A Fortunate Accident – Chapter 2

Our walk across the lawn is quiet. My neck is so tense I can’t look at Mom as we enter the house. I sigh at the warm, dry air, the bright lights, and the sound of the farm caterers in the kitchen. There are still plenty more hours to go, full of food and fun.

If only.

“Let’s go to the office,” I say, leading Mom down the hall and around the corner to Vivian’s office. I shut the door behind us and cross the room to the side table of liquor Mat set up in here.

“Whisky?” I ask, holding up a glass.

“No.” Her tone is dry and bitter.

I glance at the glass in my hand. Hmmm. What would deaden the eventual pain of this meeting? Getting really sauced. I pour three fingers’ worth of whisky and add a splash of water.

“Fine.” I lift the glass and smile. “All mine.”

Mom stands rigid in the middle of the room, so I take the chair opposite Vivian’s desk and sit.

“How’s the Mikasa? Although, I suppose, if Takemo Diaz kept his word, you should be off trash hauling duty now.”

“Skylar.” She nods her head, her blunt bob cut swaying around her chin. “Do you want to explain to me what’s going on? Because throwing a fit and cutting me off from the family funds was not how you were raised.”

“Throwing a fit? You still think of me as a toddler, don’t you?” I swirl the whisky in my glass and watch it coat the sides. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since that was the last time you were my mother.”

My comeback hangs in the air between us. I lock eyes with Mom, and I don’t let go. She leans in and sits down in the chair across from me.

“That’s harsh, don’t you think?” Her voice is so sharp it could separate time and space. “I gave birth to you, taught you how to run the cockpit, kept you fed and clothed.”

“And that’s pretty much it, right?”

She huffs through her nose. “Well, once we learned you were failing every class you were ever in and fighting constantly with your dad and Dominic, I decided it wasn’t worth the effort to spend more time with you.”

My breath halts in my lungs hearing this admission from Mom. I nod slowly, taking the statement in and picking it apart in my brain. I aced every class, every test I ever took, so this is another lie. To her, I was a failure and trouble and not worthy of her attention. She had given up on me before I had ever gotten anywhere.

Failure.

Trouble.

Unworthy.

I’ve heard those words a lot in my lifetime.

I open my throat and slam the whisky, letting it burn all the way down to my stomach.

“Yet, you still trained me to be a pilot.” I set the glass on Vivian’s desk. “And you must have seen my grades there. They were perfect.”

Mom shrugs. “I couldn’t let you go without having something, but even now, I see it was a mistake.”

She turns her head to the side, revealing her profile. I catch my breath at the memories of her back when she loved me, back when she cared. Her face would loom above me — I was small then — and I would always reach out for her cheeks, rest my head against her chest, inhale her clean scent, and let the warmth of her body seep into my bones.

I sniff up, pushing the memories away. No.

I reach into my gut for the fire that always burns there.

“Mom, we need to come to an understanding,” I say, sitting forward. “You’ve been led astray by what Dominic has told you for years.”

“Ha!” she bursts out.

I close my eyes, grit my teeth, and take a deep breath through my nose.

“See?” she says, pointing at me. “Look at you. You never could control your temper. You fought with Ana constantly as a child. Don’t try to deny it. She came to me crying more times than I can count.”

Okay, yeah, when I was six and raising my younger sisters, I was mean as fuck. I know I was. I was a terrible mother to them. I never hit them or anything. But my words were cruel because I was afraid of being beaten by Dom. When Ana or Jukia stepped out of line, it was my fault.

It was always my fault.

“She’s in rough shape now because of you. And don’t even deny all the times you hit Dominic, too. I saw the bruises.”

I inhale a sharp breath. What’s this now?

Oh my God, the lies go on and on.

I can almost feel Dom’s spirit over my shoulder, smiling and nodding his head, proud of this web of falsehoods he’s concocted over the years. He created a whole other reality, a different timeline from what I lived in.

“I never laid a hand on Dominic. But he did hit me plenty of times as a kid until I could defend myself.”

“Oh, come on, Skylar. That man is a teddy bear. There’s no way he ever laid a hand on you.”

