Apologies*

Elsewhere, the sun had already set and changed the gray sky outside the Pink Palace to an endless, pitch-black night.

Under the single, yellow light above the kitchen window, Vi stood alone at the sink, her head down, scrubbing the pot and strainer she used to make dinner. When she was finished, she shut off the water and dried her hands with the dish towel. While her new stacks of cleaned dishes were drying on the rack, she leaned back against the counter and chewed her lip, deep in thought.

She hadn't heard Powder come out of her room in hours. Vi agonized over when she should approach her sister again, but Powder usually liked to be left alone in her room.

It had been a long time since Vi last remembered the two of them fighting like that. It was the loudest Vi had ever raised her voice, and the first time in years she'd ever hit something unbridled in Powder's presence. It made Vi's throat sore.

When the hour grew late and it was drawing past their usual dinner time, Vi grew worried. She packed away the leftover mac and cheese she made in a Tupperware bowl and put it in the fridge.

Standing in the upstairs hallway, Vi took a breath and knocked on Powder's bedroom door.

"Hey, Powder… can we talk?" Vi asked, gently.

No response.

Vi sighed deeply.

"Look, I wanted to say that I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I didn't realize our time together meant so much to you. If you want… we can still watch the marathon. If you come down, I can get the popcorn started. Yeah?"

Nothing.

"Powder? Are you in there, or… are you in the bathroom and I'm just pouring my heart out to the door?"

She smiled a little for the joke, but then frowned as she heard a muffled sound on the other side of the door. Crying.

"Powder? Are you okay?"

Vi turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. The room was dark. There was a shape curled under the bedcovers.

"Powder? What's wrong?" Vi said, moving closer. "I'm not mad, I promise."

Vi reached out and pulled back the covers. Her blue eyes went wide as she found herself staring at a lump of pillows underneath the covers on the mattress. For a moment, Violet didn't understand what she was seeing.

But I had been so certain I had heard Powder crying...

Then she looked around the dark room, wondering if she was imagining someone laughing behind the low ringing growing in her ears. Only the next instant later, Vi registered that Powder's pillows were put under there on purpose.

What if Powder ran away? No, she wouldn't! Would she?!

"Powder?!" Vi called loudly into the vast and darkened house. Her heart seemed to thrum in her ears as the deep silence of the house echoed back. "I really need you to come out! This isn't a joke!"

Trying not to panic, Vi went from one room to the next room, sticking her head through the doorways, rapidly looking for Powder. Their brothers' room, the hallway bathroom, Vander's room, the master bathroom. But she couldn't find a trace of her sister anywhere.

"Powder! Please, come out! This isn't funny! Talk to me!"

Still nothing.

Vi ran to her own bedroom, but Powder wasn't there either. Opposite her bedroom door was an old desk and a large round window. Glancing out her window above her desk, Vi looked out into the darkness at the garden outside. She knew she needed to check outside.

She quickly grabbed her sweatshirt off her bed and struggled to slip it on. She felt her pockets for her phone, but couldn't find it, either.

"Shit!"

She turned on her heel and ran down the staircase into the foyer, so fast she tripped on a step. Catching herself on the banister, Vi ignored the pain in her shins. She rapidly thought of all the places Powder could go.

Maybe she went into the garden? The garage? The well?!

Her heart thudded at that thought and Vi tried not to imagine the worst from happening as she hurried down the rest of the steps.

Then, just before Vi could lunge for the front door and throw it open – go run outside and call out her sister's name – something moved in the house behind her...

Vi didn't see it, more like she felt it.

Violet turned with a snap. But nothing was there.

Still… she stared at the dark hallway, suddenly uneased.

Vi stopped in her tracks in front of the door, her hand frozen in the air as she reached for the doorknob, hesitantly. She stood there, staring down the dark hallway for a long time. But it was still empty.

When she almost thought she'd imagined it, Vi shook her head and reached for the doorknob again. But within a single step, something alive moved out of the shadows across the floor, a dark patch of night, quickly darting past the staircase and melting into the darkness of the hallway.

Her heart leaping, Vi pressed her back against the front door, trying to breathe.

She battled for an instant in her mind to stay or go, neither instinct making sense, only yelling at her to act.

Then she heard a thump and the patch of night moved again. Cautiously stepping into a sliver of light across the running carpet in the middle of the hallway was a silhouette with long ears and round body and fluffy tail. Its fur was toasty brown. Its whiskers glinted as it sniffed the air, and stared at Violet with large black eyes, curiously.

Was that… a rabbit?

But still… Violet didn't feel at ease.

The rabbit cocked its head, then turned and leapt down the hallway, disappearing in the shadows toward the drawing room, as though expecting her to follow.

Violet stayed in front of the door.

For the first time, this house didn't feel like her house. It felt like she was at the mercy of someone else's house. It felt… off. Like she was staring down the long, dark hallway at someone she couldn't see.

But maybe… she had a lead where Powder had gone…

Pursing her lips, swallowing the lump in her throat, balling her fists, her heart thumping, Vi went against her instincts to run. Her instincts to ignore the rational and irrational. Dismiss it as her high-stung emotions playing tricks on her mind.

She thought of Powder… and decided to follow it.