The Heights

By Shaelyn Gaskin

After a tragic skiing accident takes the lives of their parents, the young Sean and Ada Wheeler are orphaned and left to deal with the overwhelming thralls of grief. Sean, a mere 21-year-old, is given the responsibility of his parents' estate and business. As if that wasn't enough, he is also made the legal guardian of his 15-year-old sister, Ada, who is struggling to cope with the reality of her parents' death. The siblings struggle with this new relationship dynamic as they each process their grief in very different ways. Delving into the complications of grief, this story examines the hardships of losing a loved one while showcasing the different ways grief presents itself. Ada's journey, while difficult, seeks to provide the reader with a sense of hope that even the toughest obstacles in life can be overcome with the love and support of those around you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Aug 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9780228896579

Shaelyn Gaskin

Shaelyn Gaskin is a 25-year-old aspiring teacher from Southern Ontario, Canada. After years of battling various mental health issues, and experiencing grief firsthand, Shaelyn decided to write The Heights as a way to relate to others who are experiencing one of life's unfortunate circumstances. This is her first published book and she is incredibly excited to share it with the world. An older sister herself, Shaelyn wanted to portray the importance of family and the bond that can develop between siblings in the face of adversity. At the time of writing this book, Shaelyn also completed a Master's Degree in European Studies and is currently attending Teacher's College in North Bay, Ontario. She hopes to someday inspire the future generation to follow their dreams and be the best versions of themselves, ensuring that no one ever feels alone, abandoned, or left behind.

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Copyright © 2023 by Shaelyn Gaskin

This is a work of fiction. It does, however, contain references to suicidal ideation and drug use by a minor. Reader discretion is advised.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-9656-2 (Hardcover)

978-0-2288-9655-5 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-9657-9 (eBook)

Contents

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Dedication

To all the lost souls and broken hearts . . .

May you be found and healed with these pages.

Thank you for being here.

Chapter 1

Ada never expected to be an orphan at fifteen. She lived a normal, happy life in a small town just a few hours outside of Calgary—a town known for two things; its welcoming community and its majestic mountains. It was a close-knit town where everybody knew everybody, and everyone had grown up together. It was comfortable and it was safe—everything you could ever want from a hometown. Nothing ever changed in Edenville. Mr. Hallows had been the mayor for what felt like a hundred years, Mrs. Mason ran just about every community program, the Pantelli family owned the best restaurant in town, and the Lews had the greatest garden ever known to man- at least that’s what Ada believed.

She grew up in a quaint house on a calm suburban street. It wasn’t small, but it certainly wasn’t more than a family of four needed. Her bedroom overlooked the street where she would sit for hours as a child and watch the neighbours. On summer nights, they would have giant street barbecues that would last until the early morning hours, and whenever she was sent to bed, she would park herself in front of the window to watch the festivities continue until she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer. She would watch her friend Evie’s mom run the poker table and yell at whoever she believed to be cheating, and Mr. Catlan, her friend Jon’s father, strum his guitar for hours on end, playing just about every song request he received. Her favourite scene, the one she’d remember for her entire life, was that of her parents one July night when she was seven years old. The street party had not ended, yet it had gotten late enough into the night that Ada was instructed to go to bed. From her window, the young Ada watched her parents, interlocked in one another, dancing in the middle of the street without a care in the world. It was home. An indescribable feeling of comradery and happiness that every child longs for, and it was hers.

Now here she was, halfway through her sophomore year, those summer nights behind her, lost to the past along with her childhood, watching a priest in dark robes speak about heaven and love and things she didn’t care to listen to. It was the end of February, a month she used to love because of the hundreds of couples she had seen come through to stay at her parents’ lodge on romantic ski trips. Now, this month of love was tainted.

***

The accident had happened a week and a half earlier, the day after Valentine’s Day. It was a normal Monday morning in the Wheeler house. Ada woke up in a huff to loud music blasting from the garage. Sean was always playing music just a little too loudly, but after months of fighting, her mom instructed her to let him be because ‘it helps him train.’ Sean, who had graduated four years before, was helping to coach different teams at the high school while he was in university. Between that and his kinesiology program, it seemed like all he did was work out and play sports.

Rubbing her eyes, Ada made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen, where her father was flipping pancakes and humming an Elvis song. Elvis was his favourite singer, even though he had died when her father was only three years old.

