It All Started Over a Cup of Tea

“That’s not how you do it.” Selina snatched the sugar bowl away from her sister, spilling a handful of lumpy granules across the pristine counter. “God, now look at what you’ve done.” She swept her long blonde locks away from her face, and glared down at Ruby, still holding the tiny teaspoon in her tiny hand. Empty mugs sat untouched beside a jar of jam tarts, waiting to be filled and taken upstairs as a sweet treat for their party. The kettle started whistling across the room, taking Selina’s attention.

Ruby felt her face redden, and reached out to steal back the bowl. She hated the way Selina could always get under her skin so easily, and took every chance she could to get her back. Her small fingers wormed their way into the ceramic dish, took a fist full of sugar, and swiftly threw it right into her sister’s surprised face. Selina coughed and spluttered, her mouth and eyes covered with tiny white specks. She desperately wiped at her face, scratching her skin as she clawed the sugar off. Angry red marks appeared almost immediately, and for a second, Ruby felt a pinch of regret at her actions.

The next moment, Selina opened her voice as loudly as she could, and shouted for their parents. The sound of rushing footsteps came from two different directions, the girls searching around for where they might emerge.

Their mother came rushing in first. She stepped into the kitchen from the parlor, dressed from head to foot in her most glamorous finery. She took one look at the girls, at the mess around them, and turned on Ruby. Despite being the younger and much smaller of the two, she always seemed to get the blame for everything - even though it was always Selina that started it in the first place.

“Ruby!” She moved to take the kettle from the stove, and the infuriating whistling stopped. “I can’t believe you would do such a terrible thing to your sister - apologise to her at once!” Her tone was one not to be questioned or argued with, Ruby knew this enough from experience. Yet, she was so tired of always being in trouble, always having to apologise and be sent to her bedroom, alone.

Clenching her fists, and feeling some residual sugar stuck underneath her nails, Ruby looked up at Selina, now standing beside their mother and clutching at her skirts. The smirk spreading over her scratched face turned Ruby’s blood boiling. Instead of being a good little sister and saying sorry as she was always meant to, Ruby turned to the table and shoved the ceramic as hard as she could. The sugar bowl clattered to the ground between them, breaking into a dozen sharp pieces that flew across the stone floor. Selina and her mother shrieked and shouted, stumbling away from the chaos just as her father raced into the room. His face was flushed, sweat dripping down his forehead. His hair, flaming red just like Ruby’s, was damp and mishapen. The crown he usually wore for everyday tasks was slanted on his brow, slipping down ever so slowly as he stormed across the kitchen floor.

Ruby dared not look at him. It was never a good idea to look at her father when he was unhappy, and most especially when it was you he was unhappy with. Instead she glared through her too-long fringe at her sister across the room, gathering sympathy and hugs from the mother who showed no such affection to her second daughter. Her vision was clouded red, though she couldn’t determine if that was from the hair or the anger seeping through her body at the mere sight of the girl.

Her father started talking; she heard his deep voice bounce around the room, flinging back to her tenfold as it echoed from the stone walls. She heard none of what he actually said, however, as her burning eyes were fixated on the sweet strawberry tarts her mother was feeding Selina, comforting her and brushing away those fake tears that only seemed to appear when their parents did.

Ruby opened her mouth, desperate to shout at her sister for all the awful things she always causes, but her father grasped her by the arm before she could move. His grip was firm, keeping her in place without actually hurting, but Ruby fought against him all the same. She thrashed out in his arms, trying to throw herself across the room at her sister, whom she hated more than anyone else at that very moment. Selina watched her, a grin like a Chesire Cat forming as she shoved yet a third tart into her pretty little mouth.

Their father swept Ruby up into his arms, still speaking in that kingly tone at her, and carried her all the way up to her bedroom. She fought against him the whole way, shouting as loudly as she could about her awful sister, but no-one seemed to pay her any attention.

Once the pair reached the girls’ shared bedroom, Ruby practically leapt from his arms, racing for the door with the intention of crashing back down the stairs into her demon sister. Her father stood before the door, blocking her from leaving.

“Ruby, you need to calm yourself. There is absolutely no need for you to act like this towards Selina - she’s doing her best to teach you new things, and those things aren’t always going to go your way.” Ruby was deaf to his words, still fighting to get through the door.

“I HATE HER, I HATE HER, I HATE HER!” Her face was as dark as her hair, her breathing shallow and her eyes red and puffy.

The king eventually admitted defeat, and as fast as he could, slipped away from his young daughter into the corridor, and slammed the door shut before she could reach it. Ruby banged at the wood with her small fists until they bruised, still shouting about her awful sister.

“We will come to check on you in a while; I think you need some time to yourself to re-think this behaviour, Princess Ruby. You’re not acting in a very queen-like manner, are you? This is not how conflicts are solved.” He walked away, back to the kitchen and the rest of his family.

Ruby turned to face the bedroom, still clouded with that awful red haze. Her eyes focused on the table in the middle of their two beds. It was set up with all their favourite toys seated around it, with empty cups and saucers in front of them, waiting for the tea and tarts that will never arrive.

Clenching her fists again, Ruby slowly approached, taking note of each and every toy the girls had chosen earlier for their tea party. A stripy cat, a long blue caterpillar, and a dragon-like creature were her choices, all sitting on her side of the bedroom. She’d dressed them in red clothes, to match her gown and the sheets over her bed. Selina had done the same, though all of her dolls were wearing white. Pure, pristine, perfect white.

Selina’s favourites were a hedgehog, a tiny mouse, a dodo bird, and a white rabbit. The rabbit, which Selina had owned since she was an infant, was a little worse for wear, with stitches across one arm and a crack in a glass eye. He sat proudly right beside Selina’s seat, piled on pillows so he was seated much higher than the rest.

Ruby’s small hands seized him up and held him tight, staring into that broken eye with a fierce temper.

When Selina finally arrived for bedtime some hours later, the room was shrouded in darkness. The curtains were drawn closed, the candles were extinguished, and her sister was sound asleep in her bed. Selina tried her best to reach her bed without waking the sleeping beast, but failed greatly when she stepped on something sharp and let out a sharp squeal.

The doors were flung open, and her parents rushed inside. The candles of the corridor let light flood the room, and they saw the chaos that had emerged.

Ruby’s dolls were sat across the room, holding what remained of their empty teacups and saucers. The smashed remains of the crockery littered the ground, making it impossible to take more than a step without embedding some shards into your feet. Selina screamed again when she noticed what had happened to her beloved toys. Stuffing, fabric, and shreds of tiny clothing was spread all over her bed, her dolls torn apart from seam to seam. Her white rabbit, her beloved bedtime toy, was sat up on the pillows, beheaded. The head was stuffed onto one of her bedposts, followed by the heads of her other destroyed friends.

Her screams of agony awoke her sister, who sat up and smiled a wicked grin.

“Next time, Selina,” said Ruby, her voice more even and calm than it had been all day, “Let me make the tea.”