'Excuse me?'
Skye blinked and looked up. A young woman had materialised in front of her, blocking her view of the pond. She looked like she was in her late teens, with short, dark hair, and a pair of bright green glasses on her round face.
'Hi,' Skye said reflexively. She knew what was coming before the girl even opened her mouth again.
'Are you…Skye? From the PAW Patrol?' Her tone was shy yet hopeful and she brushed a lock of hair behind her ear as she said it.
Skye didn't sigh, or roll her eyes, or glower, or growl. Things like that took too much energy these days. She simply gazed up at the girl impassively and gave her answer.
'No, I'm not. Sorry.'
The girl blinked, opened her mouth, shut it again, then gave an embarrassed half-smile.
'Oh…I'm sorry, you just really look like her and I was a huge fan as a kid, so I thought…' She trailed off awkwardly. The hue of her cheeks had begun to darken and a nervous giggle escaped her lips.
'Don't worry, I get that a lot,' Skye said, forcing a polite half-smile herself.
'Okay…uh, sorry to bother you,' the girl replied, then turned and briskly walked away. Skye watched her re-join a group of teenagers she hadn't noticed standing by a tree. She said something to them and they all laughed in the obnoxious way teenagers do. A couple of them looked over to her before they all walked off together.
Skye exhaled and turned her attention back to the pond. With those kids had gone, the park was practically empty now. It was a nice enough day; the sky was cloudless and there was a pleasant little breeze that meandered through her fur like gentle fingers. The only signs of movement came from the ducks drifting lazily around the pond. A couple of them had approached her, hoping for food, but had quickly lost interest when they realised she'd come empty pawed.
It sounded pretty sad to say that you spent what few days off work you got in a little park with a handful of trees and a duck-pond, so Skye didn't make a habit of telling people. Not that she had many people to tell. She'd left her assistant manager, Amy, in charge of the school for the day, along with her office manager, Janet. The two made an efficient team and would be able to handle the pilots and their lessons with no trouble.
Skye couldn't actually remember the last time she'd taken time off. Managing an entire flight academy didn't allow for leisure, and it was only in more recent years, after the business had grown enough to afford more staff and better insurance, that she was able to leave at all. And here she was. In the park. By herself. Again.
Loser, said a familiar voice, echoing from some deep pit in her mind. That's what you are, you know that? You're a complete loser with no friends and no life. Look at yourself.
Skye didn't feel like looking at herself. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, released it, and hopped off the wooden bench she'd perched herself on. She headed for the park gates, keeping a slow pace. A couple of dogs passed her – the park was more a more popular hangout for canines than humans. One of them stared at her and Skye thought she would have to go through the dreaded routine yet again. But he let her pass without harassment and she quickened her pace before he or his friend could change their minds.
She contemplated going home, to do what, she didn't know, perhaps sit and stare at the wall for a bit? She was starting to regret taking the day off, even if her therapist had told her how important it was to manage a work-life balance. Was it even a balance at all if the work was your whole life? Instead, her paws took her through the town centre, past the gas stations and clothing stores, past the hotels and restaurants. No one stopped her or asked her who she was. Operating a flight school meant living somewhere more remote, away from big cities, which she didn't mind in the slightest. There had been only so much of Adventure City, LA, New York, San Fran, and Chicago that she could take.
She padded past an electronics store, barely acknowledging it, then suddenly stopped in her tracks. The store had a selection of large, brand-new TV's set up in its window. One of them was playing a sports game, another broadcasting the news, and another displaying some kind of cooking show. But that wasn't what had caught her attention. In the middle of the display, the largest and most expensive-looking TV was playing something entirely different.
It was a talk show, the kind she usually refused to watch. She didn't recognise the host sitting behind the desk, but it didn't matter, because she recognised the guest sitting in the opposite armchair: A young man with brown hair that had been professionally cropped and gelled, pale skin, and intelligent brown eyes. He was smiling as he talked to the host, flashing white teeth and a set of dimples beneath a dusting of freckles.
Skye watched as Ryder emotively explained something to the host, who seemed enraptured by whatever it was. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but several images flashed across the backdrop behind them: All-terrain vehicles, protective apparel, advanced computer systems. It was all search and rescue related. Was Ryder still in the engineering industry? Did he have his own company? How had she not known about it? She knew the answer to that last one. Why would she have known? Why would she even care?
She didn't. She was busy. She was wasting her time wandering aimlessly around town when she could be at work. She was staring at a shop display like a weirdo and she needed to stop before someone noticed and put two and two together and realised who she was. Or called the police on her for loitering.
But Skye didn't move. She kept watching the show, kept watching Ryder talk with his hands like he always used to, kept watching the results of the last ten years of his life flash across the screen, kept watching the audience applaud sporadically. She kept watching and suddenly she wasn't there anymore. She was somewhere else, somewhere distant and long since passed. She was somewhere she'd sat through endless counselling sessions, listened to TED Talks and podcasts, and read a bunch of self-help books specifically to ensure she would avoid being ever again.
She was ten years ago