Chapter 6: Treacherous Beginnings

A/N: Trying to be a little more consistent with the uploads. Let me know what you guys are hoping to see in this story and I will see if I can incorporate it into the storyline!

T/W: Abuse. Please note, there is explicitly described abuse in this chapter from parent to child. I will make sure to be calling out any warnings at the beginning of each chapter so that you can know what to expect.

Sky's Point of View

Sky was scared, to say the least. When the car pulled into the driveway, her heart was beating much faster at the thought of returning to that monster she has of a father. Her stomach was still tender from where he punched her, and the bruise was already forming.

They sat in the car for a few minutes, no one willing to break the relative peace, each person with their thoughts volleying between Emily and Sky's current situations. When the clock hit 5 of, Sky whispered to Seth, "I really have to get going."

He nodded his head, snapping out of his reverie. "Right, okay, yeah. Are you sure you can't stay?"

Sky looked away and made to open the door. Seth wrapped his fingers lightly around her wrist, holding her back. "No, Seth. He was very clear. I... I have to go back." His grip tightened just enough to pull her into a hug. She gasped a little as her stomach got squished.

"Are you okay?" Leah had whipped around from her spot in the front seat, eyes somehow both narrowed at her, and widened with concern.

Sky laughed a small laugh. "Of course! I was just surprised, is all."

Leah's eyes narrowed even further. "You were surprised? That your best friend who always hugs you goodbye, hugged you goodbye? Come on, Sky. Talk to us."

Sky's eyes darted up to Sue's warm and welcoming, encouraging her to spill. She could hear Steve's voice though, How do you think that mother you love so much would look with a nice black eye? Or maybe the daughter, hmm? "My mind is just all over the place I guess, so silly of me, really. Love you guys, bye!"

She slipped out of the car, giving Leah and Sue a quick hug before jogging to her house, holding back the tears she so badly wanted to shed.

As soon as she made it through the front door, she slipped into the kitchen and grabbed a frozen pizza out of the fridge and turned the oven on.

Sky waited for the oven to preheat and her thoughts flashed from Emily to Sam to Emily again. Every time she thought of Emily, her heart hurt and she sent all the good thoughts she possibly could to her. The image of her laying in the hospital bed, looking so vulnerable, haunted her.

When her thoughts turned to Sam, she felt a white hot rage fill her gut. She hated him so very much. He was the big brother she had always dreamed of, thinking maybe one day he could protect her from her father. He meant the world to Sky, just as he did to Leah, just in very different ways. As Leah was her idol, the pain she suffered at his hand was unforgivable. Why was he even at the hospital?

The alarm going off, letting her know that the oven was ready made her snap back to reality. Sliding the pizza in, she heard the front door slam shut.

With her back to the door of the kitchen, she could still feel the eyes on her. She spun on her heels to see her father grinning at her with that new trademark evil smirk in his eyes. "Din-Dinner will be ready shortly. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

His smirk transformed into an angry frown as he closed the distance and slapped her. She couldn't help wondering what she had even done? "Don't talk to me like that!" He screamed. She lowered her gaze and nodded obediently. "Go to your room. I'll finish dinner." She turned as quickly as she could and headed straight for her room, not wanting to chance upsetting him any further than he already was.

In her room, she thought of Monday and what she could possibly do to prepare. It was the 19th of November, also known as Lee Lee's birthday. Sky thought through her dad's recent moods and what she might be able to do to get away with baking a cake. Somehow in the midst of thinking, she fell asleep.

That rest didn't last long though. By the darkness of the night sky, it was maybe an hour later that Sky was awoken by a shove that sent her flying off her bed. "What the-" Her question was cut short as Steve flicked the light on and was smirking down at her yet again.

"You never let me tell you the good news." Sky waited for him to continue, knowing better than daring to interrupt. "I am now in full custody of you, and I am a very single man!" Try as she might, she was not successful in keeping a straight face. Seeing her grimace, he sent a punch flying straight at her face.

Her head flew backwards and she felt the crack as it slammed into the floor. Blinking the tears from her eyes, she felt a mixture of pain and numbness radiating throughout her cheek. The sight of her tears made him smile. "Maybe now, you'll be less like your mother." She nodded quickly, feeling the pain in her head amplify, as he walked out of the room.

