Missed Me?

Amelia closed the book, pretending to be reading no longer made sense. After hearing her mother's conversation on the phone, the girl's mood became gloomy.

"Why did you tell him that I wanted to go to the zoo?!"

"Isn't it so?" Lucia looked at her daughter in surprise, after a call from Marcus Amelia became like a different person, "Your dad should stay in the clinic for another shift, while the three of you go for a walk, I will take him food and change of clothes. What is the problem? You haven't seen Marcus for more than three months, you didn't even want to talk to him on the phone, did something happen?"

"Nothing happened," the girl pressed her knees to her chest and buried her chin in them.

Lucia sat on the sofa next to her daughter and stroked her head, "My dear, if you are worried about something, tell your mother. I'm really sorry that my dad and I will not be able to go for a walk with you today. Do you want to go out for a picnic next week? Polina will be busy preparing for her final exams at the university. So we can arrange a small family outing, how do you like this idea?"

Amelia glanced at her mother, the woman's smile was soft and kind, for a second the girl was ashamed of her whim, but only for a second, "I wanted today! If I go to the zoo with Marcus and Polina, then my feelings will be unclear due to the fact that he will be there. I told you about this! And in the morning I had a hunch that something is about to happen!"

Lucia looked at her daughter knowingly, Amelia was only ten years old, but her behavior and manner of speech were at the level of a fifteen-year-old teenager. "My bunny, I'm sorry I can't help you with this. Unlike you, your mother does not have any special powers, but I feel that everything will be fine. What is wrong with your feelings becoming unclear near Marcus? Isn't it wonderful that you cannot think about it and just enjoy the walk like an ordinary child?"

"I am not a child, I am already big," the girl muttered.

"Yes, yes, you said the same thing when you were five," Lucia pinched her daughter by the nose, this little fussy lad loved to dramatize any situation since her very childhood.

Amelia showed her serious character when she was two, already then she behaved more consciously and restrained than her peers, and Lucia was afraid that the girl would not be able to find friends.

Amelia did not show much interest in other people, except if she saw in her dreams some situations related to them. She could go up to a stranger on the street and tell him bluntly about everything that awaits him. And this often provoked problems, as people reacted in unpredictable ways.

One woman whom the girl reported that her husband was going to meet with her best friend at the hotel, nearly beat Amelia with a bag from indignation. Polina managed to pull away the seven-year-old child from the angry madam in time, which caused the girl sincere surprise because she just told what she saw. And why did people perceive the truth so strangely?

"Polina will be back from the store soon, meanwhile you put on some pretty dress, Marcus should arrive in about fifteen minutes. I'll try to make it fast," Lucia kissed her daughter on the cheek and whispered tenderly, "I love you."

Amelia turned away with pouted lips and did not answer. Only when the woman closed the door behind her did the girl say into the empty air, "I love you too."

She crawled off the couch and without much enthusiasm looked in the mirror. Wear a pretty dress? Ha, for what? Shorts and a t-shirt are also a normal option. After all, is this not some high-ranking guest? This is just Marcus.

Marcus.

This name and this man from childhood had a strange influence on the girl. When he was near, inexplicable sensations filled her mind. They were not unpleasant, rather the opposite, but due to her age, she could not understand what they meant.

When he was not there, should Amelia think about him, her dreams would be filled with Marcus. Sometimes in these dreams, he was a small child, and sometimes already an adult man. Sometimes he would be sitting alone on the roof of a building unknown to her and looking sadly into the distance, and sometimes...

The girl slapped herself on the cheeks, which flushed with a blush from several frames in her head. Why in the world would she be interested in whom he is hugging with there? She had nothing to do with it!

Amelia snorted in displeasure, unfastened the zipper of the shorts and threw them off. After that, she pulled off her T-shirt and spread her arms, "Haaa ... freedom!" No one was home anyway, and she could enjoy the feeling of lightness that the cool air enveloping the skin of her body gave.

Every day a pressing feeling was growing in her chest as if something unknown to her wanted to break out. This sensation briefly receded when she took a shower or simply took off the extra clothes to help her body throw off this invisible load.

