For today’s blog post, I’ve asked Skylar Haines, one of the characters in Kaylin McFarren's new book, High Flying, to guest with us today. Without further ado, take it away Skylar…
“You think you’ve
had it rough?” Skylar asked. “You haven’t got a clue. When my father died, my
mother went off the deep end in a big way. She just couldn’t cope…couldn’t get
her head around the idea of him being a drug smuggler or the fact that he left
her with a baby to raise on her own. Both of their parents refused to accept
their marriage from the get-go, so a handout or support of any kind was out of
the question. Which is why my mother ended up living in a scuzzy, flea-bitten
hotel room, selling herself to shitheads to make the rent. That’s where I was
born. Delivered into this ugly world by a stripper my mother befriended. Talk
about dark comedy. Apparently, neither one of them knew what they were doing.”
Skylar smiled and
shook her head. “It didn’t take long for things to go from bad to worse. Drug
dealers and crackheads became my mother’s best customers. They also supplied
her…wiping out the reality she had to face every day. When she wasn’t shooting
up, stuffing coke up her nose, or screwing random guys, she sat back watching
neighbors take turns feeding me, until I was old enough to feed myself. Then I
became the caretaker…just 7-years-old. I was the one that snuffed out her
cigarettes so the couch didn't catch fire. I learned how to lie, how to hide
when necessary, and how to forge my mother’s name on checks. And for a while, everything
seemed to be going fine, until the rent check bounced. That was the day the
landlord came knocking and my mother never came home. How could she with her
throat slashed by the john who stiffed her?”
Skylar blew out a
sigh. “I remember finding her in the street, spread out for the world to see. I
never knew that much blood was inside of a body or that people could be so cruel.
Yeah, there must have been close to a dozen people passing by, yet not one
person bothered to stop. No one cared that I was on my knees sobbing next to my
dead mother…at least that’s how it seemed. They all looked away and just kept walking…minding
their own business. Then the cops showed up. I was taken away and eventually
turned over to Jessop Haines…my father’s father. And that’s when I discovered
the real meaning of hell.”
Website: www.kaylinmcfarren.com
Blog: https://kaylinmcfarren.blog
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/4kaylin
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorKaylinMcFarren
Skylar Haines has struggled with personal demons most of her life, going to dark extremes to subdue anxieties rooted in her tragic past. On a perpetual hunt for the next adrenaline hit, she discovers a passion for flying and becomes a hard-edged stunt pilot, verging on obsession. In the sky, following her most daring airshow, she encounters a mysterious storm and almost collides with another aircraft, sending her into a perilous dive. Guided by a mysterious voice, she manages a safe landing but finds herself transported to another time. Eight months before she was born, one week before her father was murdered.
Though baffled by her circumstances, Skylar soon arrives at a single certainty: Before her lies a remarkable chance to change her family’s destiny drastically for the better — or possibly even worse — depending on the choices she makes, before her window of opportunity closes.
