Our Skyler

Chapter 29

Awkwardness. That was the atmosphere that filled the house. Cara distanced her from Skyler, and the boy felt confused and like he had done something wrong. The other spirits didn't know what to do, so they pretended like nothing except for Aki. The woman tried to talk with Cara, but Skyler didn't know how that went.

Skyler felt awful this morning. First, the dream about Amahle and then the whole thing with Cara. The boy didn't want to deal with this, but Skyler knew he had no choice.

He got dressed and went to the kitchen. Amahle was the only one there, she waited for him sitting on a kitchen chair by the dinner table. Skyler had asked the woman to keep him company while he would eat his breakfast, just the two of them. Amahle had looked a little suspicious at him but didn't object.

Skyler sat down next to Amahle, after getting himself a cup of coffee.

"I dreamed about you," Skyler said and looked at the older woman while he drank the hot beverage.

Amahle's eyes got bigger, and nervously she clasped her hands together.

"You did?"

Skyler nodded.

"I know about your husband, and I felt how heartbroken you were."

Amahle looked devastated at the boy but didn't say anything. She looked down at the table.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Skyler's question made Amahle flinch. In more than twenty-nine years, she had never spoken about her miserable marriage, not to her family, not to her friends and not to the other spirits. It was a crushing burden she had carried all by herself.

Will, her husband, had always pretended that they were a happy couple, in front of others. But he completely ignored her and their two children, Desmond and Georgie, when they were alone. Amahle had always felt alone, even when she was surrounded by people. Her husband didn't love her, and she doubted that he ever had.

"I met Will when I was seventeen years old, he was twenty-three. He came from London to study music from my father, who was a music professor. I got pregnant after knowing him for three months, and I wanted to do an abortion, but my father found out, and he made me keep it. He even forced Will to marry me."

Skyler was shocked. He would have never thought that Amahle had been through something like that.

"That's awful."

"Yes, it really was. I was far too young to be a mother, and Will didn't even want children at all. But we did our best, and three years later I got pregnant again. That was when Will stopped hiding that he was sleeping with other women. Twelve years after I first got pregnant, I was once again pregnant with my third child, and Will was sleeping with other women as soon as I was out of the house. I wanted to leave him; I really did, Skyler. But I was so afraid. Afraid of being alone, afraid of everyone hating me. So, I did nothing, and it was killing me inside."

Amahle sounded so small, so lonely, and Skyler couldn't bear it. He rose from the chair, walked up to her, and pulled her into a tight embrace. Amahle didn't hesitate. She leaned into Skyler's chest and closed her eyes, tears slowly started to fall on her cheeks.

"I wish I could have helped you, but from now on, I won't let anyone ever harm you again."

"You can't promise that," the woman sobbed.

Skyler put his hand on the woman's shoulders and looked at her.

"Yes, I can. You're the only mother I have ever had, and I love you so much!"

"Do you really mean that?" Amahle asked, her voice trembling.

"Of course, I do. You have always taken care of me and made me feel like I was loved. I mean, my life hasn't exactly been normal, but with you and the others, I have never felt lonely or unloved. It's all thanks to you that I am somewhat normal."