She did not tell about this to her mom so as not to worry her, but the girl herself was sometimes overcome by fear that something was wrong with her. What if it was some incurable disease? But she did not find such symptoms in any of her father's medical guides. Sometimes these feelings were accompanied by prophetic dreams about different people the content of which turned into reality.

But today it was completely different. She had not seen any dreams for several days, but the oppressive feeling, on the contrary, grew stronger and stronger, as if something was about to happen. And this would be something like an unexpected thunder from a clear sky.

That is why she was so upset when she found out that her parents could not go for a walk with her. And if Marcus was nearby, then she would not be able to understand the cause of this unpleasant presentiment. And why did he decide to come today?

Amelia tried to distract herself from disturbing thoughts, sang a familiar song and made a few turns, like a ballerina. "So be it, I'll put on a dress," she decided and bounced into the air.

"Is anybody home?"

The front door snapped, the girl stumbled and fell to the floor with her face down.

"Auch," tears came into her eyes, Amelia grabbed her nose, but before she tried to get up, a pair of strong hands lifted her from the floor and sat her on the sofa.

"Are you okay? Did you hit it hard?" Marcus began to examine the girl's face, he did not find any bruises, but a few drops of blood flowed from Amelia's nose. "Where is your first aid kit?"

"In the parents' bedroom," the girl muttered, pinching her nose. She did not immediately understand why the man was so alarmed, Marcus almost ran to the bedroom. Amelia looked at her palm and saw little red spots, "Ah, now I understand," the girl sighed.

And how did she manage to stomp on the floor so silly? She always had excellent coordination. This is all because of this Marcus! If he hadn't come so unexpectedly... Amelia looked at her watch and gasped, it turned out, it had already been twenty minutes after her mother went to the clinic. Damn, she completely forgot about the time!

Amelia began to reflect on what she again spent time on and did not even notice. Her eyes fell on her bare knees, belly, chest. Clothes! The girl slapped herself on the head, jumped off the couch, and hurriedly pulled on shorts and a T-shirt until Marcus returned to the room.

"I did not find hydrogen peroxide, only alcohol and napkins. Therefore, it can hurt a little," he noticed the girl's disheveled and slightly confused look, she was standing next to the sofa, her chest went up and down from intermittent breathing as if she had just run a marathon. The man came up and put a hand to her forehead, "Are you feeling well? Your face is a little red. No fever?"

"N-no," Amelia turned away, not to see his gaze. As she expected, he did not even notice that before that she was undressed. Was it really embarrassing only her? However, her dad didn't react at all to her daughter's tricks too, and only Lucia scolded her sometimes, saying that she was no longer a five-year-old child to walk around the house in her underpants.

"Sit down, I'll treat the abrasion," Marcus sat the girl on the sofa, wet the napkin with a disinfectant solution and put it on the scratch on her nose.

"Ay," Amelia narrowed her eyes at a slight pinching, and the next second she felt the man's warm palms on her cheeks. Marcus lifted her face and blew on the wound. He was absorbed in an important matter and did not notice the gaze of the girl.

Amelia did not remember the last time she saw his face so close to hers, but at that moment she could not resist, so as not to study every little line of it.

They had one young teacher at school, who all girls in both the lower and the senior grades liked. Amelia did not understand why all the girls perceived the math teacher as a fairy prince.

Actually, in comparison with him, Marcus was much more handsome.

His eyes, deep blue, captivated at first sight, like the boundless expanse of the ocean. And although Amelia did not know for sure, at heart she was sure that the outward calm of his captivating eyes hid storms, the existence of which she was to open.

Marcus was a mystery that has attracted her since childhood. She could not understand what her feelings meant when the man was next to her, but she knew for sure that he possessed some kind of power.

Because next to him, all her worries turned into a void, her body became light, her breathing was free, as if by his presence he had lifted a load from her shoulders, of which she herself did not know anything.

Marcus carefully examined the girl, making sure that everything was ok, put the first aid kit aside, straightened her disheveled hair with his palms and smiled, "Missed me, princess?"