After what felt like several hours of silently crying, Sky slipped into a fitful sleep that only ended by the sound of knocking on the front door. Confused, and nervous that the sound of the door might have awakened Steve, she hurried to answer it, only to realize that try as she might, the bedroom door would not budge.

She pressed her ear to the door and listened hard to see who was there. Leah's soft voice filtered in through the wood, asking if Sky was home. "She can't go out today. Sorry." The hard voice of her father replied as he slammed the door, likely, in Leah's face.

Sky raised her hands, in an effort to bang on the door so that Leah would hear her struggles. She paused though when she realized how little she could see out of her left eye. Raising her hand, she felt a huge lump surrounding her entire eye.

She heard a metallic noise on the other side of the door before it flew open sending her skidding across the floor on her butt. He scoffed at her. "I told you no one cares about you, didn't I?"

Sky shrunk away from his words, knowing Steve didn't have any clue how deep they cut. She knew her parents never wanted her. But could that mean that the Clearwaters didn't want her either? She could only hope that wasn't true. But they were so nice, when they really didn't have to be. Maybe that was just their sense of community duty. But Seth... Seth would never lie to her, right?

"Why did you tell Leah I couldn't go out today? Ou-our friend is in the hospital." Sky wasn't sure if she even spoke loud enough for him to hear.

Smirking, as usual, he stared at her for a moment. He leaned in close and whispered menacingly, "Unless you would like another friend in the hospital, I suggest you behave today. I have the day off and figured since I would be home all day, I needed someone to wait on me. Hope you don't mind."

Keeping her eyes on his shoes, she replied, "Of course I don't, sir."

"Good now go and make me some eggs." He made his way towards his typical recliner. Turning back to look at her once more, "Oh, and nice eye." As if he had told the best joke he had ever heard, he let out a boisterous laugh and slumped into his chair.

Throwing on her clothes, which she only had courtesy of Sue, she rushed to the kitchen so that she didn't hold up his breakfast. Scrambling the eggs she glanced up at the clock. Steve was surely to be angry at how long the meal had taken.

He snatched the plate, and spoke through a mouthful of eggs. "Alright, get out of my sight until I call you." She nodded and scurried back to the kitchen, knowing he preferred her to wait in there. She looked through the cabinets to see if Julie's weakness of desserts would come in handy today. Sighing in relief she took out the box of funfetti cake mix and vanilla frosting. Like the stars had aligned just right, both happened to be Leah's favorite.

Next was the most difficult part of her plan. How to cook it without angering Steve even further. If she baked it without asking, he would smell it and come in here to make her pay for doing something without permission. There had to be a way around it...

If there is anything Sky knew about her father, it was how much he liked to celebrate, especially when it came to himself. That's why she was forced to stay home. Or maybe it had something to do with what excuses to use as to why she had a black eye. Regardless, she was being used as a slave to celebrate the divorce. What better way to celebrate than with a cake?!

Sky contemplated how she would ask him permission to do so, to avoid any further injuries. As if the universe knew she needed a little bit of help, she heard Steve holler, "Get me a beer, will you?"

Shocked and a little scared about what the day would hold for her now that he was drinking before 9 AM, Sky was grateful for the excuse to ask him about the cake, she grabbed a cold one and the box of cake mix and scurried into the living room.

Standing next to him, his eyes moved from the beer bottle to the box of cake mix in her hands. "I, um, I was thinking... if you really want to celebrate your divorce there should be cake." She swallowed loudly. "Do you agree?"

His smile was wicked. "Make it good, or you will regret it."

Nodding quickly, she made her way back to the kitchen. Throwing together the cake was easy, as her mother required her to do it so very often prior to the divorce. She thought about Emily, hoping that she had woken up, and was starting to feel better even though Sky was sure she was probably going to be in so much pain.

Another two beer deliveries and the cake was out of the oven and ready for frosting. Once it was complete, Sky cut two slices. Once, she put on a paper plate and wrapped it in tin foil before putting it in a plastic bag and as quietly as possible, she opened the kitchen door and put the cake right outside, knowing she wouldn't be able to explain it to her dad, nor would she be able to sneak it past him. She just hoped an animal wouldn't get it before she could bring it to Leah.