“You think?” I ask.

“I know,” she responds, poking herself in the chest. “You don’t think I checked the video logs?”

Sweat beads on my upper lip, and blood leaves my head.

What the hell happened to my childhood? Am I insane? Did I imagine everything that happened to me? They all say I was a terrible, no-good person. They believe I’m an idiot and an abuser.

I lick my bottom lip and glance at the empty tumbler on the desk.

What if I am?

“I saw it all,” Mom says, standing up. “You would yell and scream and come at Dom with your fists up. I couldn’t believe it. Don’t you remember our sit-down chats where I asked you to be nicer to him? You always said you would, and then you always broke your promise to me.”

I open my mouth to fire back about how Dom would take me to the utility closet where there were no cameras and throw me against the shelves, always careful not to do enough harm that someone could tell what happened.

Mom shakes her head. “You should be ashamed.” She sighs and rubs her face with both hands, a gesture I’ve seen Vivian do when she’s at the end of her rope.

“And it looks like you’ve lied to Vivian and the rest of the family about how you were cut off and sent packing by an ungrateful mother and her abusive network. I thought you had returned to me for forgiveness and that by fighting for the business, you were going to join us and be a part of our family for real.”

Tears spring to her eyes, and my gut fills with dread.

“But no. You sabotaged even that by joining forces with Takemo Diaz and making a mockery of our family.”

“I did not ‘join forces’ with him. I did everything I could to get the business back.”

“Yeah, well, you certainly did a bang-up job there.”

Anger grows in my chest. She’s so ungrateful. “I got you out of trash duty. Takemo kept his word, didn’t he?”

Her face twists in confusion. “He did. Dominic said he made a deal with Diaz to relieve me of that route. I may be off trash duty, but I’m still out there flying for that bastard.”

So, Dominic is going to take credit for that too?

Mom shakes her head and tears fly. I have never seen my mom cry before, and this… this reason for the tears breaks my heart and enrages me at the same time.

I sigh. “I honestly cannot tell if you’re sad or you’re trying to manipulate me, too.”

“For fucks’ sake, Skylar.” She groans and throws her hands up, letting them crash down on her hips. “You are impossible.”

I swallow and consider my options here. They won’t believe me. No matter what I say, it will always be my fault.

I have no options.

“Fine. You want to do it this way? You want to end this publicly?” Mom’s voice climbs another notch.

I hold out my hands, begging her to slow down. “What do you mean?”

I feel like I’m only getting half the conversation here. There’s subtext and innuendo I don’t understand.

She huffs an exasperated breath. “I read your last message to me. How you want me to choose between you and the rest of the family?”

My whole body cools. What the fuck is she talking about? I never sent a message. I did compose a vidmessage a while ago, before the Bridge tournament, but I never sent it. It’s just sitting in my queue.

“I never sent a message, Mom. What’s going on here?” I stand up and look around, but I don’t know what I hope to find in Vivian’s office. Maybe someone standing behind her desk who’ll jump up and scream, ‘Surprise!,’ and tell me this is some horrible joke?

“You’re going to deny that, too?”

“Oh my God, I’m going to be sick,” I mumble as my head whirls. “Do you still have the message? Show it to me.”

I wait while Mom considers me. Her eyes bore through my head, and her chest heaves for a few breaths before she tips over her wristlet, gestures a few times, and my wristlet pings with an incoming message request.

It’s text. It’s not video, at least not the one I recorded and never sent. This message has my encrypted signature on it, though. Whoever did this is super slick. There are even trace-route notes that lead to Carlos’s Estrela system we use on the Amagi.

The message is a sick joke that makes my stomach churn. I issue a very similar ultimatum to what I had put in my vidmessage, but the subtext is twisted. My eyes scan down.

“How could you sell the business out from under me when you knew I needed it? I was going to take it and finally make it more than you ever could have.”

Yikes. I know Mom. She would not have taken this well. She always had pride in how successful her business was before the trouble our family went through.

“I didn’t send this, Mom.” My voice is strangled through my constricted throat.

“Of course you did,” she snaps back. “I had it checked out by three different security specialists.”

