Yarn nearly threw her headset across the room out of frustration, but restrained herself at the very last second, forcing herself to take deep breaths. She couldn’t afford to break it.

Just as she had taken her fifth deep breath, her door creaked open, and Hailey stuck her head in.

“Auntie?” She whimpered, and Yarn forced a smile.

“Hi, Hailey. What is it?”

The little girl sniffled.

“Alice’s home…”

Oh.

Yarn jumped to her feet and ran to her niece, scooping her up and into a hug. Alice had taken such poor care of Hailey that Hailey didn’t even call her mother or mom. Just by her name.

“Auntie will take to Alice, so why don’t you stay here?” She coaxed, putting Hailey back down. “Here’s Auntie’s phone. Go sit on my bed and play for a bit. Lock the door after I leave.”

The girl nodded, and after handing Hailey her phone, Yarn stepped into the hallway, and after testing the door to make sure Hailey had locked it like ordered, headed down the stairs.

She heard the yelling before she even saw her sister.

Alice stood in the kitchen, screaming at their father, and Yarn stepped between them.

“Back the fuck up!” She snarled, at her sister, and then glanced over her shoulder at her father.

“Dad, you okay?”

“I’m fine,” the man whispered, but he looked tired and upset, and Yarn sighed.

“I’ll handle this. Go lie down.”

“Thank you… I’m sorry, dear.”

“Don’t be sorry.”

The second he was gone, Yarn grabbed Alice by the shoulders and shook her.

“Are you insane?” She demanded. “What’s wrong with you?”

It was then that she smelled the alcohol on Alice’s breath, and her heart sank.

“You’ve been drinking again.” She whispered, and Alice slapped her hand off before wobbling unsteadily.

“Not… my fault!” She grumbled. “Those bastards…”

“What was it this time?” Yarn sighed. Sometimes, the only way to get Alice to calm down was to get her talking about what happened.

That was not the case, this time, however, and Alice shuffled over to the junk drawer, rifling through it.

“What now?” Yarn snapped, frustrated, and Alice glared.

“Need… money.”

“What?”

“I need money.”

“I heard you, but why?”

“The debt is due tomorrow…”

Yarn stared at her sister in absolute horror.

“Alice… don’t tell me… 

“Lemme borrow money from you.”

“I’m not giving you anything, so don’t even bother asking.” Yarn tried hard to keep her voice from shaking. “And how much, Alice? How much did you gamble away?”

The other woman hiccuped.

“Doesn’t matter. Money. That’s all I’m asking for.”

She held out her hand and Yarn stared her down.

“I said, HOW MUCH.”

The steel was there, and that seemed to get through to Alice, who frowned.

“Um… $10,000? Around there.”

Yarn almost couldn’t breath.

“$10,000?” She gasped. “You are insane! You gambled all of that away? You don’t even have that much!”

“I used Dad’s card!”

Alice brandished the small blue card as if it was a trophy and Yarn saw red. She’d spent so long patiently paying off the debt Alice had gotten them into, patiently paying off the medical bills linked to her father’s credit card and the debt linked to her own card in paying for things for Hailey, and refilling Alice’s debt card to slowly pay off her credit card as well. She counted pennies each money to do her best to split the money between the cards so none would get completely maxed out, and the interest was as low as it could be on each one. But if Alice had taken their father’s card and used it…

She had to do the mental math. How much had been left on the card?

But Alice wasn’t done.

“This one, too!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake…” 

Yarn’s knees gave out and she sank to the kitchen floor. Alice held their emergency debt card, the one Yarn had hidden months ago so Alice couldn’t find it for a gambling spree. It was linked to a separate account that only Yarn had control over so Alice couldn’t manipulate their father into giving her money, and it had held roughly $8,000, money Yarn had saved using every silver coin from the tarven in Alphine and the raises she had gotten occasionally from work, along with any money she’d gotten from selling things from their house or her room.

“It’s fine!” Alice announced, as if not noticing Yarn’s despair. “We can just sell that console of yours, can’t we?”

Yarn’s head flashed up and she stared at her sister in shock. 

“No!”

“Why not?” Alice demanded, petulant. “It would cover it, wouldn’t it? If you… won’t give me money… give me the console. I’ll sell it.”

“THE HELL YOU WILL!” Yarn screamed, jumping up. That console was her last chance to help their family out of the pit Alice had dug, but even if it hadn’t been, the console wasn’t nearly worth $10,000. Yarn would have to see the console, everything in her room, everything in the living room, and a lot of the furniture in the kitchen to scrape up that amount of money. “Don’t you dare touch it!”

Silence fell, both glaring at each other, and finally, Yarn straightened to her full height.

“Get out.” She ordered, in a low voice, and Alice frowned.

“What?”

“You heard me.” Yarn growled. “Get out. I know you have a boyfriend you sleep with regularly - go stay at his apartment. You aren’t staying here.”

“And why not?”

“You don’t deserve it!” Yarn grabbed her sister’s arm and dragged her to the door. “And besides, you nearly hit Dad, didn’t you? Don’t think I forgot that you get violent when you get drunk! I can’t even believe the court let you keep custody of Hailey!”

“I’m not-”

“Yes, you are! Get out!”

She shoved her out of the door and onto the porch before slamming the door and locking all five of the locks she’d placed upon it before sinking to the ground. She couldn’t help the tears. Despair, frustration, anxiety, and fear washed over her all at once, and she curled into a ball.

What am I going to do?