Keeping Mia

*Author's Note: Hello Readers! I do hope you enjoy this book, the first of my Distant Worlds Collection. If you love Mia and Tianna, and cannot wait for more from these worlds remember to visit my website www.laceystsin.com and sign up for my newsletter for updates and free content! There is currently a story being posted continuing the story of the Livarians, which you will read about in this piece. Happy reading and Enjoy!

“But Miss Mckay, I have a pool in my back yard. It could hold a bottle-nosed dolphin, I'm sure of it,” Ainsly looked at Mia with large brown eyes full of hope. She pondered for a few seconds whether to let the girl live with her dream, but decided to let her down gently. She was supposed to teach these cretins about marine life, after all.

“I think it is better to go see your favorite animal where they live, in the ocean. Dolphins need lots of space to jump and splash, and the fresh water in swimming pools is not healthy for them, they would get sick.”

A few hands shot up and Mia braced herself for the fight it would take to get fifteen seven-year-olds back on topic.

“Yes, Derrik?”

“You mean if dolphins can’t live in fresh water they have to live in dirty water?”

Oh boy. Someone hadn't been listening to the beginning of the lesson. It would have worried her more, but it was 3pm on a Friday and everyone was pretty played out for the week.

“Who remembers the two kinds of standing water?” she asked, lobbing the question back to the class. Maybe someone had paid attention and she could comfort herself that she wasn't failing miserably in her attempts to teach these gremlins. She picked a quieter girl this time, one who rarely got in trouble...or asked inane side questions.

“Yes, Ingrid?”

“Miss Mckay...Peter threw up on my shoe.”

The class rallied around the tragedy, some running to see the remains of Peter's lunch and others climbing up onto their chairs making disgusted sounds. Mia looked at Peter. Sure enough, his pallor was completely white, his glassy little eyes watering. How had he managed to get sick so quietly? She hadn't even noticed.

The final school bell rang and she resisted the urge to shout a halleluiah. Instead, she quickly quarantined the sick and started the long drawn out process of getting the students ready to go home. It was a long half-hour before she got the little gremlins out the door and managed to survey the mess.

Gross. Gross. Gross.

Well, it was a fitting end to a shitty week.

It was late before she made it back to her little apartment. If she was smarter, she wouldn't leave all her errands for a Friday night. She set her work bag next to the door and slipped off her boots, stretching and unhooking her bra next. She took off the offending garment and tossed it on the edge of the couch. There. Home.

Normally, she would root around in the fridge and come up with some lack-luster idea for an evening meal, but Peter's little mess had left her without an appetite. She walked to the sink and poured herself a full glass of cold water and then settled on the couch, pulling up her laptop and settling on the next episode of The Good Place.

Without warning, a sleek ball of fur landed on her lap, claws digging into her thighs. She set down her cup so that it wouldn't spill.

“Careful fuzzball, these are still work pants.” Kiki, Mia's calico stared at her with baleful eyes. Right... how dare she correct her majesty. “Fine, just get settled already.”

Kiki worked herself down into a comfortable little ball and Mia waited as the episode worked through the opening credits.

Well...no time like the present.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened the screen. Once, this little rectangle of technology had been her savior, connecting Mia to her friends and family three states away, but now...now it felt more like a chain, one more reminder.

Looking down, as expected, the top notification of all her missed communications, was Brian's number. Hmm. Three missed calls. He had been persistent that morning. Mia allowed herself a wave of frustration. Of course he would have tried to contact her while she was busy teaching. It never occurred to him that she might have a life, or that facing his drama first thing in the morning would ruin her entire day. But then he had never been one to see things from Mia's perspective. She pressed the button for voicemail.

“Mia, can we just talk...”

Nope. They definitely could not. She erased that message, and the next three from him, as well. The time for talking was well over. Now was the time for taking back her life and figuring out what she was going to do next. Her position at the Riverdahl Elementary School was nearly over, having subbed for the remainder of the term while the full-time teacher was on maternity leave. The thought sent a little wave of panic through her. Nothing in her life was really stable. It made her want to run back home to Devils Lake.

And then what Mia? Go live with mom?

She shuddered. No, living with her mom was not an option. Nor were there any high school friends that she could crash with. Most were getting married and starting families. She had spent her life feeling like the third wheel in her little dysfunctional family, she didn't want to go back to that. God, she had really fucked up when she'd followed Brian to Rockford.

