Page 68 of The Pacifist
Missy moved to the edge of her seat. “Do you want to comment on that, Cole?”
Cole chewed on his lips like he was trying to hold back his words. “I’m the oldest in a family unit with ten kids, okay?”
Missy gave a nod. “Yes, I understand that.”
“Right. Our whole family has worked tirelessly to create a sensational park and much of that work was hard and no fun.” Pointing with his chin to Anne, he continued. “Little Miss Anne over there didn’t like the concept of work. Every day I would get complaints from guests because of her. I had my reasons for burning her clothes.”
“And what would those reasons be?”
Cole pushed his jaw out. “Every job we gave her was too hard and boring, so we came up with the perfect role just for her. All she had to do was sit on a throne and play a princess in the Renaissance part of the park. Little girls stood in line to see her be the beautiful princess. All she had to do was smile, and talk to them about her life as a princess, but even that was too tiresome for Miss Anne. Half the time no one could find her and then one day, she showed up but refused to put on the costume. Instead she sat on the throne in her modern clothes and destroyed the whole illusion for the guests. I demanded that she put on the beautiful Renaissance dress that we’d had made just for her. But instead of doing her part, she ignored me, making me look like a complete fool as I stood right next to her. So yeah, that night, I took some of her modern clothing and burned it. I figured it would get her to put on the costume.”
Missy’s eyes were large. “Wow, that sounds very dramatic.”
“Oh, it got way more dramatic after that.” With a sarcastic smile, Cole nodded to Anne. “Why don’t you tell her how you reacted?”
Anne sighed and kept her face down-turned. “I was seventeen and everyone treated me like the baby in the family. All my siblings were doing the cool stuff like welding iron or rappelling with guests while I had to sit on my butt and smile. Cole got to boss people around, but he wouldn’t share any responsibility with me. So, when he burned my clothes I complained to the rest of the family and they all took his side. Every single one of them.” Anne looked at me and to the others by the wall. “That’s when I knew they didn’t love me.” Anne paused and my pulse raced as I waited to hear a traumatic part of our family’s history told from her side.
“I wrote them a letter and left.”
“Left where?”
“To a friend’s house.” Anne used a nail to scratch on the armrest of her chair.
“Okay, you took a break, so to speak.”
Cole’s tone was vibrating with suppressed anger. “What she’s not telling you is that she left us a suicide letter blaming us for pushing her to kill herself.”
Missy swallowed hard and exhaled noisily. “Well, that wasn’t very nice, Anne.”
Anne finally met my eyes, but only briefly. “I only did it because I wanted them to see how hurt I was, but everyone got furious with me and I was sent to Happy Souls as a punishment.”
“I’m sure they only meant to help you,” Missy said with a sympathetic look on her face. “And did some time in reflection make things better?”
Anne looked away. “Not really, but with all their disappointment in me, I didn’t want to go back.”
“Where did you go then?”
“I got a job in a nursing home. The old people were kind to me and they taught me a lot.”
Missy leaned her elbows on the armrest and weaved her fingers together. “I thought you were a model.”
“Yes, I have been for the last three years.”
I spoke up again. “You still haven’t explained why you came back that night. After almost five years of refusing our attempts of contacting you, why did you decide to sabotage us now?”
She was still hugging herself. “Because Cole wouldn’t let me come home.”
My face turned to Cole, but he remained impassive.
“I’d been traveling a lot and I missed my family, so I reached out to talk to Lilly, but Cole answered. When I asked if I could speak to Mom, he told me that he preferred for me to stay away if I was going to be dramatic.”
“That’s right.” Cole didn’t look apologetic.
“Why didn’t you tell us this?” I asked him but he didn’t get a chance to answer before Anne spoke with her eyes welling up again.
“He made me feel unloved and unwanted all over again. Just like he always does.”
“Oh, honey.” We all turned to see Lilly with tears in her own eyes. “May I give my daughter a hug?” she asked Missy.
