Free Eyes Ever to the Sky (A Sci Fi Romance) (The Sky Trilogy) by Katie French Page A

were endless and terrifying. Once in eighth grade Mama had disappeared for four days. Another time, she'd bought them a new car and had it repossessed in the same week. And how many times had she been picked up for shoplifting?
    “Mama, please.” Cece's voice broke.
    Mama paid her no mind. Her boney knees pressing into the dirty tile, Mama scrubbed the tub, her elbow cranking like a piston. “We get this clean, don't you worry. All clean. Just help me get this grout and then I work on the sink.”
    Cece slid down the hallway wall and sat amongst the trash. There was no stopping Mama now. Waiting for Mama to wear herself out, Cece sat a silent vigil.
     
    ***
     
    Cece woke with a start. Morning. Ms Kaminski's dog howled outside. She shifted and her elbow thunked into a toaster. What was she doing on the hallway floo— Mama. She sat upright, a pounding starting at the back of her skull.
    The bathroom was empty. She listened for movement in her house and heard none. Mama must've given up cleaning and went to sleep. Maybe things weren't as dire as she thought.
    Cece walked into the living room, but stopped in mid-stride, her foot crunching into a stray Cheerio. The couch was empty.
    “ Mama?” Cece strode to the couch. No trace of Mama. She stepped over a few piles and searched the kitchen. The two stacks of dirty dishes and the overflowing trash had not been touched. After a quick look into her own bedroom, Cece flung open the front door and peered into the carport. No trace of her mother.
    Cece stuffed her feet into her flip flops, thundered down the front steps and tore down the road. She ran to Ms. Kaminski's and pounded on the screen door. Ms. K was the only person in the park that Mama ever talked to.
    “Ms. K!” Cece banged her fist on the screen door. It thundered in its casing. Harley, the cockier spaniel staked on his chain in the side yard, barked like mad. “Ms. K, I need your help!”
    Cece's mind raced. The last time Mama went manic, she'd taken off like this. She came back eighteen hours later with a dozen dollar store bags slung over her arms, the cops right behind.
    Through the screen, Cece watched as the old woman lumbered forward from her back bedroom. She wore a flowered house dress and flattened flip flops. Veins stood out like Ramen noodles on her white legs. Her thinning white hair showed too much scalp.
    “ Cecelia, is everything alright?” Her arthritic fingers fumbled for the door latch.
    “ Ms. K, is my mom in here? Have you seen her?” Cece peered over Ms. K's shoulder into her trailer. It smelled of mothballs and cheese. An old rocker with worn arms and a cushioned seat rested in front of a tube television. The Price is Right blared on the screen.
    Ms. K shook her head and frowned. “She run off again?”
    Cece didn't want to nod. She just stepped back down the porch, her eyes sweeping over the trailer park for answers. “I don't know. Will you let me know if you see her?”
    Ms. K nodded. She leaned out the screen door. “Shut up, Harley!” The crusty-eyed cockier spaniel kept right on yapping and charging his chain, his crimped ears flapping. “Sorry, sweetheart. I'll let you know if I see her.”
    Cece was already heading down the sidewalk. She ran around the trailer park once, peering in all the windows, checking down all the rows, but Mama was nowhere to be found. By the time she got back to the trailer, she was tired and footsore. She clomped up her porch steps, a thick dread hanging over her.
    Then her eyes found the clock. She was over a half an hour late for work. She scrambled around the trailer for her keys and phone. She was on her bike and pedaling down the block in seconds.
    She skidded up to the ice cream shop, dropped her bike at the back door and almost ran into Lizzy.
    Her boss whirled around, placing both hands on her hips. Her ratted hair was clamped back in a banana clip, the blond bangs spilling over the top like a hair sprayed wave. She scowled at Cece. “Here