Toxic

Staring wide eyed at one another, Violet and Rian were both faced with the weirdest situation they ever thought possible. Unsure as to why, they collided in a tight hug as if they'd missed each other after a long time apart.

Violet had dark, caramel coloured hair and was a lot smaller than Rian. She had the same straight, perfectly white teeth as him, although her delicate features and petite frame made her look quite different from her twin brother.

"This is so weird" Violet said quietly, pulling away from the hug to look up at Rian again.

"Rian where were you? You just ran out the door without a word." Their father asked, causing Violet and Rian to turn around and face him.

"Alex's" he mumbled, looking down at his feet.

"You could have told us that. Look, I know this is going to take some getting used too bu--"

"You guys kept this from me my whole life! How am I just supposed to accept that?" Rian interrupted with an edge to his voice.

"I'm sorry, but it's what your mom and I decided to do 15 years ago. Neither of us thought anything like this was going to happen" he replied, "It may not have been the right decision but it's too late to take it back now."

"You've got that right." Rian snapped back at him.

Their father just sighed, lifting a hand to his face to squeeze the bridge of his nose.

"Violet sweetie, why don't you take your stuff down to your new room and try and get yourself settled in." Kathi said at attempt to break the awkwardness that had filled the small kitchen.

"Don't call me that" she snapped back, immediately regretting her words.

She didn't want to be mean but the stress of everything was a lot to handle. She wasn't anyone's sweetie, she wasn't any one's anything anymore.

Rian grabbed some of the boxes he assumed to hold Violet's belongings and showed her into the basement. It was a finished basement and had a large room where Rian usually held band practice with his friends, but in the corner there was a bedroom and bathroom that was unoccupied.

By the looks of it, their parents had rounded up some furniture for Violet to use. A queen sized mattress and box spring without the bed frame sat in the corner. On the opposite wall there was what looked like a brand new desk, chair and a bookshelf. Thankfully for Violet there was a full walk-in closet and a her own door to the bathroom. It was plain, but it wasn't bad for a last minute arrangement.

Rian walked in and set the box he was carrying down on her desk. "Nice of them to tell us about each others existence huh?" he asked, turning to face her.

"I'm still trying to figure out of this is a dream or not" she replied, setting her box on the floor at her feet.

"I'm sorry about your--our mom" he responded, suddenly overcome with the realization that he'd never get to meet her.

"Thanks" was all she managed to say back, pulling open the door to her new closet to see what she was working with.

"I can go grab your other stuff if you want" Rian offered, knowing she probably wasn't feeling too good about going back upstairs.

She shot him a sheepish smile, and with that he climbed the stairs and scooped up two more of her boxes, making a second trip for the suitcase and duffel bag that were still sitting by the door. He finally got the last of her things into the room for her,

"Thanks for your help Rian," she said to him, plopping down on her bed.

"Do you like Blink 182?" he blurted out, remembering the double copy of the poster he got for his last birthday.

"Who doesn't?" she replied.

"People with bad taste in music" he replied, forcing her to laugh. "I just have an extra Blink poster upstairs if you want it. Your walls are pretty bare."

Violet looked around her room and she had to agree, "Sure" she said with a shrug.

Rian went and fetched the poster from his room and helped Violet hang it on the wall above her bed, giving her a hand with the other posters and artwork she brought with her.

"So school starts in a week and a half I guess" Violet said as she helped Rian tape a poster of Kurt Cobain to an empty spot on the wall.

"Sucks so bad" Rian replied, dreading the return to the halls and classes that he despised so much.

"What are the people like?" she asked nervously, the last thing she wanted was a high school like her previous one.

"Uhh, most people are alright. I'll look out for you though, don't worry too much" he replied, feeling a sense of protectiveness over his twin.

Violet just nodded, anxiety washing over her. Rian eventually left her to unpack after helping to fully decorate her new white walls. She decided start hanging all of her clothes up on the white plastic hangers that she brought with her. Taking her time to make sure that everything was neat and in order, she fought to keep her anxiety about this new life under control.

After a few more hours of finding a place to put everything and distracting her mind, Violet came across a picture frame containing a photograph of her and her mother. Just one week ago her her mom had been alive, and the pain was just as unbearable as the day she found out.

Intense waves of sadness and guilt rushed over Violet, causing her to tear through her things until she found what she was looking for. Walking into the bathroom and locking the door, she pulled down the sweat pants she had changed into to reveal her upper thigh and hip. Having found refuge in a razor blade so many times before, she added three new lines of sharp, searing pain to her collection.