“I didn’t send this, Mom,” I repeat, stressing every word.

“It’s too late to cover this up, Skylar.” She clears her throat and raises her shoulders. “We’re taking you to court in Sakata City. I am stripping you of your inheritance, and I’m repossessing the Amagi. Giving it to you and Vivian was one of my worst mistakes. All I’ve done since is regret the head trip it gave you. We’re going to take away your status and your name, too. I’m handing everything left down to Jukia. Ana wants no part of the business, and I understand that after the rough life she led with you as her older sister.”

My mouth drops open. This is going from zero to nuclear wasteland in a blink. What the fuck happened?

Oh, wait. I know that already. Dominic.

I jump up from my chair with my hands splayed out in front of me. “Mom, wait. Wait.” I press my lips together and think. Think! What can I say to make this better? Where can I start?

Thankfully, she stops in her tracks and looks at me.

“This is all… This is backwards. Dominic abused me, abused the other dads. He took everything away from me, bit by bit, until I had almost nothing left but my pilot’s license and the Amagi. He even took you.” My voice cracks, and tears fill my eyes. “You were supposed to be my mom. You were supposed to look after us…”

Mom’s cheeks redden. She points her finger at me. “Don’t you dare. My God!” She lifts her face to the ceiling. “The depths of your lies are insane, Skylar.” She shakes her head.

Her stony expression stops me cold. Whatever she’s been told, it’s concrete in her head. She couldn’t see the truth, even if it was right in front of her.

Throughout my life, I have read countless tales of this sort of thing happening, mostly in fiction. Someone is fed enough lies through their lifetime, and they can no longer tell what’s the truth. Dominic tried to do this to me. I spent my entire life hearing how I was worthless, a horrible human being, a terrible sister, an undesirable daughter. But I never believed his bullshit. I tolerated it because I had to.

Mom, though… It looks like she bought all the lies.

Good job, Dominic.

This can’t be happening. I’m doubting my own sanity here, but I blink my eyes and breathe, and everything is still real.

Mom slips past me into the hall, and I take a moment to gather myself and follow her out.

“Mom, please listen to me. I’m not lying. I love you. I love our family. I’ve only ever wanted to follow in your footsteps. Please don’t do this. Please listen to me.”

A sob bursts from my lips as she slams through the front door and onto the porch.

Vivian and her mother, Aunt Mayumi, are standing on the front walk, their arms folded across their chests to hold in the heat. Their heads snap to us as Mom storms down the steps.

“Fusako, what’s going on?” Mayumi asks, reaching out for her sister. Mom sidesteps her.

“I can’t believe you’re letting her stay here,” she snaps at Mayumi.

“Skylar?” she asks, and Mom nods. “Of course she can stay here.” Her eyebrows draw together in confusion. “Vivian and Skylar have been best friends for years.”

Vivian takes one look at my tear-stained face, and her expression hardens.

“What’s going on?” Vivian demands.

“You’ve cut me off,” Mom says, pointing at Vivian. “And so now, I’m cutting Skylar off. I’ve had it with all of you. You want to play with me? Make me regret selling off my business because I wouldn’t give it to my wreck of a first-daughter? Well, here you go. I’ll see you in court.”

Mom turns and stalks off, and I don’t go after her.

She’s gone. Lost to the lies of Dominic.

“Court? What’s she talking about?” Mayumi asks.

I wrap my arms around myself, trying to ward off the chill of the night. I miss the campfire already, but Saif is back there, and once again, I’m too embarrassed, too chicken to tell him what’s happened. At least not yet. He wants me to be open and trusting, and I’m willing to try. But, shit. I need to really think about this first.

I need a game plan.

I need some space.

I shake my head at Vivian and Mayumi and turn to walk off.

“Sky?” Vivian asks, running after me.

“Don’t,” I snap at her, turning around to wave her off. “Just leave me alone for a bit.”

She stops and nods.

I walk off into the property along the road that leads to the back fields where no one will be. Fuck this world. Fuck this life. And most of all, fuck this bullshit. The lies. The deceit.

Everyone wants to push Skylar to her breaking point?

Go ahead, and fucking try it.