As the door was open, She heard something that surprised her: the Clearwater's front door slammed shut. She momentarily wondered if someone was robbing them, but thought better of it based on their small community. It was much more likely one of the family members just made it home early.

Plating Steve's slice of cake, she thought of Emily once again. Sky was surprised by how close she became with Emily in the short period of time she had known her and she was so worried about her third sister. Kim, Leah's best friend, obviously already taking the spot of second sister.

The squeaking of the recliner told Sky that Steve was getting up, likely to go to the bathroom after all the beer. Boy, had she wished she was right. She turned to make her way to the living room so that he could have the cake when he got back, only to see him looming over her in the doorway of the kitchen.

She tried to position herself between him and the cake so that he couldn't see that there was more missing. "I was just about to bring you your slice." She held out the plate with the cake on it, and cursed her shaking hands.

His cold eyes didn't miss a thing, from the slight shift in her posture as she positioned herself in front of the cake to the second missing piece. "Why are there two pieces missing?" He seethed at her.

Sky's eyes widened, searching for an excuse that would be believable. She had expected to be able to feed him another slice later on in the day so the missing chunk would be less obvious. "I, well, you see.. Uh-"

She was cut short with a crisp slap across the face, the same side that had the black eye. "You decided you were worth a piece, didn't you?" Sky didn't respond so he grabbed the front of her shirt, "Didn't you?"

She kept her gaze averted as she nodded. "I-I didn't think you'd mi-mind."

A look of disgust washed over his face as he picked her up by her hair and dragged her into her room. Throwing her against the wall, he yelled, "You filthy PIG, don't you ever eat my food again without my permission!" Sky looked up at him with round eyes, or at least one rounded eye as she could no longer open her left eye enough to look out of. "You ugly little shit. Stay in here and do not even think about making a noise. I don't want to see you until tomorrow morning." He started to slam the door when he paused. "I want my breakfast ready by 7. Screw anything up and you will be in for a world of hurt." The little voice in the back of her mind whispered Too late as he finished shutting, and locking the door.

Never had the sound of a slammed door brought more relief to Sky. She crawled over to her bed and muffled the sobs that raked through her body.

She let herself cry for a while before she pulled herself together. She had to get out of here, deliver the cake, while she had the opportunity. She wanted to make sure Leah didn't think she forgot her birthday as she was sure that Steve would not let her leave the house any time soon.

Sky tiptoed to the window and began prying it open. Whenever a creak resounded, she stopped what she was doing and listened for any sign of change in the living room. When none came, she would resume her efforts of escaping, even if just for a few hours.

Once she had shimmied her way out of the window, she slid it closed quietly as she lowered herself to the ground. She was small, so even though it was the first floor, it still felt like quite a distance for her little 12 year old body.

Crawling around the side of the house, she grabbed Leah's slice of cake and mader her way across to the Clearwaters through the woods to avoid being spotted by her father out the window.

Sky stepped up to the backdoor and grabbed the spare key from where she knew it was hidden. Once she was safely in the house, she locked the door behind her and made her way to the kitchen. She left the slice of cake on the counter and wrote a quick note on the back of a grocery receipt "To Leah, Love your FAVORITE sibling Sky" and found herself giggling softly to herself.

The next stop was Seth's room. Rummaging through his dresser, she grabbed a pair of his grey sweats, a black t-shirt, and his all time favorite sweatshirt that he wore nearly every day. It was just a black and dark grey striped sweatshirt, nothing special, except for the fact it was his.

Her thoughts were plagued with the new happenings at her house. Sure, Steve and Julie had always been neglectful, and pushed her around. Sure, she had been kicked or punched here and there, but never, ever did he make the hits so blatant. Never did he leave such visible marks for the world to see. Sky couldn't help but fear what might be in store for her. If this was the beginning, she wasn't sure how much she would be able to take. She knew one thing for sure, she would do whatever she could to protect her Clearwaters, her Seth.

It was then, as she laid back on the bed, surrounded by the comfort that Seth's smell brought her and her tormenting thoughts finally minimizing, that she heard it. Her heart seized as the sound of shattering glass filled the house.