Brightly Burning Bridges by Ivy Wild
“Just what thehell did you think you were doing, Skyler?” Elyse said as we made our way back to her house. Well, I guess technically it was our house now, but it didn’t feel like that. My mother was an assisted living caretaker and my entire life we’d moved from house to house wherever she was able to find work.
Elyse’s grandfather had fallen ill last month and her family had hired my mother to help with his care. He needed round-the-clock care, so we’d moved into the small poolhouse apartment on their property.
After a single week in this neighborhood, I knew I was going to hate living here. My mother and I had a weird existence measured by an odd variable. The longer someone stayed alive, the longer we got to stay put. And the reverse was also true.
Sometimes it had me wishing that people would pass on quicker, which I knew was a terrible thing to wish. I didn’t know Elyse’s grandfather. I never usually knew any of the people my mother was tasked with caring for. Usually, by the time my mother was called, they didn’t have a long time left in this world. But even still, I felt bad hoping that Mr. Touper, Sr. would pass on quicker just so I didn’t have to be around his granddaughter any longer.
“No one is allowed upstairs,” Elyse continued to lecture. “And I can’t believe you tried to steal something.”
I thought maybe she would realize how insensitive her words sounded and that she would stop and apologize, but she didn’t. She just continued to vent her unwarranted frustration, all while making it seem like I was some sort of criminal because me and my mother weren’t in the same tax bracket as her family.
“You’re lucky,” she added. “He probably just took pity on you.”
“Prolly,” I managed to reply back. I knew I needed to keep my mouth shut. Even though I knew I was going to hate going to King’s Academy and living in this ridiculous neighborhood, I wouldn’t jeopardize this job for my mother. And for some reason, I had a feeling that if Elyse stomped her foot enough, she might just get her way.
So I pushed down the anger I felt at her words and kept quiet the entire drive home. Despite what Elyse said, I think the most ridiculous thing was that she insisted driving her Jaguar F-type to the party when Silas’ house was literally a quarter mile from hers.
She pushed the button for the garage door and looked at me expectantly. Another thing to add to my growing list of “hate” as far as Elyse was concerned. She didn’t want me in her house—not even the garage.
“Thanks,” I said quietly, trying to hide the rage in my voice. I closed the door before she had a chance to respond and made my way to the backyard. My mother was sitting on the couch, still in her scrubs, flipping through a few channels when I walked inside. She looked so very different than I did, and it wasn’t because I looked like my father, wherever the hell he was.
She perked up as I walked in and shut off the television. “How was the party?” she asked, a bit of hope in her eyes. I didn’t want to be the one to kill it, so I lied.
“Fun.”
A smile lit up her tired features and even as exhausted as she looked, I still didn’t understand why my father would leave a woman as beautiful as her. Maria Jackson had tanned skin, long brown hair, dark eyes and full red lips. Her figure was a little fuller these days, but even still, I was so envious of her.
I did not inherit my mother’s tanned skin, red lips or dark eyes. Instead, I’d been born with albinism, which left me lacking, among other things, pigment in my hair and skin. I was the ironic black sheep of the family.
My mother had been born in Honduras but my grandparents had won a visa lottery when she was just a baby and they’d been allowed to immigrate to the States. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity at a better life for their family. My grandparents both worked at a fabrications factory until they passed away a few years ago.
I was apparently a surprise for my mother and my father agreed to marry her upon hearing the news. She was only eighteen at the time, but she claimed they were in love. It was obvious he didn’t love me, though, since he ran out on her once I was born.
“Did you make any friends?” mom asked.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the only thing I’d managed to do was break a vase allegedly worth $50,000 and get myself signed up for a year’s worth of indentured servitude. I also didn’t know how to even voice what I was feeling about my would-be overseer. So, I said, “yeah,” instead.
I still didn’t know how I was going to handle the Silas-situation. But, I didn’t want to think about that right now. Right now, I wanted to microwave something to eat and watch television with my mom.
I opened the freezer and debated which one of my mom’s Weight Watchers frozen dinners I wanted. I pulled out the macaroni and cheese and ripped it from the box, tossing it in the microwave on high.
My mom turned the television back on and I stood in front of the device, watching it spin the little plastic tray around and around. I couldn’t help but draw a parallel to my own life. Only problem was that I was pretty sure I was the plastic dish. Or worse, I was the macaroni.
The timer beeped and I fished it out with a fork, pushing it onto a plate before trying to stir the few bites of dinner together to heat up the center. The centers of these dishes always stayed ice cold when I made them while the edges were burning hot.
“You should throw it back in for another thirty seconds,” my mom said from her spot on the couch as I made my way over. “The middle’s gonna be cold otherwise.”
I shrugged my shoulders. I was used to the cold center by now. In some ways, it made the edges feel warmer. “It’s fine,” I replied.
“Suit yourself,” my mom said, lowering the volume to the television. I knew that meant she wanted to tell me something. On cue, she turned to me and sighed. “Look, Sky honey. I know this move was unexpected and this neighborhood is going to take a little getting used to for us.”
She wasn’t wrong about that. I was happy in our last home. The family wasn’t wealthy like the Toupers, but they paid my mom enough so that we were comfortable by our standards. And they didn’t treat us like we were the “help.” There were a number of times we had dinner together and when Mrs. Simons passed, I was genuinely sad. Not because we had to move, but because Mrs. Simons had been one of those rare and beautiful human beings that was incapable of judging others because she had been judged herself. She had lost her eyesight as a young girl, so she never knew what I looked like. Which meant her opinion of me and the way she treated me had never changed. She’d kept her wits till her very last breath and I missed her even now.
