Young Writers Society

A/N: After Rennedon Repairs, the business Skylar's father owned, was shut down by members of the NUS Militia, Skylar started to search for work to provide a means of income for her family. She was hired as a mechanic of sorts at a junkyard and has just finished a 10-hour shift. 

Skylar reached her house just as the sun was sinking below the clouds. With the coming winter, the days were shortening to only 11 hours instead of their usual 13 hours. Ayudia had a remarkably similar climate to Earth, the planet where humans used to live before they had destroyed their own planet by emitting toxic gases into the atmosphere. Once their atmosphere had broken down, several thousand people were hurried onto space shuttles and sent to this system, where astronomers had predicted, correctly, that they had a chance of survival.

Skylar didn't spend much time thinking about Earth, or any other planets, for that matter. She was perfectly content on Ayudia—or at least, she would be, once her father's workshop was restored to its rightful place as leader of the mechanical market.

Skylar pulled the key out of her pocket and unlocked the door, slipping off her shoes and closing the door as she always did. Her father was in the kitchen, once again leaning against the counter. Skylar stepped inside, cautiously approaching her parents. Her mother noticed her hesitation and waved her forward.

"How was your day?" she asked, pulling out a chair for Skylar to sit in.

Skylar collapsed in the chair, relaxing every muscle in her body. She was too tired to continue to protest her growing exhaustion and instead let it overwhelm her. "As good as I could've expected, I guess. I got hired at the junkyard on Willow."

Her father nodded wearily. "Respectable," he muttered, tracing the carvings on the table with his fingers.

"What'd you do today, Dad?" Skylar encouraged him, forcing herself to straighten a little and give her father a gentle smile.

"Not much of anything, I'm afraid. Nothing useful. I found a few odd jobs here and there, hauling this and that from here to there. I didn't make much, though. Just shy of 30 silvers."

"I have 40," Skylar said quietly, almost ashamed that she had earned more than her father. Her hands immediately went to the parcel in her coat jacket. To her relief, it was still there. Once again, she had sloppily left it unguarded. She was lucky nobody had slipped it out of her coat pocket when she was wandering the streets, clearly lost in her own dreams and imaginations. She shuddered imagining how easy of a target she must have been, and how devastating it would be for her family if that money was taken from her.

She set the parcel on the table and slid it to her father. He opened it, eyes glazed and empty, and tore the packaging apart, examining the rolls of silvers.

"You didn't get shortchanged." Skylar noted the surprise in his voice, however dull it was.

Skylar only smiled. "I hope it's enough."

"For today, it's fine," Skylar's mother intervened, resting her hand on top of Skylar's. Skylar noticed that her gray eyes were filled with anxiety, unlike her father's, which didn't seem to be filled with anything at all. "Skylar, I'm so sorry you have to be responsible for this. You shouldn't have the burden of providing for your family when you're only fifteen yourself and have our whole—"

"It's fine." Skylar interrupted her mother before she could finish. "Really. I understand. It's not your fault."

Skylar's mother exchanged glances with her husband before returning her gaze to Skylar. She fidgeted with her hands under the table and shifetd her position in her seat. "Skylar, your father and I have been talking about Rennedon Repairs."

Skylar felt her hopes start to rise, but immediately stifled her excitement. She couldn't stand to have her hopes raised and then dashed to the ground again. "And?" she prompted, trying to keep the eagerness out of her voice.

Mrs. Rennedon sighed, drawing it out for an unnaturally long time before turning to face Skylar. "We've examined the process of applying to have that certificate revoked—the certificate that says our business is closed to the public—and it's a lot harder than we had thought. And a lot more expensive."

"How much more expensive?" Skylar asked. Her heartbeat sped up, and her knee began to bounce of its own accord. She placed a hand on her knee to hold it down while she waited patiently, each second stretching into an eternity.

"More than we can afford." Mr. Rennedon cut in, speaking for the first time. He didn't meet Skylar's eyes, and instead focused his gaze on the hardwood floor beneath them. "I'm sorry, Skylar. I'm as disappointed as you are."

I doubt that. Skylar dropped her gaze to the table. "How much?" she repeated.

"All the fees combined, plus the estimation we've received for hiring a lawyer to advocate for us, would add up to about 200 gold."

Skylar slumped in her chair, running her hands over her face as the realization washed over her. She would never be able to open Rennedon Repairs with the wages she was earning now, and her father still hadn't secured a solid job. As much as she tried to find a solution, she was painfully aware that they were barely scraping by as it was.

Even if they could save up the 100 gold, it made no logical sense. Danny's education was only getting steeper as he got older, and Mr. Rennedon had made it clear that pulling Danny out of school was not an option. He loved art with a passion and had displayed a clear talent for it, and Mr. Rennedon insisted that it was only right to let Danny pursue what he loved, just as he had pulled Skylar out of school to pursue what she loved.

She was vaguely aware that her mother was saying something, but she was in no mood to hear her mother speak reassuring words when she had no idea how it felt to lose everything she had ever loved.

