Elemental Empires

{Chapter 4}

"Dad! Mum! I want the skater Barbie for my birthday as well as the fighter Barbie! Oh- oh and also the new Hermione&Crookshanks figurine too!", the little girl jumped up and down excitedly as her parents laughed at her fondly. Her Mother bent down and kissed her forehead as her Father lovingly ruffled his daughter's fiery hair before sneaking a peck at his adoring wife.

Mia smiled sadly as she watched the family walk down the streets, hands and hearts clasped together in an unbreakable bond of love. Tiny snowflakes danced upon them as they ambled happily in their perfect bubble of life.

A perfect, happy family in their own perfect, happy world, just like a snow globe.

Mia sighed and watched the fiery-red mane of the girl fade away under the thick, white blanket of snow descending upon them. She chewed her lip and absentmindedly watched a furry, white kitten skitter here and there to find shelter as she mused about her own nightmare of a life.

What if I had such a loving family? Wouldn't that be awesome! Being the centre of their attention and basking in their love.

Mia smiled at that thought as she thought about her imaginary family. The empty house groaned as a cold breeze blew, rattling the window panes. Her family had gone to yet another dinner -as always neglecting her- and she was left alone to be swallowed by the unfathomable abyss of her grief.

She lay on her bed, doused in a comforting darkness as her gaze strayed to the window- faintly illuminated by the warm, orange glow of the streetlamps- and perused the gently descending snowflakes as the light bathed over them morphing the dainty flakes into spangled curtains of shimmering gold.

She closed her eyes, lulled by the soft pattering of the snow into the inky embrace of shadows and let her mind wander. The mellifluous wind whispered eternal secrets to her as it caressed her tear sodden face. Her wind-chime tinkered softly in the vacuous silence in rhythm with the fluttering of her heart.

Beautiful. Everything is so utterly beautiful. Except my life..

She played with her bracelet, rubbing the charms as they glinted in the muted light.

What sin did I do to deserve this?

A single tear slipped down her cheek. A single pearl of hidden, bundled-up emotions and unsaid words. And as it did she felt a great calm ensue, as if a great weight had been lifted off of her burdened shoulders. She quickly wiped her eyes and smiled.

"Oh what the heck! The house is empty! I can do whatever I want!", she kissed her charm bracelet," it did bring me some luck! My whole family's out! Good riddance".

***

"Hello and welcome to Mia's Marvellous cooking! -it sucks that there isn't a synonym for cooking which starts with M you know- how are y'all?!", Mia flamboyantly greeted an imaginary audience as she whipped up eggs.

I'm alone..why not make the most of it?

"Okay so the dish will be ready in a fe-Ah! It's done!", Mia pulled out the chipped ramekins from the steaming oven.

"Now I'll be tasting," Mia said sternly, scrunching up her nose as she sniffed the river steam rising up from her bizarre creation. She sliced the slightly-raw souffle and put it in her mouth before gagging and spitting it out.

"Hot, hot, hot," her eyes watered as she fanned off her mouth." Hmm it is soft and airy and it's bland flavor is enhanced by the sharp tang of the lemon and the tart flavor of the raspberries, the spice of the piquant chillies add up to make an amazingly ambrosial dish! Even if its raw!". Mia grinned crazily at her weird invention and took another bite of the dessert before grimacing

"Yuck," she gulped down some water to wash out the disgusting flavor from her palate," needs some chocolate. You can never go wrong with chocolate!".

Mia opened the bottle of the chocolate sauce and her mouth drooled as she licked her finger." I'm in love with the choco!".

She sighed in euphoria and smiled in pleasure as she watched the gooey, brown sauce drip onto the stark white souffle.

"And once again we will be tast- shit! Shit! no we won't be tasting shit..", Mia panicked and blathered on as she desperately tried (and miserable failed)  to wipe off the huge, brown stain she had managed to make on her Mother's white loveseat." Come on! You stubborn son of a cocoa bean!".

She screamed and muttered rapidly as she furiously tried to wipe the stain with a wet rag but the wetness only made it spread more.

"Ugh," she put her hands on her hips and frowned, staring at the dark tentacles of the monster stain spiralling on the seat.  "Now the not-so-pearly white, furry loveseat has been given a beautiful pattern by the highly talented artist Mia Sangfwad! Applaud this dumb-ass please".

She then quickly arranged the myriads of fluffy cushions atop the stain and presented the loveseat with a flourish. "And now I geeve u ze again peaghly vite 'oveseat," Mia bowed and collapsed into fits of laughter.

Bonkers! Maybe that bump banged up my head. Lost it for good finally.

She sighed dramatically after laughing for a solid five minutes and yawned loudly. She looked at the clock and saw that it was way too early to sleep so she decided to aimlessly amble around the house and talk to herself.

"What if I knew all the secrets of the world? Or of its people? It'd be even awesome if I could hear people whisp-wait", Mia paused -deep in thought- rubbing her thumb and forefinger over her chin." What had Aunt Ruby whispered in Mum's ear yesterday?".

She started walking again as she spoke her thoughts out loud." Maybe it was an insult hurled at me? Maybe she hates m--nah she gave me such a precious gift, why'd she hate me?".

Mia sat down, unconsciously twirling a foreign object between her fingers as she stared at her confused reflection." She did let Violet trip me..No, no I'm sure she doesn't hat- Dammit!", she gasped and cried out as she looked at what she had done." Stupid, stupid!".

She had somehow absentmindedly wandered to Violet's room and managed to coat her nails with Violet's new nail Polish- the expensive one that Aunt Ruby gifted hair.

Mia chewed her lip as she stared at her shimmering silver nails which contrasted beautifully with her soft complexion and charm bracelet." I actually did a decent job for once," she shrugged," and it's not like she measures the amount of polish in this, she'd never know".

Mia replaced the bottle carefully and made her way back to her room, fanning her hands." Today was fun", she shouted enthusiastically as she entered her room and sat on her bed to do a bit of light reading.

"I wish they never return...or even if they do- I wish that I go somewhere else..away from them, far far away".

A few minutes later she fell into a deep, contented sleep with the pages of the book brushing against her face.

Mia didn't know what fate had planned for her, what the cards of life had dealt for her but whatever it was, she hoped it was for the best.

***