Breaking into Sky | Book Two

Two

Song: Bird set free by Sia

Drops of sweat beaded Skylar's brows as she dealt blow after blow to the black punch bag hanging in her little apartment.

It was the middle of the day and she had made sure to keep her work schedule free during the day, as she'd done for the past three years.

It was her mother's birthday today.

She would've been forty-two.

She punched harder, blowing gusts of air through her mouth, her cheeks billowing out with each release of air from her lungs.

She had started taking boxing classes her final semester in college just after her mother's passing. A friend of hers had recommended it after she had gotten into a drunken bar fight one time too many.

It had saved her life, to say the least.
Panting, she removed her boxing gloves and bent over her knees trying to catch her breath.

She walked over to her mini fridge in her one-bedroom apartment and pulled out a bottle of water, taking large gulps to quench her thirst.

She checked her time, it was four-thirty pm.

She peeled off her clothes as she walked to the bathroom to take a shower.

•••••••••••••••

The grey skies and heavy clouds reflected her mood perfectly as she walked past rows of tombstones at the cemetery.
It was privately owned, and this accounted for the low-cut grass and lack of litter. Her stepfather whom she hadn't seen since the funeral, maintained the requisite periodic payments for a spot here.

She reached her mothers head stone and dropped down on her haunches to place the bouquet of flowers just in front of it.

'Hey Mamma,' she said softly as she sat down cross-legged on the grass.
She glanced around her. Usually, she caught sight of few others who were visiting their loved ones, but, not today, it seemed.

'Seems like people are staying away today huh?' she sighed, 'I don't blame them much, it's a dreary day...kind of like how I'm feeling actually.' She gave a short mirthless laugh.

'I booked a new gig,' she said, her eyes lighting up, 'it's tonight, I'll be performing a ballet piece for a black tie event uptown...very swanky soiree, you know?' she smiled, and played absently with the short tufts of grass around her, 'you would've loved it.

'I'm still saving up for that design programme at NYSID...it'll happen, I promise...it's just...really expensive Mom.'

She sighed again. Her mother had always been supportive of her dreams and for a long time she had had two passions, the first was dance and the other was interior design.

Her mother had enrolled her in a ballet and art class for kids when she was five and her love for dance and design had grown from there. As she'd grown older she'd suspected her mom had done that for a reason; to keep her out of their tumultuous household.

It was so long ago, but she remembered it like it was yesterday, the night she'd woken up and found her mom in tears, taking the blows her step dad had been dealing.

She had woken up in a hospital afterwards, with her mother by her bedside, weeping quietly, with bruises forming on her face and her left eye almost swollen shut.

He'd told the doctors that they'd been attacked by robbers and they had sympathized and urged him to report the incident to the police as quickly as possible. He agreed with them and just before leaving, he'd squeezed her mother's shoulders, as she winced in pain, promising to see them back at home.

She hadn't understood what was going on, but she'd begged her mom to not make her go back to his house.

'We would be in danger if we do that my sweet girl.' Her mom had whispered sadly. 'We have to go back.'

'B-but we're in d-da..jer now mommy. Daddy hates us.' She'd said, her eyes swimming with tears.

Shaking her head, her mother had wiped her cheeks and straightened, 'no baby, he's just...angry. He doesn't hate us.'

'But he hit you...'

'Shhhh,' her mom shushed, glancing anxiously at the door to their private room.

'Don't ever say that again darling, okay?' She'd leaned over and kissed her daughters bruised cheek, 'He didn't mean to, and if someone hears you say that, he would be in trouble...and...we would be in trouble too, Okay?'

She'd nodded uncertainly and that had been the end of the matter, until the next time it had happened and the next, and the next.

Eventually, her mom had told her to stay in her room anytime she heard him get angry. But, still, she had come out each time, listening behind the closed door of their bedroom and trembling with fear at her mothers muffled screams.

One day she had learned in school what the police did. They had come to her class and talked about circumstances in which they could call 911, and so she'd waited for the next time it happened, hid in their living room with the lights off, and dialled the emergency line. She'd told them her dad was hitting her mommy and to come quickly.

They had taken him away, and she'd been relieved, hugging her sobbing mother and thinking that they'd seen the last of him.

But he had returned home that same night, and that was when she'd begun to understand the real danger they were in.

Her mother had refused to press charges and his lawyers and influence had gotten him out quickly.

He was a well respected lawyer himself, with substantial influence in the police department and legal community, her mom had little to nothing to her name, with barely any family to turn to, and no real power of her own.

He'd marched straight into her room where she had cuddled with her mom, and dragged her out of her mother's arms.

With tears falling down her cheeks, her mother had begged him to let her go, trying unsuccessfully to get between them.

That had been the second time he'd hit her as a child.

It, also, hadn't been the last.

Thunder rumbled through the sky and she looked up, startled. Checking her watch she realised that two hours had passed, and she needed to get back home to prepare for her performance that evening.

She stood, brushing the dirt off her jeans and kissed her mother's headstone lightly. 'I love you mom.'

She whispered before turning around and walking away.