"I'm gonna head up to my room," she declared, pushing her chair back from the table. She started to walk to the stairs, half expecting her parents to stop her, but neither of them moved towards her. Looking back at the table, she saw that both of them looked more tired and worn than she had ever seen them, and felt a slight twinge of guilt for being so self-absorbed when this was her father's dream, too.

She opened her door and collapsed onto her bed, lacing her fingers behind her head and staring up at the blank ceiling. It was all too much for her. She had never seen this twist coming, and for the first time in her life, she wasn't sure what to do. Part of her wanted to keep fighting, to insist that they set aside a small portion of their income aside every year so that it might be a possibility, however distant.

She felt her sorrow shift into anger, and she stiffened. All of this was because of the deep-seeded corruption in the NUS. If only one of the lazy, overweight chairs of the NUS had cared at all for their country and decided to make a change, any change, this could have all been prevented.

Her memory of that fateful afternoon in the repair shop kept replaying in her mind. Each time she could clearly see the arrogance etched into the Militia's faces as they hunted through the workshop for anything illegal, the confidence in their stride, the pride as they handed Mr. Rennedon a small scrap of paper that would completely ruin their lives and destroy the only thing they had left.

Skylar spent the rest of the afternoon helping her parents with household chores, trying to figure out how she could possibly make so much money in a reasonable time frame. No matter what plan she devised, there was always a hole—no matter what she did, she would never be able to earn a lot of money with her level of experience, schooling, gender, and age. Everything seemed to be stacked against her.

By the time she collapsed in bed, exhausted from her labor at the junkyard and her constant motion throughout the evening, she had decided that all she could do was continue to work hard at her job and climb the ranks. That was all she could do for today, and in the meantime, she would keep her eyes and ears open, looking for new opportunities to earn extra money and to get back at the NUS in the process, if at all possible. She fell asleep while she was still scheming, plotting different jobs she was qualified for and different ways she could work her way through the ranks, maybe even finding a way to get around the fees so they wouldn't have to pay so much in needless expenses.

She woke the next morning before her parents came to wake her up, for the first time since the repair shop closed eager to work. She pushed herself out of bed and immediately got dressed in a pair of baggy jeans, a heavier shirt, and her favorite jacket. Slipping her boots on, she plodded down the stairs to where her mother was serving some simple breakfasts.

"Breakfast again this morning, Mom?" she asked, peering over her mother's shoulder to see what was being served.

Her mother turned around, slightly startled, and offered her a smile. "It's not as much as yesterday, but I woke up and decided I had to do something." She offered Skylar a bowl of yogurt and fresh fruit. "How'd you sleep?"

Skylar settled onto one of the chairs in the dining room and started to shovel the food in her mouth as fast as she could. "Good," she said through a mouthful of wild berries.

"I'm glad. You need your strength."

Skylar could only nod.

"I wanted to tell you how grateful I was to you for doing this. It's more than anyone your age should have to deal with, and I'm sure you know how unfair it is that you have to pay for your younger brother's schooling."

"It's fine, Mom. It's not your fault." It's the fault of those stupid maniacs who call themselves the government, she added silently. "I understand."

Mrs. Rennedon looked Skylar in the eye, and Skylar saw a tear forming in the corner of her eyes. She almost did a double-take, but stopped herself. She had only seen her mother cry once before, and that was the night that the repair shop had closed. It pained her to see her mother so broken and so sad now. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that everything circled back to the NUS. Not only had they taken the repair shop from her, but they had now caused her parents so much harm, not to mention her own personal grievances. All the more reason for her to work hard and eventually earn enough to fight for their shop back, avhiecing her dreams even when the most powerful force in the galaxy was working against herself. She promised herself, looking at the small tear forming in her mother's eye, that she would do whatever it took to accomplish the dreams, even if she had to take down the entire NUS in order to do so.

"Are you all right, Skylar?" Her mother's voice brought her back to reality, gentle and concerned. Skylar nodded.

"Sorry. I guess I'm still a little tired."

"You can rest some more. You have a few minutes before you have to go to work. What time do you start?"

"I work from 8 to 6, I think. I'd work more hours if I could, but I'm not allowed. The repair shop closes at the end of the 10-hour shift."

"It's completely fine, Skylar. You're doing more than your fair share here. We will get through this, okay? I want you to hold onto that hope, no matter how miserable this makes you. I'll find something to do to bring in some money on the side, I'm sure somebody is dying to hire someone with the experience your father has, not to mention the reputation he's built, and we will be able to save a little bit."

"Danny's schooling will only get more expensive."

Skylar's mother bit her lip. "We'll be able to manage. If we need to, we can pick a school that's not quite as expensive. But I want you to know that we are in a valley right now, facing a big mountain. We are able to climb mountains. We have the best climbing equipment, and we're the best climbers known to the world, and we have the determination required for such a difficult task."

Skylar nodded wisely. "And the mountain is the process of getting RR back, we're the climbers, we have a determination, and our climbing gear is... is... sorry, I got lost in the meatphor," Skylar teased her mother, smiling a little bit and eliciting a small smile from her mother.

"You understand my point, right? It gets better." Skylar's mother gave her hand one final squeeze, and Skylar took another big bite of yogurt and berries. She leaned back in her chair. It might get better, but it would never be the same. And for that, the NUS would pay.