Hybrid (BOOK 1)

Chapter 1: The Beginning

All I ever wanted in my life was to be a professional dancer, to travel the world whilst impressing people with my passion for dance. So since I was a little girl I started to practice, in fact every single thing that I did in my life was for me to one day live my dream. Even though they were not my birth parents, my mum and dad believed in me and they wanted me to become the best dancer in the world and they believed in my little sister Shiloh too, like me, she was not their biological daughter. Shiloh wanted to become a protector, she always believed in protecting the innocent and I always admired her selflessness as I had a completely different attitude. Everything that I did, I did for myself and only myself. 

However, there was a turning point in both our lives when a tragic accident killed our parents, from that moment, Shiloh and I grew apart and I continued with my dancing whilst convincing myself that it was what my parents would've wanted. I got so engulfed in my life and work that I never kept tabs on my sister, so when i finally got back home, I did not know what to expect from her. I think it's time for the story unfold... My name is Skyler Ortega and the events that you are about to discover changed my life, forever."

**********

Skyler's eyes couldn't stop looking at the clock. She knew that her sister would knock on the door anytime soon. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably. She remembered the last conversation she had had with Shiloh. It didn't end well but a whole year had passed and she hoped to make things right with her sister before she had to leave again. Skyler took a sip of her wine and let out a huge sigh as she she swallowed it. Red wine always calmed her nerves down, especially when she had to do something out of her comfort zone. Just then she heard a knock on the door and she took a deep breath before she got up to open the door.

Taking a deep breath, Skyler opened the door with a smile on her face, but she was greeted by an emotionless  Shiloh.

"You don't have to force a smile Skyler," Shiloh told her as she entered the apartment. Skyler closed the door in silence and followed her sister to the living room and she watched as Shiloh poured some wine for herself and sat down on one of the sofas.

"So why did you ask me to come?" Shiloh asked bluntly as she took a sip of the wine.

"There's no other way to say this so I will have to go straight to the point. I asked you to come here so that we can finally make peace, it's been a whole year Shiloh, I think that your anger must've died down by now."

Shiloh snorted out a sarcastic laugh.

"Ah! Skyler Skyler Skyler... You will never change. Everything always has to be about you..."

"I asked you here to mend our relationship, how am I being selfish?" Skyler snapped back.

"You've been gone a year. ONE WHOLE YEAR! Dancing from city to city, visiting countries, living your dream as you always say but during all that time, did you think about me? No you didn't!"

"That's a lie, and you know it!"

"Really? How many texts did you send me while you were gone Skyler? How many times did you phone me to ask how I am? And when you won those prizes, did you think about me? Nope you didn't. You never even mentioned me in any of your interviews..." Shiloh paused as she saw Skyler's eyes widen.

"Yeah that's right, I watched your competitions and your interviews, never once did you mention me or mum and dad..." Shiloh stopped speaking as she wiped tears from her eyes. Skyler could see how hurt her sister was.

"I'm sorry sis. I really am. You know I love you right?"

"Ha! You've got a funny way of showing it!" Shiloh said hurtfully.

"Look, I know I haven't always been around, especially after what happened to mum and dad. You feel like I abandoned you but you were also very difficult to be there for. You wouldn't talk about your feelings and I had responsibilities, I had to work. I know that our parents would've wanted us to live up to our responsibilities but you didn't give me anything Shi. All you did was criticize every little thing that I did and just continued to keep your feelings locked up in the dark..."

"So that just gave you an excuse to leave?" Shiloh hissed.

"I needed space as well Shi. I needed to do something to ease my pain and dance is all I know. It's the only thing that keeps me sane. Also I didn't have a choice, I had signed a contract and I couldn't turn my back on it but that was a year ago. I wanna make peace with you and even if you don't believe me Shi, I did miss you. I missed you very much but I had to do what I felt was right."

"You did what you felt was right for you. You've always been a selfish person. You've never put anyone's needs ahead of yours and you will never ever change." Skyler was taken aback. She didn't think her sister would be so harsh on her, she expected some harshness but Shiloh was taking it to another level.

"Please Shiloh, this is me trying to make things right. I hate the thought of you hating me. I need your forgiveness, I can't leave knowing that you haven't forgiven me and that you hate me."

Shiloh glared at Skyler with utmost anger.

"Oh because you are leaving again?" she almost shouted out.

"Shiloh please, you know that I'm gonna be doing the choreography for..." Shiloh stood up in a flash.

"Where are you going?" Skyler asked.

"Back to my apartment! I knew it was a waste of time coming here," Shiloh said as she made her way to the door.

"Shi wait..."

"Oh..." Shiloh said as she opened the door, "just for you to know, I don't forgive you and I sure as hell hate you!" With that Shiloh slammed the door and stormed off.

Skyler stood by the door as hot tears accumulated in her eyes and the worst part was that she knew that her sister was right to some extent. No one would ever see her help a stranger out of the goodness of her heart, but she loved her family. She couldn't bear the thought that her little sister hated her and at that very moment Skyler felt a huge void in her heart and soul. She walked back to the living room and picked up a picture frame of her and her family. She looked at her parents, endless tears flowing down her cheeks. She felt so restless that she did not know what to do, after the heated conversation she had with Shiloh she was in no mood to go to bed. She glanced at the picture and again and closed her eyes and as she did so she felt the tickle of her tears down her cheeks.

"I don't know if I made the right decision by coming here," Skyler thought to herself in dismay, "Shiloh obviously wants nothing to do with me." She looked at the bottle of wine that was left open on the table. 'I need a drink." She quickly went over to the table, grabbed the bottle and started drinking huge gulps out of it.

"You know what you need Skyler?" she said aloud to herself as the the alcohol started to intoxicate her body. "You need to dance! You need to dance like tomorrow will never come!" She started to look for her phone but she could not control her own steps so she stumbled and fell on the floor. As she fell down she let go of the bottle of wine and it fell on the cold tiles and smashed in half and the remainder of the wine that fell on the floor looked like a mini pool of blood. Skyler did not have the energy to get up and she just started to cry loudly as a cloud of dark sad emotions entered her brain and all she could feel was sharp electrical pains in different parts of her body.

"Yeah, I Skyler Ortega am throwing a pity party for myself because my sister wants nothing to do with me," she wailed out aloud. She continued to cry for a few more minutes until she had no more tears left to shed, her eyes and head felt so heavy that she was unable to even get up. So she dragged her body to the nearest sofa and groggily lifted herself on it and almost immediately fell asleep... Maybe things would be different the next day...