Post by Alex Lange on Jan 20, 2024 16:04:28 GMT -5
"Whatcha lookin' for?"
The question, directed to one Ling Xing Zhou, more commonly referred to as Alex Lange, came from none other than her younger sister Anna. At only twelve, the young girl already had a way of looking upon her older sister as though she were an animal to be pitied, and occasionally feared... Especially now, as the older sister ran her fingers along the utensils in the drawer, in an urgent search. Alex didn't stop, and for a few moment she didn't acknowledge her younger sibling, until it seemed she remembered something, which compelled her to stop.
"Oh, well... Why don't you use this one for now? It's the same!" Anna responded, this time her voice taking on the tone of a kids show host addressing the audience of toddlers on the other side of the screen, bright smile included.
Alex looked on, she was confused, the tone wasn't what she was expecting, and she couldn't really say she understood its purpose or even the suggestion she not user her fork. She looked at the fork, and then up at Anna again. After almost thirteen seconds, the elder sibling opened her mouth slowly, and spoke evenly. "It's not mine."
"Uhh, but we all share forks here, right? Everything is everyone's, right? So, you can use any fork."
"I don't want to use any fork. I want to use my fork. Dad said that I can use this fork, a long time ago, he said it was mine. I asked mom too, and she said yes it can be my fork." Alex explained, although her tone was nothing intense, her hands did shake ever so slightly. It wasn't so much that she was angry at her sister, instead she just didn't like the situation as a whole. It felt... Deliberate and... She couldn't quite place however else she felt.
"Alex, grow up." That was their mother's voice, entering the kitchen with a bored grace she had developed since being inducted into the rather lavish lifestyle of the Lange family. "And don't point sharp things at your sister, you'll scare her."
"It's okay mom, I'm not scared she's just-"
"It's not about growing up. It's my fork, you know it's my fork." Alex turned to her mother, fork still in hand. Though, she had shifted the utensil further along her hand, until the prongs were clutched in her palm. Gently, she pressed upon them, feeling the dulled ends poke her skin. "If you didn't want me to have it, why did you let me have it?"
"It IS about growing up, Alex. You have to learn to compromise sometimes, you can't always have your way."
"Mom's right, sometimes you have to give the remote to someone else so they can have a turn to watch the TV." Anna smiled, trying to defuse the situation, but if it worked she wouldn't really know because Alex didn't move, beyond the subtle pulsing of her clenched hand. The younger girl turned to her mother, Dahlia's arms were crossed as she approached Alex slowly, and gently removed the fork from her daughter's hand.
"It's my fork. I don't want to share it. I have my own television. I don't want to share it. If it wasn't my television, I would have to share it." Alex said, her fingernails running over her palms, having been relieved of the fork.
"I can't believe I'm teaching an 18 year old about sharing..." Dahlia said, under her breath, but performatively so; she may as well have said it to the girl's face. She could feel the rubber band stretching even further, as Alex gently pressed her hip against the drawer handle, allowing it to dig into her skin. A bruise was likely forming, not that the girl cared very much.
Anna walked over to Alex, and set down the formerly missing fork by the counter. At this point though, Alex had lost her appetite, and mostly she wanted to just go away. This wasn't an uncommon occurrence, in fact she had done her best to secure what she could, and set clear boundaries so she wouldn't be faced with such issues. Though, it never seemed to be enough, and although she spoke up for herself, she couldn't help get the feeling she was in the wrong, even if she didn't think she was. If everyone had a problem with her, then... Odds were she was the problem, that's how it felt anyway.
"I want to be the best sister I can be. I am trying." Alex responded.
"You must try in a different way, or try harder. Look at you, is a fork so important that you must have the family against you like this?" Siegfried Lange stared her down, frosty blue eyes throwing phantom punches at the girl.
There was a long spell of silence, which lasted for almost a minute. It wasn't unusual. Siegfried, much like Alex, was not afraid of silence. Both had different approaches, and reasons. Siegfried knew the power of silence, the way it could coax information, or build feelings of unease. He wielded silence like a weapon against any who stood against him. Meanwhile, Alex simply didn't... Know better. Or, more accurately, she didn't care. If she needed more time to think, then she would be silent, if she thought someone hadn't answered her question to her satisfaction she could wait. Hence, when they both stared each other down, the duration of the silence was unpredictable.
"I won't eat a meal now anymore. I don't need my fork." Alex spoke after forty-three seconds, after which she walked away, back to her room. She had snacks regardless, so she would just have some of those until dinner time perhaps.
The rest of the family remained in the kitchen. Anna tried to explain her position as best she could. She had been trying to teach her sister the lesson of compromise and sharing, things she'd learned in kindergarten, but that she had thought her older sister hadn't. This wasn't a random idea, it was tied to her lack of understanding of her older sister's situation. Dahlia had spoken at length to Anna, about how she needed to be patient with her older sister. In these conversations, she had described Alex as having 'quirks', and Anna being who she was and as young and naïve as she was, had been trying to help... As if Alex simply didn't know better, or was simply lacking in training like a pet.
Dahlia and Siegfried consoled their youngest as best they could, commending her for trying to help, but ultimately expressing their lack of belief in the older sibling. The patriarch noted the Alex' apparent lack of emotion, assuming she hadn't even learned from the moment. Anna wasn't so sure, although mature for her age, she was still a child, she wanted to believe her sister wasn't so... Alien and cold. Dahlia sighed, running a hand through Anna's hair. If there was one thing she knew, it was that Alex wasn't unaffected by the moment. In fact, she had likely been the most affected... Though as guilty as she felt thinking it, Dahlia didn't want to deal with Alex right then. She clutched Anna even harder, sighing softly, knowing that Alex was likely alone and confused. And crying. "I was just trying to..." Anna sighed.
"I know, sweetie... Me too..." Dahlia cooed, 'So was Alex.' She thought, with a groan. "We... We're all just trying..." She frowned, looking out the window as the clouds hung heavy in the air. It wasn't raining, hadn't been rained, but the clouds were grey and heavy. Dahlia watched, eagerly egging them on to burst, but they defiantly held on. Her eyes fixed, she pleaded for release, but they just hung there.