Crazy Stupid Love
SOTC: 21 guns (green day)
3 o'clock. The hour of dread. The hour where she would arrive home and participate in forced stiff conversation with her dysfunctional family and drown her issues with movies, music and guitar.
Today was no different.
However this time when Mia walked in, nobody appeared to be around. Perhaps a premature assumption, for when she got upstairs to her room, Noura Williams blocked her path.
Spoke too soon.
"Mum," Mia took in her distressed and worn out face. Though she had looked exhausted for the past year, her eyes were now especially red and puffy.
She gave her a weak smile.
"Mia, come and sit down, we need to talk."
On any other day, she would've brushed her off and reminded her that she could talk to her during dinner. She really didn't want to spend any more time together than necessary. But she had been crying.
Mia wasn't a monster.
"Mia," Mum said, sitting her down onto the couch. She took a deep breath before continuing.
"Your father and I have-gone our own ways."
"For good." She added, after Mia had shown no sign of hearing her. Noura took in her silence as a cue to keep talking.
"Well, we haven't been getting along for a long time sweetie and...and we think it's time to separate."
She suddenly grabbed her daughter's hand and gave it a squeeze.
"We haven't figured out the details yet but I wanted to let you know as soon as possible. Just remember that your father and I love you and Harry, no matter what happens."
After a few seconds of silence, while Noura awaited her daughter's response, Mia finally looked up at her. She could see the pity in her mum's eyes, waiting her to bawl. Instead, Mia hastily removed her hand from her grip, lightly patting her hand in reassurance.
"Okay." She said, breezily walking away.
"Mia!"
Her mother looked exasperated.
"Honey, I know this is a hard time and all, just let it out-"
"Mum, I am okay!"
Mia raised her hands up in surrender.
What did she want? Her to fall down to the ground screaming and protesting? No chance.
She continued to walk upstairs and had almost made it to her door when she heard Noura sigh, quietly pleading.
"Mia, please just talk to me."
She wanted her to talk? Oh she'll talk alright.
"Okay. I'll talk. How come you just cut me off when Uncle Mark died? I tried, I did. Dad was drowning himself in work and you...you locked yourself in your room and were practically a human vegetable. In case you forgot Mother, I had to be the adult of the family. I had to somehow pick up where you left off and be the only one who kept the house together. I tried so hard to get you and Dad to let me in. So I gave up. So no. I am not surprised or broken that you and Dad are getting a divorce. Because honestly, it wouldn't be any different to our 'family' now. Now you tell me Mum, where is that family we were?"
Turned out Mia was wrong. By the end of her spiel, two stray tears had run down her face before she could wipe them away.
She didn't look at her mother to gage her reaction, she couldn't.
She had put on a brave front in front of her mum, albeit one that been foiled by her weak tear ducts - but as soon as she was in the safety of her room, Mia buried her face in her pillows.
It was a long time coming. She had heard the fights, the arguments that had threatened to break her parents apart. It appeared to have been successful.
But it was really when those arguments had turned into silence, that Mia had been confronted with the impeding fate of doom of what was their family.
She couldn't run from it any longer. There would be no more joint family holidays, trips to her grandparents - it was the end of the ideal picturesque family. Questions began to plague her mind; who would she live with? Where would she live? Who would keep the house?
What about Harry?
Perhaps those awkward dinners weren't so bad. Mia found herself regretting every single time she had spent a night at a friend's, an attempt to escape her house. She would take each and every single one of those dinners over whatever this was going to be.
Things were going to change.