Before I Forget

Avengers

There was a woman in Dad's office.

A beautiful, dark-skinned woman who was wearing jeans and a bright red blouse. She was sitting on Dad's desk and Dad was standing between her legs, kissing her passionately, his fingers holding the back of her neck under her braided hair.

Hearing the door opening, Dad turned to look. His eyes widened, he stumbled back bringing his hands to his hair.

"Shit—" he groaned. "Sky—"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry—!" Sky bolted into action, fled the room, and slammed the door after her.

What the actual fuck? Jesus Christ—

She had never been this embarrassed in her life! Her cheeks were burning, her heart tried to escape through her chest, and the only thought in her mind was that she needed to get away, as far as she possibly could from that door and the horrible sight behind it.

Why the fuck didn't I knock?!

Her legs were trembling as she made her way through the living room. Emotion was making her shoulders shake and she wasn't sure if she was about to burst into a fit of giggles or into tears.

Dad. Kissing a woman. In his fucking office. And I walked in there like an idiot—

She heard muffled voices, then a door opening and footsteps approaching. She didn't turn to look - she would have recognized Dad's soft, almost soundless footsteps anywhere - but now they were paired with an unfamiliar sound, high heels, clicking against the wooden floor.

Sky forced her trembling legs to move and fled the living room into the hallway, still not looking back. Out. She needed to get out, right now. The walls were shrinking around her, she could barely draw in a breath.

She was just stepping into her pink sneakers by the front door when Dad reached her.

"Sky—" 

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry—," Sky interrupted him, trying to get the damn shoes on. "I'm so, so sorry. I should have knocked—"

"No, I'm sorry." Dad breathed. "I didn't want you to find out like this—"

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Sky snapped and finally looked up, suddenly recognizing the emotion that made her voice tremble. Anger, it was. And also fear.

"I was going to tell you. Today."

Dad was leaning on the doorway of the living room, his hair still a mess, bright red spots on his high cheekbones. And next to him, was the lady in her jeans and her high heels, and suddenly Sky felt like she would start screaming.

"Hi," the woman said. Her voice was soft and nice and she had a hesitant smile on her lips. "My name is Lisa. You must be Sky? I've heard so much about you."

Sky finally managed to get the shoes on. She glared at the stranger, took a step back, then another. Lisa. Oh, joy. This was the woman Dad had taken on a date the day Sky had tried to kill herself. The woman, dad had stood up in a Sushi bar to rush home to his suicidal daughter. Sky could only imagine what Dad had told this lady about her, but none of it could have been good.

Her throat went tight. Suddenly she was about to break into tears. The floorboards were shattering under her feet, she was losing her balance and soon she would fall, she would fall through the floor to the basement and fucking die there.

"I—" her voice got stuck in her throat. "I— I'm sorry, I can't do this right now."

And she swirled on her heels, grabbed the car keys from the counter before rushing out of the front door. She didn't turn to look if anyone followed, didn't hear if Dad called her name as she stepped into the car and slammed the door.