“Here” she heard a kind voice before a beautiful sunflower came in front of her eyes “It’s not ice cream but I hope you like it”
The person holding the sunflower had hazel eyes, a color brighter than the sun. The smallest of smiles adorned his face as he stared at her.
She smiled happily while taking the sunflower from his hands and muttering a small thank you. Before the boy could say anything else, she heard her name being called at a distance.
“Mia! I told you not to run around!” her mother scolded as the little girl pouted a little and her small hands tightened around the soft flowers.
An idea popped into her mind.
“Mom, it’s for you” she gave the sunflower to her mother as her mother glared at it for a few seconds, contemplating whether to remain mad or melt.
She of course melted as she crouched down and hugged her daughter. After parting, the mother took the flower and offered a smile to her daughter “Thank you baby”
Mia’s eyes widened in surprise. It was the first time in months she had seen her mother smiling at her, otherwise, all she had witnessed was her mother weeping silently behind closed doors.
“Make sure it doesn’t happen next time” Abigor’s stern voice, made the mother-daughter snap their head up at him.
The mother instantly stood up and bowed in front of him “I apologize Mr. Hayes”
Her mother tugged at her hand as she started dragging her away towards their home. Mia, being the curious one, turned around to look back at the kind boy who had offered her a beautiful flower.
Her dark eyes met his hazel ones as she waved back at him happily. A small carefree smile surfaced on his face as Mia felt giddy inside.
He had the most beautiful pair of eyes she had ever seen in her 10 years of life.
Soon, a small cream-colored house came into her view. The house Mia and her mother had moved into recently. A burning upside-down car adorned the sidewalk as dark clouds gathered around the sky.
Sometimes it’d be burning cars or burning machines, and sometimes it’d be burning bodies.
The mafia war was a curse to the general citizen. Both the American and Spanish mafia were savages.
Mia’s head snapped towards the sound of the door opening of the house beside them as her mother’s pace increased. Just as their neighbor was about to step out, her mother pushed her inside the house harshly.
Mia hissed in pain as she rubbed her frail wrists because of her mother’s tight grip till now.
“Ms. Leighton!”
Mia heard her neighbor’s voice as her mother smiled looking towards them. Mia had never seen her neighbors because her mother would make sure no one saw her ever.
She doubted that the neighbors even knew that she was here.
“Where have you been? It’s not safe out!”
The neighbor continued as her mother shook her head carelessly “just some necessary items to feed my stomach” she joked while tightly squeezing on the poor flower in her hand.
The young innocent mind of Mia failed to notice the cold sweat that broke through her mother’s face as she gulped quietly trying to end the conversation.
The neighbors laughed a bit “Anyway see you, Ms. Leighton, let’s catch up later!”
Her mother finally closed the door and leaned against it, sighing out in relief. The stem of the sunflower was almost crushed but surprisingly the flower looked as beautiful as ever.
Mia’s mother noticed her daughter looking sadly at the flower as she extended it to “Go and put it in the vase honey”.
Mia smiled brightly while nodding as she grabbed the flower and ran inside the kitchen to grab a vase.
When she was finally out of sight, her mother’s legs trembled uncontrollably and they finally gave out as she slipped to the floor. Her heart hammered against her chest as tears after tears escaped her eyes.
The fear of losing her child overwhelmed her as she slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her tears.
“Mom?” Mia whispered while chewing on her burrito.
Her mother hummed as she stared at the news channel, the number of deaths and the number of places bombarded had increased effectively.
“When will all this stop?” her childish question made her mother flinch.
“I-I don’t know baby, it will soon-”
“When will dad come back?”
Her mother’s head snapped towards her direction, her hand clenching against the remote. She quickly wiped away the tear forming in her eyes and looked away again.
“He will come back soon, I’m sure of it” her mother did not sound sure at all, it all felt like she was trying to convince herself too.
Mia didn’t miss the small teardrop that escaped her mother’s shimmering brown eyes, the mother-daughter duo shared the same color of beautiful eyes.
Mia was a little more sensitive than the kids her age, she knew what was going on. Her father suddenly disappearing almost 6 months ago did not do her mother any good.
Her mother cried almost every day.
Her father was never the one to stay with them always, but, he almost always came to visit them once a week. Mia was told that he couldn’t stay because of his work.
But Mia knew that it was just an excuse.
The one thing the young kid could not decipher was why her father did that. She knew he loved both her and her mother dearly. So. . . why?
“If you are done, go to sleep baby” her mother’s small voice whispered as Mia nodded obediently while jumping off the kitchen stool.
Mia’s eyes caught the sunflower, which had brought a smile to her mother’s face after months, one last time, before walking back to her room.
Mia tucked herself under the duvet as she picked up the photo frame near her bed.
Her mom with luscious long brown hair wearing a blue sundress sat on a couch with her dad sitting on a different couch beside it. He had dark hair and tanned skin with piercing green eyes.
A baby stroller sat between them with a chubby baby throwing her hands up in the air, Mia knew that it was her. It was the only photo she had with both of her parents.
She missed her dad more than anything, he was a strict father but he always had a softer side towards her.
“Come back soon Dad” she whispered while hugging the frame as she drowned in deep slumber.
Mia woke up coughing wildly, her throat parched and her eyes watery. Her eyes fell on the digital clock which read 2:00 am.
“Water” she grumbled when she realized that she forgot to bring a bottle to her room.
Her small legs dangled off the slightly high bed as she finally managed to land on the carpeted floor. Her small steps carried her towards the kitchen when low familiar sniffs echoed throughout the house.
Her steps halted as her mother’s voice spoke to someone
“I cannot do this anymore Sergio, Mia misses you and the deaths keep rising each day. I’m concerned for our safety”
Mia bit her lower lip as she heard her father’s name coming out of her mother’s mouth. “Is daddy home?” the little girl wondered as she couldn’t help her curiousness and neared the kitchen, hiding beside the ajar door.
A static voice followed her mother’s statement, proving that she was talking on the phone with the speakers on
“Aria please, you know how much I love you and Mia. I’m doing absolutely everything here to come back to you guys”
“What are they talking about?” little Mia whispered as she leaned, even more, to listen clearly, the wooden floor creaked lowly in the process startling her mom.
Aria, Mia’s mother, stood up from the chair in the kitchen as she looked behind her towards the door. She spotted nothing as the dwindling silence crept in once again.
“Hello. .? Aria? Hello?”
Sergio, Mia’s father’s voice pulled her out of her daze as she replied still looking around skeptically “Y-Yes?”
“Is everything alright?”
“Yes” her mother replied, knowing full well that just crying about their safety to him wouldn’t magically make him appear in front of them.
“Darling, listen. .” he started again while sighing again as the mother’s full focus went back to what he was saying “. . I-I think they doubt something. Maybe it’s just a feeling but I think they found out”
Mia’s heart kept throbbing against her chest as she ran up to her room and hid under the blankets of her bed. Her mother turning around at the smallest of creaks had scared the little child as she had made a run for her life.
She hugged the photo frame once again and squeezed shut her eyes. The heavy thumping of the footsteps in the stairs made Mia flinch harshly.
The next second, the door was opened wide and her huffing mother stood wide-eyed.