Sky

—an excerpt—

The thoughts were getting louder.

Skylar kept her pale green eyes focused on the carpet. She held Rosa to her chest and darted from the bedroom to the stairs, past the long glass railing that loomed over the dining room. The feature was what Ben boasted about when she’d first stumbled inside more than a year prior.

“Wow, this is incredible.” She grinned and gazed at the upstairs hallway, her pupils so large, the green was barely visible. She was high on molly—he could have brought her to the shed where he stored his work tools and she’d have loved that too.

Since having Rosa, the open-to-below hallway had become something more sinister—a thick black cloud, permeating her mind like a toxic gas.

Skylar flinched at the sound of tires on the snow packed gravel. She glanced at her phone, 10 a.m. Rosa gurgled, and Skylar drew back the formerly white curtains, now smoke stained a yellowish taupe. Her red Volkswagen was the only car outside, parked between mounds of snow, built up high like castle walls.

I’m losing it.

Her phone pinged.

Ben: Can you go to the dump today?

Skylar ran her fingers through her hair and untangled a knot. There was no garbage collection in Dorset, and the dump was ten minutes away. She surveyed the room—dishes in the sink, toys scattered on the rug, clutter that commanded every surface.

Skylar: Yep, I’ll try!