I open the door, the familiar sounds and smells of home blasting me instantly. My little sister, Lily, sits in the living room, blissfully unaware of the hell that our family is going through. Mom bakes away in the kitchen, most likely preparing dinner for our family. I trudge into the kitchen, and listen to my mom, humming a simple tune.

The sweet sound of the humming almost makes me smile, almost makes me forget about the world around me. But I don't smile. Instead, I frown, and keep my eyes on my mother while she cooks.

My mother turns around to face me, and smiles. "Hey, Dani. How was school?"

I shrug, not knowing how to reply. "School was fine."

"Just fine?"

I nod, "Yeah, just fine," I say, but my words come out colder than intended.

Suddenly, my mom's face changes. She knew something was up, but she wasn't sure what yet. "Dani, is everything okay?"

Define "okay."

"Mom... There's something I need to talk to you about." I say softly, my eyes lowering to the ground, unable to look her in the eyes.

"Of course, Dani," Mom says, walking over to the breakfast table. She takes a seat, and I take one next to her.

"I just... had a rough day." I mumble.

"Tell me everything." My mom reaches over and pats my hand, comforting me.

A thought crosses my mind. What I'm about to tell her could ruin my life forever. What all could happen if I let it all out? But it's the right thing to do. Still, my mind wanders with thoughts and scary images.

"It actually has nothing to do with me."

"What do you mean?" A puzzled look crosses my mother's face.

I pause for a brief moment, still conflicting with myself as to what to say next. "It has to do with Dad."

The stale and bitter words linger in the air for a few more moments, sucking in all of the happiness that once surrounded my mother.

"Dani, what happened?" Her face is pale, her eyes full of worry.

"I caught him with another woman. Eating out at a restaurant downtown." I let the words fall out of my mouth before I can stop them.

"Maybe he was just having dinner with a coworker." My mom says, shaking her head.

"He kissed her, Mom."

I bite my tongue.

"Are you sure?" Mom asks, the light and joy that once filled her green eyes slowly fading away.

Some people say that's why my mother's name was Joy. Everywhere she went, she brought others joy, therefore, she was joyful herself. It's hard to live down such a powerful name as that. Joy. It suited her. Once, in the fourth grade, I had to do a project on why my family members were named what they are. Mom's was easy, though Dad's was a bit harder to understand. Warren, my father's name, meant faithful. Looking back on it now, the irony stung worse than a million bee stings.

I nod again, not able to project my thoughts into words.

My mother takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and rests her head on her hands. "I would like to be alone, if you don't mind, Dani."

I nod, although she can't see me. I stand up from the breakfast table, which had so many fond memories, but now it hurt to look at it. My mother is always fought. She is always passionate and smart. But now she looks defeated. All because of me. I enter the living room.

My little sister, Lily, is there, sitting with her hand-me-down Barbie dolls, on the rug. She moves the dolls as she talks to herself, whispering unknown doll drama into the Barbie's ears. I plop down next to her, taking a seat on the zebra-print rug.

"Hey Dani! Sarah's about to go to the store to get some milk." Lily says, in the purest voice possible. She is unaware of the dangers that the next few hours hold.

I gulp, trying to play along to her doll fantasy. "Why would she need to get more milk?"

"She ran out, silly. That was a dumb question." Lily strokes her fingers through the doll's bleached hair, ripping out all of the tangles.

"Do you mind if I play?" I ask Lily, wanting to get my mind off of everything.

"Of course I don't mind!" Lily grins from ear to ear, pulling out another one of my old dolls, and handing it to me. "You can be Heather. She's Sarah's sister, and she's about to have a baby!"

I fake a gasp, pretending to be enthralled with the gossip.

"She's going to have her baby tomorrow, but for now we need to run to the store to get some milk for the baby shower!" Lily motions her doll to the other side of the rug, or "the store."

I motion my doll with Lily's, making her follow Sarah into the store to get milk.

"Do do do do... Aha! Here's the milk!" Lily says in a high-pitched voice, talking as Sarah. "Heather, I found it!"

"Yay." I say as Heather, bluntly.

"Now, we can go par-tay!" Lily makes Sarah throw up her hands in the air.

"Woo!" I say again, this time with a little more enthusiasm.

And we stay like this for a half hour or so, playing dolls as if the real world has stopped. As if nothing bad happened early. Lily is here with me, and I'm here with her, and everything is perfect. Heather and Sarah throw a baby shower, and a couple of minutes later, Heather gives birth to a beautiful baby boy. All is well in doll world, too.

Then, my phone rings.

"Pause the game, I'll be back in a second." I stand up from the floor, walking over to the couch, where I had thrown my stuff earlier. I reach into my bag and pull out my phone, checking the screen to see who could be calling me.

I feel my heart sink to the floor, instantly.

Dad.

I try to keep my hands from shaking as the phone continues to vibrate in my hands, the obnoxious ringtone blaring into my ears. I walk out into the cold air of the front porch. I sit on the front step, and answer the phone.

My voice trembles, "H-hello?"

"This is all your fault," My father's distraught voice says on the other end. "If it wasn't for you, Amy and I could be together."

"If it wasn't for you, our family would still be together." I snap back.

"If it wasn't for me, there would be no family," My father instantly fires back.

I feel my tongue tingle, and my brain go numb.

"Did you tell your mother?"

"What, did you expect for me not to—"

"It's a yes or no question, Daniella. Did you, or did you not, tell your mother?"

"Yes! I told her what I saw!"

"Dammit." My father mumbles, and ends the call.

I sit on the porch step as warm tears trickle down my cheeks, making the rest of me feel numb. This isn't your fault, Dani. It's his. He was the one who had an affair, not you.

No matter how many times I tell myself that, I cannot believe it. After a couple of minutes of sitting in silence on the porch, watching a couple of cars pass on the road, feeling the earth get cooler, I hear the front door open behind me. I don't bother to turn around and look, because it doesn't matter who it is. "Go away." I mumble.

"But Heather misses you." Lily says softly, and I hear her feet shuffling behind me.

The last thing in the world I'd ever want to do is hurt my sister. She makes me laugh, and always brightens my day. But she doesn't understand what I'm going through. And she doesn't understand the real world.

"Go away, Lily." I mumble, but this time more stern than before.

"Dani, please, I just want to play. Heather wants to see you again."

"Heather is just a stupid doll, Lily! She isn't real! Now take your dolls back inside before I call mom out here!" I yell at Lily, my words as cold and bitter as the dusk's air.

I snap my head around to face Lily, and I see little droplets of tears begging to form in her eyes. I instantly regret everything, and try to pull Lily into a hug.

"Lily, please, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to say those things." I reach out for a hug, only Lily pushes me away.

"I'm telling Mommy!" Lily takes a step closer towards the door.

"No, Lily, please, I didn't mean any of it." I try to stand up, to rush to her and comfort her.

"I hate you! I hate you so much!" Lily sobs out, and rushes inside.

I stand on the porch, defeated. More tears leak from my eyes, though I wasn't sure I could cry any more tears today.

Just as if this night couldn't get any worse, I hear the hum of my father's car pull into the driveway, and park.

Followed by the slamming of the driver's side door.