Chapter 1
“Where has this girl gotten to this time?” an agitated voice in the distance asked no one in particular. “Lisette!” it shouted.
“Yes, ma’am?” a shy voice responded, and Sky heard the footsteps rush down the hallway outside her room.
“Go and command the entire household to put their current chores on hold and to look for Sky. If she’s late again, all of our heads will be had.”
Sky tutted quietly to herself; she couldn’t care less, but if her mother were to hear Karen say her name without title, her head would definitely have been had, regardless of if they found her or not.
“Will do, ma’am,” Lisette said, and Sky once again heard her feet scurrying away. She also then heard Karen sigh and start mumbling to herself as she proceeded to walk in the other direction.
Sky heaved a sigh too as she pulled herself out from behind her wardrobes; she rather liked Lisette and didn’t want her to be put under the burden of having to try and find her. Besides, she was already awake now and she knew she wouldn’t fall asleep again.
Knowing they wouldn’t re-enter her room any time soon if she hadn’t been here the first time, she picked out an outfit and got changed at a leisurely pace as she heard feet rushing around outside her room.
She patted down the floral dress she’d put on as she had a look at herself in the mirror. This kind of attire wasn’t her kind of style, but she wore these uncharacteristic things to protect herself and make her unrecognisable on camera for the type of lifestyle she led behind this glamourous façade.
She had to admit, it almost suited her.
Deciding that announcing her presence within her room was too tedious, she just opened the door before seating herself in front of her makeup table and waiting to have the next maid come and do her makeup.
She was just about to relax on her phone for a while when one of the maids appeared too quickly for her liking.
“Miss Sky! Where have you been? You’ve sent the whole household into disarray!” she said as she entered the room, opting to turn off the lights and instead went to open the curtains to let the sunlight come in.
“I’ve noticed,” Sky replied with a tight smile. “Anyway, we’re running late right? Help me with my makeup.”
“But Miss, I should tell them-” the maid started.
“Sure, go tell them, it won’t be my fault we’re late then at least,” Sky replied nonchalantly as she took out her phone and unlocked it. Her words clearly affected the maid, who hesitated only for a split second before she rushed to Sky’s side; Sky put away her phone and looked forward into the mirror.
The maid worked in silence, but let the next maid who arrived know to inform everyone that Sky had been found and was now having makeup put on her.
Only a few minutes passed until the news reached the head maid, who arrived with another maid in tow.
“Janice,” Karen barked upon her arrival. “What do you think you’re doing?”
The maid working on Sky’s makeup immediately took a few steps back and bowed in apology. “Apologies, ma’am, but we were running late and I didn’t know where to find Jess to do the makeup for her.”
Karen scowled as she walked further into the room; Sky watched her walk closer. Much to her distaste, Karen grabbed Sky by the chin and looked at her face from every angle. “Could be worse,” Karen finally said. “Thank you, Janice. You may both take your leave.”
The two maids bowed and rushed out of the room, leaving Sky and Karen to themselves.
“If we weren’t running so late, I would definitely be talking to you about the consequences of your actions right now,” Karen said with an agitated undertone as she went and grabbed a light jacket from Sky’s wardrobe.
But we both know it would do no good, they both thought as they shot each other a glance.
“Come along Miss Sky; the car is waiting out front.” Without another word, Karen left the room, expecting Sky to follow, which she did for once. Sky normally hated charity events, or anything she had to do to make her parents look good, but animal events were another matter entirely. She’d put up with it then – and only then. The animals were worth it.
With large strides, she kept up easily with Karen, and at one point debated just heading out to the front since the older woman was much shorter and therefore much slower than her, but she decided against it; she didn’t want to appear too keen.
After an agonising 3 minutes of alternating fast and slow walking, they reached the front door where the car was waiting. Karen turned to Sky and held out her jacket. “Have an enjoyable time, Miss Sky.”
Sky said nothing as she took the jacket and headed down the steps, walking past the chauffeur who was holding the door open for her in silence and climbing into the back seat.
By the time the chauffeur had gotten into the car himself and started driving, Sky was already heavily invested in her phone and its contents. As per usual, the drive was silent, with only the sound of the radio to be heard after Sky requested it be turned on.
The site of the event was relatively close-by and was in fact a park which she frequented often. Though as she got out of the car, she realised she’d never really seen it in daylight before, and she thought it definitely had its own charm seeing the bright green colour of the leaves rather than the dark grey tint she saw at night.
She didn’t regard the chauffeur as he bowed in farewell when she left and she proceeded to make her way over to the so-called reception area of the event. “Good morning,” she greeted politely in words that seemed almost foreign to her tongue. “Could you please tell me where I can find the person responsible for the event?”
