True Colors

Young Lily stared at the failing '38' on her math test. Terrified of her father's temper, she grabbed a pen from the drawer and carefully closed the curves, turning the '3' into an '8'. To her eyes, the alteration was seamless. She presented the paper to her father at dinner, praying he wouldn't notice the ink difference. He looked at the grade, his face draining of color. He didn't yell at Lily. Instead, he stood up in absolute silence, walked into the kitchen, and stabbed his wife.