Chapter Three - When Home Changed

Sarah was still sitting beside Tiara, staring at the photograph in her hands.

“You know,” Sarah said, “if you keep looking at that picture like that, it might start talking.”

Tiara looked at her.

“Then you can ask it why you’re so annoying.”

Sarah gasped dramatically. “Me? Annoying?”

“You.”

“I was trying to make you feel better.”

“And you chose to insult me?”

“I didn’t insult you. I only stated a fact.”

Tiara stared at her for a moment before a small laugh escaped.

Sarah smiled. “There. That’s better.”

Tiara shook her head. “You’re troublesome.”

“And yet you love me.”

Tiara looked at her younger sister and smiled faintly.

“I do.”

For a few seconds, the room felt lighter.

Then the sound of the front door opening came from outside.

Sarah’s smile disappeared.

Tiara looked toward the doorway.

Footsteps dragged across the floor.

Slow.

Uneven.

Then came the smell.

Alcohol.

Their father appeared at the entrance of the room.

He stood there for a moment, his eyes moving from Sarah to Tiara.

His face was difficult to read.

“Sarah!”

His harsh voice made Sarah sit upright.

“Yes, Daddy?”

“I told you to stay out of this room.”

Sarah lowered her eyes. “I was just keeping Tiara company.”

“I don’t care what you were doing.”

Their father turned his attention to Tiara.

“And you.”

Tiara’s fingers tightened around the photograph.

He took another step into the room.

“After everything that has happened, you still have the courage to sit here as if nothing happened?”

Tiara said nothing.

“I warned your mother about you,” he continued. “I told her one day you would bring trouble into this house.”

“Daddy…” Tiara’s voice was barely audible.

“Don’t call me that.”

The words landed heavily.

Tiara stared at him.

Her father shook his head.

“Look at what you’ve done to yourself. You carried a pregnancy into this house and ruined your own life.”

Tiara’s eyes burned.

There were so many things she wanted to say.

So many words crowded behind her lips, begging to be released.

She wanted to remind him that she was still his daughter.

That she was already carrying enough guilt without him adding more weight to it.

That one mistake should not have erased everything she had ever been to this family.

But she said nothing.

Her fists tightened.

She had made a mistake.

And somehow, that mistake had made her feel as though she had lost the right to defend herself.

“You’ve become a disgrace,” her father said.

“That’s enough.”

Tiara’s head snapped toward the doorway.

A tall young man stood there, his face tense.

She recognized the voice immediately.

Emmanuel.

Her elder brother.

He stepped into the room and fixed his eyes on their father.

“Stay out of this,” their father warned.

“You’re drunk, Daddy,” Emmanuel replied.

“And?”

“You need to leave her alone.”

Their father’s expression hardened.

“Who are you to tell me what to do in my own house?”

“She’s your daughter.”

David appeared behind Emmanuel.

“Daddy, please,” he said quietly.

Their father pointed toward Tiara.

“She needs to leave this house.”

Sarah stood up.

“Daddy, please don’t—”

“Don’t!” their father shouted.

Sarah froze.

Tiara flinched.

Her eyes dropped to the photograph in her lap.

The happy faces stared back at her.

Her mother.

Her father.

Emmanuel.

David.

Sarah.

A family that had once seemed whole.

Their father took another step toward Tiara.

Emmanuel immediately moved between them.

“Come on, Daddy.”

“Leave me!” their father shouted.

“Let’s go.”

“I said leave me alone!”

David stepped forward and helped Emmanuel pull their father away.

Their father continued shouting as they guided him toward the hallway.

“She is a useless child!”

“Daddy, please,” David pleaded.

“I don’t know what has happened to her!”

His voice grew faint as the two brothers took him into the room.

Then the house fell silent.

Tiara remained where she was.

Her hands were still clenched.

Slowly, she looked toward the hallway.

Then she looked at Sarah.

Sarah stood a few feet away, her eyes filled with sadness.

Neither of them spoke.

Sarah took a step toward her.

Stopped.

There was nothing she could say.

So she simply looked at her sister for another moment before quietly leaving the room.

Tiara was alone again.

Her eyes returned to the photograph.

Her mother was smiling.

Her father was smiling too.

Everyone in the picture looked happy.

Tiara lifted her trembling fingers and touched the glass.

A tear slipped down her cheek.

Then another.

She lowered her head.

And this time, she didn’t try to stop herself.

She cried.

Not because her father had judged her.

She had already grown used to that.

She cried because, for a brief moment, she had remembered what it felt like when home was home.

And now, she wasn’t sure when that had changed.