Elemental Empires

{Chapter 10}

Suddenly the door banged open and Alessandro sauntered in. Mia quickly put the stained knife down and managed a forced smile even though the pain in her wrist was unbearable.

"Enjoy your frut signoOHMYGAWD!," he shouted loudly as he saw the blood on the knife."Mees Meea did you kill Ivory? Ruby? I'll be jolly if you kills her though",he smirked when his eyes strayed towards her bleeding hand.

"Signorina! You are blidding, what happens?!," Alessandro rushed to the bathroom immediately and came back with some disinfectant and bandages.

"It's just a scratch from the knife, nothing serious," she lied as a stray tear dripped down her cheek.

"Be carfeul signorina!," he scolded and held her hand gingerly,"We has to disfectantant it," he said solemnly and Mia couldn't help but giggle at the way he looked at her hand like a detective investigating a murder.

"Disinfect it you mean," Mia corrected him as he gently dabbed stinging liquid on her hand and she yelped.

"Thanking gawd, it is much not deep". He ignored her and wrapped her hand in bandages, all the while muttering to himself.

"Thank you Al," Mia said softly as Alessandro got up to leave." Mees Meea Sometimes the good theengs are just within your grasp you knows," he looked at Mia sadly, his eyes lingering on her face a bit too long before nodding curtly and leaving.

Mia was left to herself, she looked at her paining hand and slapped herself." What were you thinking!?," she screamed at herself, ashamed at her own stupidity." You hopeless idiot!".

I am not weak, I have not given up. I have to find another way but not suicide,never suicide. It's not the answer to any of my problems.

Mia stayed in her room till dinnertime, brainstorming for possible ideas to escape her misery and alternate methods to kill-erm bare with Aunt Ruby. All the while her mind straying to the woman haunting her dreams.

At dinnertime, Mia's stomach rumbled and she realized how hungry she was. Scooping up Ivory she headed downstairs to see if she could nab some snacks for herself and Ivory, she was passing the living room when a tired voice called out to her.

"I knew you were stupid enough to do that."

Mia paused.

"Faking depression and all. Shame on you!."

Mia entered the living room and saw her Aunt dressed up in a long, black dress reclining on the couch surrounded with shards of broken glass and a half empty bottle of alcohol clutched in her hands.

Drunk..

"Sorry?," Mia kept her eyes down, gazing at the mosaic of the incandescent fragments of glass.

"Oh look at me! I'm so upset and I don't wanna live anymore," her Aunt gestured wildly, widening her eyes, her pupils dilating,"Lets just be all dramatic and kill myself," she made an imaginary gun using her fingers and pretended to shoot herself,"Knife? Are you kidding me? Pistols are way better."

She isn't making any sense.

"I don't know what are you talking ab-".

"Dont! don't act innocent with me brat! I'm a forecaster for gods sake!," she rolled her eyes,brought the bottle to her lips and took a long swig." If I didn't send Alessandro at the right time, you would've been stone-cold dead, with nobody to weep at your funeral!," she wiped her lips and cackled.

"It's better to be dead than to live this horrible life," Mia muttered as her Aunt tried to get up, swayed and fell on the couch again.

"It's better to be dead than to live bla bla, where did you read that from? I hate my life magazine eh?," Aunt Ruby laughed and took another sip from the bottle.

Mia kept quiet, cuddling Ivory gently.

"Did you even give one thought to your parents?," she stared at Mia." What would they think? They'd go mad with the thought of their only child killing herself! And here you are prancing about slitting open your wrists, weeping in the night, all that teenage girl shit."

Mia nodded her head absentmindedly, choosing to ignore her, drowning her monotonous drawling.

"Are you listening to me or what?!," she snapped her fingers,"respect them, you don't know what it feels like to have no parents," her Aunt's voice dropped several octaves.

Mia inhaled sharply." My parents don't love me, I'm not their only child and having parents like them who ignored me all the time, it did feel like I didn't have any parents at all, so thank you very much, I do kn-."

"NO! You don't know anything!," her Aunt screamed suddenly, she raised the now empty bottle above her head and brought it crashing down.

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!," she screamed, startling Mia and Ivory as the bottle shattered into a million, miniscule pieces." You don't know anything," she whispered and leaned down on the floor, clutching her head in her hands.

"You don't know how lonely it feels, you don't know the numb feeling growing inside of you, you don't know what it feels like to be rejected. I know. I know all too well and I see some of myself in you and that's what makes me hate you even more," she whispered softly.

Mia looked at her Aunt. She was no longer the confident, sophisticated woman she knew but instead in front of her was this broken, rejected, lonely woman who sought out her happiness between dollar bills and bottles of alcohol.

Mia didn't know what to do, she just stood there numbly watching her Aunt trapped between the sharp glass, so vulnerable to everything when her Aunt looked up, her mascara trailing down her face."Don't make stupid mistakes that you'll regret later on."

Mia nodded too shocked and confused at what just happened, she walked back to her room in a daze, trying to piece everything, forgetting all about her rumbling stomach.

What surprised Mia the most was the doleful, lonely longing in her Aunt's eyes, she looked as if she was lost, lost somewhere where she could never be found again. And that's exactly how Mia felt.

And it was at that moment she realized how beautifully broken everyone was, how everybody around her had a story and was hurt and crushed yet somehow they still stand tall, fighting and never giving up. And here she was deciding to kill herself on the smallest problem.

She went to her bed promising herself to get through this labyrinth of darkness, to look on the brighter side of life and try enjoy it and that's how she built up her hope and did something she had never done in her whole life.

Look forward to the next day.

A/N: 10th chapter! I can't believe we made it this far :)