True Colours

It didn’t surprise me when Julian came home today with blood covering his shirt. At first I thought that he was being bullied, since he refused to go to school for a week, but that thought quickly died out when I received an email from the principal informing me about his suspension. I was even more stunned when I discovered that he was suspended for severely beating up a classmate.

“Hey, Jules. How was school today?” I inquired. I received an infamous grunt in response. I then said, “I’m making your favorite tonight; chicken lasagne.” I looked towards Julian with a smile. With no response, he angrily sped up the stairs to his bedroom, shutting the door quite violently behind him. I let out a sigh then continued to prepare the dish until darkness bled out into the sky before I finally proceeded towards Julian’s bedroom.

“Jules, I’m coming inside.” I said and slowly opened the door.

He was sitting against the headboard, headphones in and eyes looking distant. “I’m going to tell you a story.” I said, taking a seat on the corner of his bed.

“You’re wasting your breath if you’re thinking of telling me a bedtime story, Cara.” It’s the most that he had said to me in weeks.

I pretended to ignore his response and continued, “When dad proposed to mum, gran didn’t approve. She barely knew him yet she judged him. One day when dad was walking home he saw a woman having trouble carrying her goods on the street. She was taking groceries to her mum who lived far away and had no one to take her there, so dad accompanied her. Through the journey the woman only talked about a certain man she hated because he wanted to marry her daughter and she felt that he wasn’t good enough because he was black. Dad silently listened through it all until they reached her mother’s house. The woman thanked him profusely than asked for his name. She paled when he replied because that’s when she realized that the man she hated so much had just helped her.” I paused, stealing a glance at Julian who had tears in his eyes.

“After that day she changed her mind on the marriage.” I added.

“No matter how tough life was for dad, he didn’t take it out on those around him. I know it’s hard, Jules. I’m not mum, I can’t comfort you the way you want me to, but I am your sister and I will keep trying to help you, no matter how much you push me away.” Tears threatened to fall from my eyes.

“We can be a whole family. Two halves of a whole, don’t you think?” I asked trying to smile. 

“Maybe.” was all he had said. The next day when he came home, his shirt was untarnished.