She looked down at Kiki and gave the cat a few long strokes along her smooth fur. It helped a little.

The next message was from Jainie, but Mia didn't answer that, either. Jainie was supposed to have been friends with both of them, and she would want to know what was going on. Mia didn't have the strength to talk her though how she had been suspicious for months about his late nights, or how she had been right. Besides, Jainie was a passive ninny. She would ask Mia how she was certain, and play any card to make things okay between her and Brian again.

Mia didn't want that. She was hurt and angry, but when she had finally put the pieces together so they couldn't be denied, it wasn't morose that she had felt. It was relief. Oh, she was heartbroken. She had loved Brian, or at least she had loved who she thought he was. Their relationship had been one of those long-lasting ones…since the early years of high school. They had been friends and then partners. Mia mourned that, missed the companionship, but she didn't miss feeling the edge of suspicion all the time, like she was on the verge of discovering something she wouldn't like. She had ignored that feeling in her gut for far too long, and the relief that she was right, that she wasn't crazy, and she deserved better, that was what she had been clinging to for the last month.

So, she ignored the message from Jainie, too, clicked her phone back on silent and put it aside. There would be plenty of time to face the ruins of her relationship later. For now, she was going to focus on herself.

It wasn't fair, really, the long reach of technology. But even with her phone turned off and silenced, Mia knew it was ringing somehow. She blinked awake. Six fifty-seven. Ugh. Really, Brian? She groaned, groggy from the lack of sleep...or coffee.

Like a zombie from the apocalypse, she pushed herself out of bed. She was tired and decaffeinated, but at least she could take care of one of those things. Wandering to the kitchen, she started George, the coffee pot. The counter was still clean from the night before and she leaned against it, waiting impatiently for enough black miracle potion to fill a cup. It promised to be a nice day, judging from the light filtering through the window. She would forego the gym, she decided, and run the river valley. Getting out in nature always lifted her mood.

After doctoring her drink, she sat at the tiny table. The empty chair across from her stood as a stark reminder of her lonely pathetic life. She ignored it and tapped into the news app on her phone. Articles filled with doomy gloom and suppositions about political leaders filled the first few pages. She skimmed them, but nothing tickled her interest enough to open. The shelter downtown was holding an adoption fair. Mia read that one, pondering for a few minutes if Kiki could use a sibling. No, best not. If she collected a new pet every time life sucked, she ran the risk of becoming a crazy cat lady. Besides, Kiki would be put out.

She finished her coffee and headed for the door, pushing on her old runners and grabbing her ear buds. Her short chestnut curls were harder to contain, but she managed, sort of. It probably looked like a scrambled mess, but it wasn't like anyone she knew was going to see her.

“Hold down the fort, Kiki,” she called.

Kiki didn't answer.

It was fourteen blocks to the river. Like any good city dweller, Mia kept her head down and ignored anyone else she came across. The sun was just pushing through the tree branches by the time she reached the valley. It was still cool, but that was nice for running, anyway. She managed a few stretches and then pushed off down the paved path, settling into a rhythm.

She was only two minutes in when she spotted the figure on the trail ahead of her. Instantly, her heart sped up. She couldn't place her finger on it, but something about the shadowy form was alarming, predatory. Mia took several more steps before fear got the better of her and she found herself slowing to a standstill. The person ahead of her was large, and male, and for some reason he was blurry and dark, as though out of focus. Mia's brain refused to process the flaw in his appearance, so it took her a long moment to realize the man was coming toward her. Directly toward her, and there was something in his hand that he held up like a weapon. He made a quick motion with his hands.

Instinct screamed at Mia to run, and, like good prey she tried to obey, but her feet were frozen and all she could think was that she was going to die and didn't it suit her life that it would be in such a crappy way.

A sharp prick of pain suddenly lanced her shoulder and she felt like she was falling into a heavy fog. Of all the terrible things she could do at the moment, falling asleep was at the top of the list. What in the hell was happening?

And then it was too late. She was sinking to the ground and the man-blur was next to her, touching her temple. Despite her desperate attempts otherwise, the world was fading. The last thing she processed was being hefted into strong arms and a deep rich voice: “That's it, I've got the last of them.”