A petite looking girl looked up from what she was doing and smiled at Sky; when Sky didn’t return the smile, the look on the girl’s face faltered but immediately returned to its friendly demeanour. “Of course. Mr Evergreen is over next to the stage. Wearing a red blazer; you can’t miss him.”
Sky nodded and left without thanking her, leaving the girl behind her wondering who this impolite girl was, but her smile immediately returned as she turned to help the next visitor and Sky was quickly forgotten.
As Sky made her way over to the stage, she noticed that he did indeed stick out like an almost literal sore thumb and had now even decked himself out with a red top hat. If anyone was given the instructions to look out for the red, they most certainly wouldn’t miss him.
She had planned to make a direct beeline for him to get this event underway, but upon spotting a fluffy little German Shepherd puppy, she just knew she had to say hello. Without stopping in her stride, she diverted to the right and walked directly over to the elderly man who was clearly having a bit of a struggle keeping him under control.
“Hello,” she greeted, forcing a smile onto her face.
“Hello, dear,” he responded, with a smile that reached his eyes. “How are you doing today?”
“I’m doing well,” she replied, looking from him down to his puppy. “Would you mind if I pet your dog?” she asked then, getting straight to the point.
“Of course,” he chuckled. “I think that’s all he’s been looking for since we got here.”
She smiled then; not at him and not at the puppy, but just in general. Tying her thin dress up into a knot at the side to avoid getting paw prints on her dress and hence revealing the shorts she was wearing beneath, causing anyone watching her to become flustered for a moment, she bent down and held out her hand. For a moment, the puppy seemed uncertain, but upon sniffing her hand he bounded around too fast for her to keep up with him. She laughed.
“How long have you had him?” she asked the elderly man.
“About… Hm, 2 weeks now I believe. My son got him for me so I wouldn’t be so alone all the time,” the elderly man responded, watching the young girl and his puppy enjoying themselves. “Though I wish he would have gotten me one a bit older; this one has too much energy for me. But when I said that to my son, he said it had to be this one; it just spoke to him when he and his wife went to pick one out.”
Sky had a last little pet of the dog’s head before she straightened up and untied her dress. “I’m sure your son has a very good reason for picking him then,” she said. “If you’ll excuse me, I have somewhere I have to be now,” she abruptly excused herself, leaving the elderly man a bit confused and the young puppy looking after her with his tail wagging.
She finally made her way over to the stage, neither rushing nor taking her time, and once again immediately spotted Mr Evergreen who was looking around constantly and checking his watch.
“Mr Evergreen?” she asked as she approached him. She immediately caught his attention.
“Ah, you must be Miss Simmons,” he responded, walking over quickly and sticking out his hand. “Perfect, just on time. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Sky eyed his outstretched hand, unsure what to make of it. As she didn’t move, he awkwardly moved his hand outwards to the right, indicating the backstage, as though that was the original intention for his hand movement. “If you please, follow me this way.”
As he led the way backstage, Sky almost let out an audible sigh but followed nonetheless.
For the animals, she reminded herself.
“If you could please wait for here a moment,” the older man said once they’d reached backstage, and this time Sky actually did let out a huff of air as he scuttled off and left her by herself. She crossed her arms to show her distaste for the current situation. Could he not have done whatever it is he’s now doing while they were waiting for her?
He returned after a mere minute and indicated for her to follow him. She did so with no audible complaint, and with a helping hand up the stairs she found herself up on stage next to him and looking down at the crowd.
As she stood next to him, she zoned out as he called for attention and gave a short speech; she only zoned back in upon hearing him speak her name.
“… Sky Simmons and her parents for making this fundraising event possible with their very generous donation, we’d like to present them with this award.”
Although she’d missed the first half of the sentence, she assumed this Mr Evergreen had been thanking them so she put on her fake smile and turned to him, taking the award from his outstretched hands. “Thank you,” she was speaking so many foreign words today.
He smiled at her and indicated for her to go to the microphone. She panicked for a moment, realising she didn’t know what to say, but she knew she could bluff her way through it. She walked up to the mic with award in hand.
“Thank you,” she said once more, wincing at how often she’s had to say that word combination today; she wasn’t even sure who she was thanking this time. “Have a good time everyone.”
There, bluffed, she said to herself proudly. With a slight bow, she walked back off the stage and upon reaching the bottom she expected to exchange a few last words with Mr Evergreen before she went back to the animals.
Instead, when she turned around, she came face to face with…
“Father.”
