Arctic Meadows

Three

Michael had pulled up at the house, the car ride back home was silent. The tension in the car was like a knife through the heart. Mia slowly stepped out and opened the front door once she got her keys out, instantly Sophie made her way upstairs. Mia wondered what was wrong with Sophie, she's never shouted at Mia before. Or told her to shut up for that matter.

"Mia?" Michael spoke. "I told you that is Sophie got into trouble today, you'll get a punishment. Why didn't you stop Sophie from having a fight?" His eyes narrowed at Mia.

She gulped as she looked at Michael, her heart was pounding, "I'm not in her last class, we've got every class together except I have art and she has drama" Mia tried to explain to Michael.

Michael sighed and ran a hand through his hair and that same hand down his wrinkled face, the alcohol was slowly killing his body, making him look older then what he was. Mia headed into the kitchen before hearing his reply and started on the housework chores she had to do before making dinner and then hopefully getting some homework in.

Michael walked over and opened the fridge grabbing a couple of beers out and a bag of chips from the pantry before sitting on the couch and turning on the TV.

Mia cleaned for an hour making sure the house was spotless before making dinner which was lasagna with a small salad on the side, while it was cooking Mia headed upstairs to talk to Sophie, she knocked on Sophie's bedroom door hearing her mental music playing through.

Sophie and Mia may be twins but their tastes are completely different, Sophie likes mental and hard rock while Mia liked pop songs, Sophie's clothing taste was dark colours while Mia's were light colours.

The music died down in Sophie's room before opened the door and sighed before stepping aside to let Mia in.

"Are you okay?" Mia asked once the door was shut.

Sophie ran a hand through her brown hair before letting out a big sigh.

"No, I just hate my abilities especially in a new school, I could hear everyone's voices today and some were disturbing and others just plain idiotic. Seth was in my class and for some reason he was blocking me from using my abilities, isn't that weird? And then when I heard Mr Kinley's thoughts about you I wanted to punch him so hard."

Mia smiled warmly at Sophie and rubbed her back. "I know Sophie, it is hard but we will get through it together. Yeah like today Mr Kinley almost sexually assaulted me until William came in and the look on Mr Kinley's face was pure fear. He literally bowed his head when William told him to leave me alone." Mia told Sophie recalling that event.

Sophie frowned thinking that was weird but she was glad that Mr Kinley was afraid of William because Mia couldn't be hurt.

"And I made a friend today" Mia gushed.

"Did you?" Sophie asked. "What was his or her name? What class were you in?"

"Art class and her name is Liselle Green, she's so pretty and she complimented my drawing and for some reason, I felt calm around her like I do with you" Mia explained, she actually liked the way it felt and how quick the two bonded. "Anyway, I need to get back to dinner. I'll see you downstairs in 10 minutes"

Mia left Sophie's room and heard her music turn on again, at least Sophie wasn't mad at Mia - who is kidding Sophie is never mad at Mia, she can't do it. Mia headed into the kitchen and checked the lasagna placing a skewer in the middle and pulled it out feeling it to see if it was hot.

It was definitely got but the cheese still wasn't how Micheal preferred it which was having the ends slightly crisped so when you cut into it, you hear that cracking sound of the first layer. A few more minutes, Mia pulled out her phone which wasn't as flashy as Sophie's it was a Samsung A but it did its job. Mia messages Liselle real quick about maybe meeting up on Saturday.

Mia placed her phone on the counter hearing the oven ding a few moments later, Mia pulled out the lasagna and placed it on the oven where she cut it into 8 pieces but hers were only small. Mia wasn't one to eat much.

She could hear the patter of Michael's feet and Sophie's feet since she had delivered the plates into the dining room she filled the glasses up with drink, Michael had another beer next to his meal. Mia always had to do the dishes first so when she had time to eat her meal was cold, Michael didn't like Mia eating with them so she ate alone.

Out the window when Mia looked up she could see two blue eyes staring at her, his black fur was sticking out. Was that? Was that the wolf from this morning? It was beautiful. The wolf's eyes were so captivating, Mia wished she could run outside and up to the wolf. The wolf tilted its head up and Mia heard its elegant howl before the wolf turned and headed back into the hedges.

When Mia was done with everyone's dinner she slowly ate hers, her bites were small and slow as her mind was elsewhere. She couldn't help but think about that beautiful wolf, was it watching her? Was it watching her house?

Mia frowned knowing that wolves don't venture out of their pack unless it's the hunters scavenging for food, that wolf looked more like an alpha then a hunter. Alpha wolves have a much stronger build as that one had, maybe it was.

Mia laughed at the thought maybe it could be a werewolf, someone that turns from wolf to human. When Mia finished eating she cleaned her plate and put it away before placing what was leftover in a container, she placed the container into the freezer.

~^~

Mia was sitting on her computer chair in her room drawing in her art book, she was drawing the wolf she had seen. She couldn't stop thinking about it, it's fur was majestic and she could tell it would shimmer in the moonlight if only she could see it. Mia slowly outlined the eyes of the wolf and coloured in the blue iris. A knock came at Mia's door.

"Come in" Mia spoke up.

Mia placed her pencil down and turned towards the door and see Michael standing there.

"I'm heading out to a bar with some workmates, I'll be home late so don't wake me in the morning with your silly dreams" Michael narrowed his eyes towards Mia as he spoke.

"Yes, Michael," Mia said. "I'll try to be quiet. You have fun with your friends."

Mia never called Michael dad, how could she? She never felt like his daughter. If he loved her like a daughter then why was she abused almost every day? Michael nodded before turning around and beaded out her room shutting the door behind her.

Mia swirled the chair around so she faced her drawing again and began to finish it colouring in the areas she needed too and highlighted the top, she added the moon on the side and some water that the wolf was standing in. Mia added little fish to the stream, a waterfall at the back of him, it was turning into a pretty good picture, Mia was pleased of how it was turning out.

Mia also added some trees on the side if the page, it was weird because what she was drawing is what she has seen before in her dream. Sometimes when Mia sleeps she saw a forest that was connected by a waterfall lake with beautiful trees, the water would glisten when the moonlight hit it and when the sun did too. It hard a sparkle that no one had seen before. Mia closed her art book once she finished drawing and placed it in her school bag.

Mia stood up and started getting dressed for work, slowly she peeled off her shirt and pants before putting on some shorts and a t-shirt, she let her hair down and watched it hit her shoulders in the mirror. Mia walked over to her bed and peeled back the sheets before climbing in and slowly fell asleep.