Just as she was wondering how her dad could hum his own tune over the blaring of Sean’s old 1990s rap playlist, the music pouring in from the garage suddenly stopped, and Sean appeared in the kitchen.

Morning, Sean mumbled as he grabbed an apple from the fridge and ferociously bit into it.

Good morning! their father replied cheerfully as he turned around to face his children, only just noticing they had both entered the room.

Mom’s at the lodge already, but I made breakfast, and we’ll both be home for dinner tonight.

He grinned as he put a plate of pancakes beside the sticky syrup bottle on the kitchen island where Ada was seated.

Early night? Don’t you have a full house? Sean questioned as he grabbed a pair of plates from the cupboard. He set one down for himself and started to hand the other to Ada, only to pull it back when she reached for it.

Stop it, she uttered in an annoyed tone before he chuckled to himself and handed her the plate.

Ada dug into her breakfast as her father continued.

Well, we didn’t have much of a Valentine’s Day yesterday, he acknowledged, and Lorraine offered to stay late tonight so that we could have a nice dinner together.

That’s nice of her, Ada contributed, while Sean nodded in agreement.

I might have a date anyways, Sean announced after swallowing his last bite.

Oh? With Hannah again? Charlie asked curiously.

Sean shook his head.

Serena.

Ada aggressively rolled her eyes, though her father and Sean had both failed to notice. Serena Lindsay was Sean’s high school girlfriend. They had dated on and off for four years, but there was something about Serena that Ada couldn’t stand. Maybe it was the way she always vainly flipped her hair when she spoke, or maybe it was the way she used a condescending tone to make herself seem smart. Either way, Ada was convinced she made Sean a meaner person, and Serena Lindsay was the last girl Sean should have been going on a date with, especially when he had just taken out another girl for dinner on Valentine’s Day.

What about Hannah? She blurted out in a voice that sounded angrier out loud than she intended.

Sean shrugged, seeming not to notice her discontent.

Hannah’s really nice, but we’ve been friends for too long. Last night felt weird. It wasn’t really a date. We just felt like two buddies hanging out.

Charlie added to the conversation by beginning to tell some story about himself and his childhood best friend Nancy, whom he thought he was going to marry until the day he met their mother. It was a story Ada had heard thousands of times. Her mother, Sally, had grown up in the city and had come to Edenville during the winter break of her first year of college to ski with some friends. After tripping over a rock on a slope, she fell over and was helped to her feet by a handsome stranger with what she described as ocean blue eyes. And the rest is history, they would say in unison every time the story was told. As Ada half listened to her father’s ramblings, she decided it was no wonder her parents had bought that same ski lodge together. Now, years later, Eden Heights was the most popular lodge in the area, welcoming visitors from all over the world.

Ada girl, you all right? She heard her father say, and she slipped out of her thoughts.

Yeah, Dad. Sorry, she said, realising she had zoned out for way longer than she thought.

Sean had already left the kitchen, and Ada was sitting across from her father, who was holding an unopened card in his hand.

This is for you, he said, handing her the card with a warm smile.

What’s this? she asked, taking it from him.

Your Valentine’s Day card! Charlie said as if it were obvious. And it should have been because he had gotten her one every year since she could remember.

Dad, I’m fifteen now. You’re still giving me valentines? Ada said, a bit embarrassed. Charlie beamed.

You’re my baby girl. I’m going to give you Valentine’s cards until the day I die.

Despite her belief that fifteen-year-old girls were too cool for their parents, she couldn’t help but smile at her father as she noticed the gleam in his eyes. She’d always been jealous of his blue eyes, the eyes he’d given to Sean, while she had inherited her mother’s brown eyes. Charlie stood up and kissed her on the head before adding,

Love you, kid, and left the room.

Leaving the room, Ada replied with a Love ya, Daddio, and returned to her bedroom to gather her things for school.

It took her twenty minutes to walk to school since it was technically in the next town over. She always left at the same time so that she could walk with two of her closest friends, Winona and Evie. Like many others in the community, the girls had grown up together, along with the rest of their friends, Jon, Max and Oliver. As the trio walked, they took turns discussing what they had each done for Valentine’s Day. Winona had had a Skype date with a boy she met from Toronto when he had visited Edenville to ski with his family a few weeks back, and Evie had spent the day at her grandparents’ house with her entire family, celebrating a cousin’s birthday, before coming home to a bouquet of flowers on her doorstep addressed to her from a secret admirer. They pondered who this secret admirer could have been, though not an easy task seeing as Evie was one of the prettiest and smartest girls Ada had ever known. She figured it was Evie’s jet-black hair and bronzed skin that made her appearance so attractive.

