There hadn't been a woman in formula 1 for as long as most drivers could remember and it seemed that there was a lack of women in the virtual sport too. When McLaren Shadow, an F1 e-sports team took a chance on a young female streamer, no one knew t...
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Mira Atkinson didn't always like change. She liked the security of having things set in stone so she could easily manage them. She liked knowing what the year held for her and how easy task were to complete. It was her shelter from the harsh reality of life that people were handed with on a regular basis.
She knew she was lucky. She was in a position where she could afford to live and more — something not everyone had — and she had a safety net around her. She knew that. She knew life could be so much harder for her but that didn't mean she sometimes felt like things could be better.
From March to July, Mira had gotten into a regular rhythm of what happened. She knew the Formula 1 schedule off by heart (when Lando would be in England), she knew any quadrant events going on and when she had free time to check up on her charity work.
The charity had been the best thing that happened to her. She got to know the kids who were there most days, she kept an eye on making sure none of them showed up with bruises, she was able to watch families find out that their children had valid reasons for the things they did and a place to shelter from bullying. It was rewarding.
When they had opened the official headquarters in London, Lewis, Nicholas, Seb and Lando had all been there, along with Zak Brown and Quadrant. It had been surreal and Mira had almost ended up crying. She knew she would have got a lot less coverage if they hadn't been there; after all, Mira was just some random gamer to most.
She'd had a productive start to the year.
"Mira, we've got a newbie," spoke Liane.
Liana Fern was Mira's best staff member; she ran everything and took care of the staff whenever Mira wasn't there. She was in charge of pairing any new kids (or adults) to their mentors so they had someone who understood them.
"I've got it," Mira assured as she headed to the desk.
The first thing Mira noticed about the three people who had entered the building was the look of distaste on their faces. There was two adult, one tall woman with cold grey eyes and silver hair, name tag reading 'Monica'. The other was a shorter bald man with a scrowl upon his face, name tag reading 'Dave'. Monica had a baby, no older than one, in her arms with a far off look in her eye.
"Hello!" Mira greeted brightly. "May I help you?"
"You take kids, yes?" Dave pursed his lips. "We don't want this one."
"I'm sorry...is she a problem for you?" Mira was careful to phrase.
"She's weird. Refuses to eat anything but one food, just keeps cry and crying when the other kids are playing. We don't have time for a whining baby when we already have five kids." Monica rambled.
"We can help, have you spoken to her social worker?" Mira questioned.
"No, she doesn't have one," Monica replied. "She's our kid."
"Oh," Mira was surprised. "I just thought...with the name tags..."
"The other five are fosters," Dave replied. "We didn't want a kid of our own."
"I see," Mira held her tongue. "We do a daycare system from six in the morning til nine at night."
"Great!" Monica perked up. "Take her than."
Monica was quick to hand over the baby before anyone could even inform her to do so. She seemed as though she wanted to get out of there as quick as possible.
"We just need you to fill out some forms," Liane pushed the papers forward. "Just standard things. Would you like your daughter to be seen by our psychologists for anything?"
"Sure, she's strange," Dave shrugged, sighing the forms.
Mira hated how 'Strange' was used as an insult. This poor baby hadn't done anything wrong and yet, her parents wanted to get rid of her because she wasn't 'normal'? It brought back too many memories for Mira.
Kindly, Liane printed out a label and stuck it on the top of the little girl. Looking down, Mira read it as 'Lily. F'. Smiling down at the small girl, Mira smiled.
"Don't worry, we'll look after you."
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"Mira, why are you so upset?"
Esme stood in front of her best friend, Mclaren polo on and hair tied into a bun from getting back from work. Mira had turned up at her door hit nine o'clock at night, eyes brimming with tears and hands fidgeting.
"Why can parents be so shitty?"
Mira's voice cracked as she spoke, rippling with dripping guilty, worry and a sense of trauma.
"Oh Mira, what happened?" Esme frowned, letting her into the house.
"Every day, I see people showing up to help their kids or parents or anyone!" Mira sniffled. "Then today, I witnessed two people trying to get rid of their kid 'cause she was different."
"I see," Esme breathed.
Esme knew about Mira's past...she knew what her parents did and the rough time she had when she was finally taken away from them.
"Some people just don't know how to be a parent to anyone but what they envisioned," Esme replied carefully. "But luckily, they have people like you around."
"I just...she was so innocent and adorable," Mira mumbled, collapsing on the sofa.
"She has you now," Esme repeated. "And your staff. Don't get yourself too caught up in this Mira. I hate to say this to you but chances are, it's going to happen more than once."
"I know."
"And you need to deal with it like the kind soul you are," Esme concluded.
"When I told her parents that the psychologist's report had come back that she was potentially autistic — they never want to conclude it until at least 18 months — they gave me such a look of horror Esme! It was like I had told them that their life was over," Mira explained harshly.
"That's why you're most upset," Esme realised sadly.
"It didn't matter what I said to them! I told them all my staff had disabilities, I told them about me but they didn't care!" Mira voice broke again. "I know that little girl will be here every single day."
"Better safe with you than with people who don't love her, Mira," Esme patted Mira's shoulder.
Mira just wasn't sure if she could let anyone but herself handle this case. She knew she shouldn't get that involved...her staff were amazing...but this seemed so personal.
And one thing was for sure, Mira wasn't the type of person to back down.
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