Author's note: The bits in italics are either thoughts or memories.
Roxy stood at the living room window of the Vic, her ice blue eyes looking out into the dark Square for Ronnie. She could see her sitting on the bench, her shoulders hunched over as though she was protecting herself from the cold wind.
Hot tears sprang to the corners of her eyes, but Roxy pressed the lids tightly together, refusing to let them fall. But it didn't matter what she didn't want, they fell anyway.
Nothing matters, bad things will happen anyway. She thought bitterly, furiously wiping away her tears. Her gaze fell on the now empty billboard that had housed her father's portrait and the immediate space below it.
That was where it had happened. Where she had told.
"He raped Stacey Slater."
That was what Ronnie had said.
"He raped her."
The words had winded Roxy, left her with no feeling left in her limbs. She had wanted to fall to the ground or launch herself at Ronnie, to hit and slap until she could force those words back into her sister's mouth.
"No, Ronnie – come on! Dad would never do that!" Roxy paced back and forth across the pavement, hands on her hips and shaking her head. It wasn't true and she wouldn't believe it. And there was no way in hell she would let Ronnie leave that conversation believing it. "He wouldn't."
"Have you learnt nothing after the last few years?!" Ronnie exclaimed, an edge of disgust in her voice. "That man was capable of anything, okay. He was a very, very sick man-"
"No! No – is that why you put him outta his misery?!"
Ronnie scoffed, an expression of anger and hurt marring her delicate features. "That's right, that's right. I topped him and now I'm going to dance on his grave!"
Ronnie went to leave, but Roxy grabbed her arm, dragging her back into the conversation. "Don't you walk away from me! Tell me the truth, alright?"
"I just did but you're too stupid to believe it!" Ronnie yelled, almost defeated by Roxy's constant defence of their father.
"How can you be so sure?" She asked, still shaking her head, the tears pouring freely down her cheeks. A beat of silence filled the air between them. "How can you be so sure?!" She repeated the question, almost shouting in Ronnie's face.
"Because he's done it before."
It came out a whisper, any quieter and it might not have been heard. But Roxy had. She'd heard it and now even Ronnie knew it was too late to take anything back. She looked at her younger sister with an almost terrified look in her eyes before turning and running through the alleyway.
Roxy's body trembled as she tried to keep her sobs from erupting. Her arms were tightly folded across her chest and she bit into the side of her mouth to keep her lips from separating, to keep a cry from being voiced. Her fingernails dug into her mouth, tiny darts of pain shooting through the nerve endings, but she didn't stop. She had to stay silent, she couldn't cry and she couldn't say anything.
Just like Ronnie.