. They both stared at me. I nodded. "Yeah. I'm not going to bring it up again." Zayne visibly relaxed. He reached out to hug me. "That's more like it. Once you've cooled off in a couple of days, we'll go get our engagement photos taken again." I didn't pull away. I just looked at the large, pale rectangle left on the wall where the picture had been. "Okay." That afternoon, I called the event company and canceled our engagement party, which had been scheduled for the end of the year. I'd paid the deposit myself. They deducted part of it as a cancellation fee and refunded the rest to my account. Then I put Zayne's spare house key, the bank card he'd given me, and the engagement ring he'd bought with me earlier that year into a paper bag. Raina poked her head into my room from the living room. "We’re having fondue tonight. Mom picked up your favorite shrimp dip." I zipped up my suitcase. "Okay." She didn't notice that half the closet was already empty. Chapter 4 The day I left, the house was even livelier than usual. Raina had set up her phone in the living room first thing that morning. When I walked past, she immediately turned the screen face down. "No peeking! We've got another round of fun tonight." Mom came out carrying a plate of fruit. "Don't go too far this time. You really upset Blakely yesterday." She said it, but she was already laughing herself. Raina was full of confidence. "Relax! Blakely never stays mad for more than two days." Dad sat on the couch reading the newspaper. "She's always been like that. When she was little, she'd threaten to run away, make it all the way to the entrance of the complex, get hungry, and come right back." Zayne leaned against the dining table, drinking coffee. He laughed when he heard that. "She's still the same. Where could she possibly go?" None of them bothered to lower their voices around me. They'd never imagined I might actually leave. When Mom noticed my suitcase by the front door, she even asked, "Are you moving in with Zayne today?" Raina let out an exaggerated gasp. "Wow, Blakely! You're really taking the initiative, huh?" Zayne looked surprised, too, but soon the corners of his mouth lifted. "You should've told me. I thought you were actually that mad these past couple of days." He came over to take my suitcase, but I moved it out of his reach. "I can handle it myself." Zayne clicked his tongue. "Still sulking. Fine, Your Highness. Keep up the attitude if you want." Mom tried to smooth things over. "Girls get moody before their engagement. Just humor her." In all these years, it was the first time she had ever told someone else to humor me. Too bad it was too late. Before leaving, I went into the kitchen for a glass of water. On the refrigerator was a family portrait Raina had drawn when she was little. Dad. Mom. Her. Later, someone had added a stick figure in the corner. I'd drawn it myself the year I was brought back to live with them at five years old. Mom had laughed when she saw it. "Blakely, why did you draw yourself so small?" I didn't know. Maybe even then, I'd already realized there wasn't much room left for me on that piece of paper. I finished my water and turned to leave. Raina followed me to the door and called after me, "Blakely, you have to be back by six tonight! I've got something big planned." Dad warned her, "Take it easy. Don't make her cry again." "That's the fun part!" Just before the door closed, I heard Zayne laugh. "Don't worry. She can't bear to stay away. She'll come back." Standing outside, I suddenly laughed, too. He was right. I'd never been able to bear leaving before. I couldn't bear to leave my parents or Raina behind. Most of all, I couldn't bear to leave the man who'd been by my side for seven years. So every time they hurt me, I'd find an excuse for them. Mom was just playing favorites. Dad was just stubborn. Raina was just having fun. Zayne was just trying to get along with my family. I'd made excuses for every single one of them. The only person I'd never allowed myself to feel sorry for was me. A taxi pulled up downstairs, and I put my suitcase in the trunk. The driver asked, "Airport or train station?" My colleagues in Port Sterling had already messaged me to say my desk was ready. They wanted to grab a late-night bite together after I arrived. On the way, Mom sent me a voice message. "Pick up two boxes of those savory pastries your dad likes on your way back." Two minutes later, Raina sent another message. "Blakely, make it five boxes! Zayne wants some, too." She attached a sticker of someone kneeling and begging. I didn't reply. Just before we reached the station, Zayne finally called. "Where'd you run off to?" There was a lot of noise in the background. Raina was asking him where they should hide the camera. I watched the streets slide past the car window. "Something came up." Zayne chuckled. "Still putting on a show? Come on, sweetheart. That's enough. Get home early tonight. Raina's been planning this for ages. If you refuse to play along, you're going to ruin all her fun." Even now, the only thing he was worried about was Raina having a good time. I was silent for a few seconds. "Zayne." "Yeah?" "Never mind." I hung up and blocked his number. The train began to move just as dusk settled over the city. In the distance, the moon slowly rose from behind the buildings. Messages were still pouring into the family group chat. Mom was asking who was going to buy the pastries. Dad was urging everyone to sit down and eat. Raina had started a poll. "Guess what time Blakely will admit defeat and come home tonight?" Zayne voted for seven. Dad voted for seven-thirty. Mom was the most cautious and voted for eight. I watched for a while, then left the group chat. After that, I turned off my phone.