But that’s what happened when you worked in this industry. The Grim Reaper came with our eviction notice. The Simons lived in a normal neighborhood and I’d gotten the chance to go to a normal high school. I liked it there and had a few friends. The school district told my mother that I could stay and finish out my senior year if I wanted to, but we both knew that wasn’t possible. There was no way my mother could afford to pay room and board for me, even if I had a place to stay. And besides, I wasn’t going to let my mother move to a new city alone.
“It’s fine, mom,” I said, taking a bite of my dinner. “I’ll get used to it. I always do.”
My mom smiled, a tinge of sadness in her eyes before she blew me a kiss. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, my angel.”
I smiled and took another bite of my dinner, the noodles still slightly frozen.
I clutchedthe piece of paper to my hand as I walked through the maze of corridors. My shoulders ached from carrying a full load of books the entire day and the bell dismissing classes had rung over thirty minutes ago, but I was still stuck wandering the halls. I grimaced as I realized that I had definitely missed the buses and there was no way that Elyse would have waited for me, even if she’d been agreeable to being seen with me at school.
The realization that I’d be walking the three miles back to the poolhouse made it only that much more important that I find my locker. I tried to make sense of the numbers on the metal cabinets as I walked and finally recognized a pattern. I made my way down the entire corridor, my shoulders screaming with each step, before finally locating the last locker at the end of the row that matched the slip of paper.
If I were anyone else, I’d be upset about getting the locker the furtherest from the classrooms. But as I dropped my bag to the polished porcelain floor, I realized I didn’t mind it. My locker may have been the last, but it was located adjacent to a wall of windows overlooking a fountain and was right next to a seldom-used stairwell. Besides, I rather liked the idea of having an excuse to get away from everyone.
I held up the slip of paper and moved the glossy dial left and right before pulling up on the chrome latch. The cabinet opened and a piece of paper fluttered down in front of me. I furrowed my brow as I leaned to pick it up.
“Assignment 1: Meet me at the fountain after school.”
My lips twisted as I looked at the font scribbled on the page. I didn’t need the author to sign his name. I already knew which one of the supposed “Kings” of King’s Academy this was from. I looked through the window at the fountain below my locker and sure enough, Silas was there. His bright blond hair caught the sun as he skipped rocks against the surface of the fountain. If he wasn’t such an asshole, it would have been a rather moving moment.
He looked up, catching my gaze briefly before that resident smirk lifted his lips. He gestured for me to come down with one finger and I rolled my eyes before leaning down and depositing my books into my locker. I hoped I was far enough away from the window to hide the middle finger I flipped him in return, but his obvious chuckle told me I wasn’t so lucky.
I pressed open the door to the stairwell and made my way downstairs. My sneakers squeaked against the metal as the bang of my footsteps echoed throughout the column. In some ways, it made me feel bigger than I really was and I liked it. Most of the time I was trying to blend in, which was a laughable goal as far as I was concerned, but still I tried. It was nice to just embrace being loud and obvious sometimes. I crashed through the door that led to the outdoor fountain area where Silas was waiting.
“Took you long enough,” he drawled, not looking up from what he was doing. He tossed another stone he’d picked up from the bottom of the fountain across the water.
“Yeah, well no one was kind enough to show me where my locker was located. But apparently you knew where it was all along,” I said, my voice shrinking with every word.
“Why do you do that?” he asked, still not looking at me.
I shook my head. “Do what?”
“Talk small.”
“Talk small?”
“Yeah,” he said, finally turning around to face me. He was so much taller than I was and for a girl, I was pretty tall at five foot nine. Silas had to be at least six-three and he wore his height perfectly. He stood up tall, like he was proud and perfectly comfortable being seen. Whereas, I slouched and tried to go unnoticed. I envied him before I really even knew him. “You’re doing it now,” he said, sizing me up with those dark brown eyes of his. “Curling in on yourself. Keeping your voice quiet.”
I shrugged but I refused to reward him with an answer. Someone like Silas couldn’t possibly understand my life and I wasn’t going to let him pry me open just to steal my pearl.
He smirked and shook his head, as if my discomfort was somehow amusing to him. “Here,” he said, walking over to a beautiful leather bag that was leaning haphazardly by the edge of the fountain. He flipped it open and fished out a pile of papers. He handed them to me and I twisted my lips but took them all the same.
“When are they due?” I asked, trying to push down the bile in my voice. The last thing I needed was Silas telling the Touper’s that I’d tried to steal from him and broken his mother’s prized vase. Considering Elyse’s opinions of me, I’m sure her family wouldn’t think twice before kicking me and my mother out of their home, just to be safe.
“Check the top of each page for the date,” Silas said, turning back to look at the fountain.
“You keep your homework awfully organized for someone who doesn’t do it.”
Silas threw me a cocky smile and shrugged. “Can’t have you messing up my perfect GPA.”
“Something tells me that isn’t the case,” I whispered, pushing his papers into my faded purple Jansport backpack.
He threw me a cocky smile and ran a hand through his blond hair. The bright yellow waves almost glowed in the sun and I found myself being jealous of him again. His light features made him gorgeous. Mine made me—different.
I eyed him warily. “You’re different today.” The words slipped from my mouth before I’d realized.
But Silas didn’t skip a beat. “We all wear masks depending on where we are.”
The words were simple but were tainted with unspoken truths. He had my mind in a tail spin, trying to figure out what I felt about him. One moment he was being a certified ass and the next he was saying things like that.
“I have to get going,” I said, turning to leave.
Silas leaned down to pick up his bag and called out after me. “$100 bucks will buy you a ride home.” His words and their taunting nature proved to me that he knew I had no way home but my legs and he was going to try and take advantage of that.
I lifted my middle finger and started walking, my mind made up on how I felt about Silas.