When it was Ada’s turn to share, she felt embarrassed to say she hadn’t done anything special. She had spent the day helping her parents out at the lodge with Sean until he left for his date. Though Ada always loved to watch the couples at the lodge giggle and nestle each other, this year felt a bit different. This year, she was sad she didn’t have someone to giggle and nestle with. Nevertheless, she told her friends all about the couples at the lodge and how her parents had set up candlelight dinners for all the guests as a special touch.

Her first period, English, wasn’t very exciting, the class was reading Macbeth, and Ada hated Shakespeare as much as any typical high school student. She zoned in and out in her Biology class while Mr. Bartlett rambled on about cells. In the middle of the lecture, she felt a vibration in her pocket and pulled her phone out to see a text from her mom.

Thanks for all your help yesterday, bug! You get to pick dinner tonight. Xx Mommy.

The text was followed by a picture of her dad making a funny face on the ski lift. Ada was happy that her parents had a job so close to the ski hills because it made them so happy to go. They usually spent lunch breaks on the slopes, which was Ada’s favourite part of working there.

After lunch, she had Math, which she typically hated, though this year, she didn’t mind it so much on account of the dreamy new math teacher Mr. McIntyre. Fourth period was her favourite—Gym class. Unlike others in her class who complained about physical activity, Ada loved gym class because she was good at it. She was always very athletic, growing up playing lacrosse, soccer and volleyball, in addition to skiing (of course). She liked being good at things, and being the top of her class made her feel superior. Today, however, Ada was less excited than usual for the class. There was a basketball practice after school, meaning Sean would be at the school before her class ended. He usually came early to flirt with her gym teacher Ms. Leroux, even though she was at least eight years older than him.

Mr. McIntyre was halfway through his lesson on parabolas when there was a light knock on the classroom door. Mrs. Gerber stuck her head in.

Sorry to interrupt. I need to borrow Ada, she said.

The class all turned to Ada as she slowly got out of her seat. She took everything with her, assuming that the class would be over by the time she was finished with whatever Mrs. Gerber wanted. They walked down the hall in silence. Ada observed the petit woman silently. What could she possibly want that was so important? In addition to being the school counsellor, Nia Gerber was also Oliver’s mom, so Ada knew her very well. She assumed that Mrs. Gerber had heard that Ada was in the bathroom during the fight between two freshman girls the Friday before and wanted to know if there was any additional information, but as they approached the main office, she saw Sean standing there with dishevelled hair and red eyes.

Ada, Sean said softly, pulling her close as soon as she was near enough to do so.

Ada immediately knew something was wrong. Her brother never looked sullen and hadn’t hugged her in years. Pulling away from the embrace, she looked up at Sean’s face and watched as he carefully took a deep breath and then another.

Sean, what’s wrong? Ada demanded.

Her voice was stern, but the concern peaked through.

Mom and Dad were in an accident, Sean replied.

Ada gulped. Her mother had texted her less than two hours ago. How could this have happened?

What happened . . .? she asked, looking to her brother for answers he couldn’t provide.

I don’t know much. I just know they were skiing on a hill and fell, and they had to be airlifted to Calgary, he explained.

Ada held her breath as Sean put his arm around her and escorted her out of the building. She had no idea what was happening or what was going to happen, but the word ‘airlifted’ struck an intense fear into her that she could not shake.

Airlifted.

Chapter 2

The drive to Calgary’s general hospital wasn’t typically too long. Ada was used to the drive since they constantly visited her maternal grandparents in the city. Today was different . . . today it felt like a cross-country drive that would never end. She kept looking over at Sean, partly to make sure he was focused enough to drive but more so to gauge what he knew about the situation. Despite him promising her twice that he had already divulged everything he knew, Ada still worried that there was more to it. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, occasionally hearing Sean sniffle. She could tell he was worried, and he didn’t worry easily.

Ten minutes into the drive, they were still about twenty minutes from the hospital, and the silence had become unbearable. Ada wanted to speak, but as she opened her mouth, all the words she wanted to say were suddenly lost. Sean sensed that she needed some comfort, so after gathering his thoughts, he finally spoke.

I’m sure they’re gonna be fine, Addy.

Though he had tried his hardest to say it in the most convincing manner, he knew that