My Sister, Skylar

Two

School was... interesting.  Leigh spent practically her entire day dodging soda cans, ducking in her locker, finding classrooms and running to the bathroom to hide from all of it as much as possible. 

If only Madelaine and Oliver were here. Leigh thought as she sat on the toilet, feet up and head in between her legs. They'd know how to survive in this hell. Oliver would make freinds in an instant, and Madelaine would immediately become the class clown. This is at least would put me in a good place. 

Leigh felt miserable. Without her freinds, the world seemed to be moving in black and white, devoid of any colour. Ever since she was forced to move back in with her dad, the world was black and white. Her mother was dead, she was moved exaclty 290 kilometers away from her best freinds, and she was back with her alcoholic dad, back in the same stupid town where Skylar dissapeared. The same house. The same walls. How could it get any worse? Stupid Jasper. 

*************

Leigh signed up for the book club. 

Great going, Leigh. She congratualted herself. You just branded yourself as an automatic nerd. That's how it had worked in her old hometown of Banff anyway. Luckily for Leigh, the school day was almost over. Just one more hour... 

**********

"Hey. Hey new girl." Came a voice behind her. Leigh tried to ignore whoever was talking. 

"New girl-! You deaf or something?" A small but firm hand was placed on her shoulder, pulling her back. 

"Hey." A deep gravely - but strangely melodic - voice said. The girl was taller than Leigh, by a lot, which wasn't exactly hard to accomplish. Leigh was 5'3 nothing. This girl seemed like she was 6 ft tall. She was willowy too, making her seem like some pretty Slenderman. Her hair was a stark fiery red, all frizzy and untameable. It was only shoulder length, and clipped back with a little barrette. Her face was angular and hard, her eyes a steely blue. Leigh felt a pang of jealousy as she saw the girls bright freckles, dotted over her face like embers. 

"Hi?" Leigh hated the way it came out like a question. "Hi." She straightened up. 

"Sorry to bother you. I'm Ash. I wanted to talk to you earlier but your so small you disappear pretty quickly! Also, I swear you took like fifty bathroom breaks." The girl - Ash - said, grinning broadly. Leigh felt herself turn red. 

"Oh, I was just..." She trailed off, unsure of what to say. 

"Hiding from this monkey hell? I don't blame you." She smiled, still not taking her hand off Leigh's shoulder. 

"Um, I'm Leigh..." Leigh said. Ash nodded. 

"Right. Leigh. That's a nice name. I got you confused with another girl named Leia earlier today. That was embarrassing. Apparently, she's been around since day one." Ash grinned again, still not removing her hand. 

"Ay freak! Shouldn't you stick to your own kind?" Came a loud voice across the hall. A burst of laughter erupted from the onlookers. 

"Ignore him. He's just a total - " Ash didn't finish her sentence, leading Leigh out towards the glass doors. 

Once the girls were outside, Ash started to talk like a waterfall. She told Leigh all about her family and vacations and Marvel. 

"So what about you? What's your family like?" Ash stopped to take a breath.

"Oh..." Leigh thought for a moment. Skylar doesn't exist, not here. "It's just me and my dad." 

"Oh." Ash replied. A silence fell between them. Leigh was relived that Ash didn't ask about her mother. 

"Well, I have to go down Pyramid Lake Road. I guess I'll see you tomorrow, right?" Leigh said, turning to Ash, who was in the middle of a story about how her sister peed her pants at a concert or something. Ash grinned. 

"I'll wait right here, at the corner. I live down Bonhomme street.  I'll see you tomorrow, Leigh!" Ash said walking backwards down her street.

 Leigh nodded and waved. She could see a younger version of Ash running down the sidewalk, bright red head bobbing. Leigh was sick of little sisters. She turned away down Pyramid road, then continued until she came upon the dirt track amongst the pines. Driving by you would have missed it. It was completley hidden by the tall evergreens, and no sign or anything. They used to have a bright yellow sign shaped like a sun with 'Harper family' scrawled across in colourful patterned letters. It was signed 'Leigh' 'Skylar' 'Celene' and 'Robert.' Leigh had taken it down before she and her mom left. No point in having it up if the family was broken and gone. The main reason they had it was because 'Celene' kept missing their driveway and almost crashed the truck once. 

Her dad - Rob - had cut the sign out of plywood, Sky had helped paint it yellow, and Leigh had done the lettering. They had given it to their mother for her birthday. Anyway, Leigh trod along for five minutes until coming to her father's yard. 

Your yard now too. Whispered her mind.

 The yard was a big one, with a nice large meadow and swamp in the back. Their house was nothing more than a rectangle with rotting planks and peeling paint. When all four of them used to live there, the house had been painted a bright cherry red, with black trim. now the paint was peeled, revealing the dark wood beneath it, giving it an eerie gleam. The windows were dirty and gross, and most of them had been replaced with Plexiglass. One of the supports for the porch roof was almost giving way. The shop was nothing more than a shed, and most things were stored in there anyway. Where the yard had been clean and neat, it was now littered with glass shards, bottles, machinery and cans. The door creaked when Leigh opened it. 

Inside was no better. The door opened to a very short hallway. To the left was the living room, to the right, the kitchen. The kitchen had always been a warm happy place, especially since that's where the woodstove was, and where their mother used to bake brownies. Now it was just cold. The yellow paint looked sad and dirty. If you followed the hallway, you'd reach the bathroom on your left, Leigh's old room to the right, Skylar's right next to it, and at the very end to the left was her parent's bedroom. Her dad's. Whatever. 

There was a grimy window looking out to the swamp. They had often seen moose there, and their calves in the spring. Now it was covered with a gross oily towel, and the ladder that led to the attic blocked that, too. Leigh climbed up, feeling dread the whole way. Upstairs was just as bad. The attic had never been more than a small room where most storage ended up. Half of her room was taken up by ancient boxes and dusty pictures and furniture. 

All of Skylar's and Leigh's old things had perished in the fire yesterday, and Leigh had half a mind to torch the house, too. She set down her school bag and got to work, tucking the only picture of Skylar into her dresser.