Happier

3 - Mira

Mira first had some reservations about being teleported home. She considered mucking about a bit because she knew that she'd be questioned to death by her family the moment they saw her. But she didn't, and let Sadia – a handy and reliable teleporter do her job, so Mira instantly appeared in front of the flat block her family lived in.

Her stomach churned, she knew she could just walk away and return when her shift was supposed to have ended but that would only make things harder. If she wanted to fix things, she needed to be quick about it. As soon as she went inside, she'll have to look online for a job. She didn't know anything about writing a resume, so she'd have to ask Harumi for help and then ask Anaya to take her places to drop off her application because she knew that her family were busy enough already. And, while she hadn't had an interview for years, she knew she would be terrible at them - she loved talking about herself after all - but that was only if she ever got to the interview stage.

She got fired for carelessness that resulted in someone getting hurt. She wouldn't receive a reference and it was a competitive world out there.

Was there even a point?

Okay yeah, there were people worse off than her but she knew she was at the bottom of the food chain and no law or policy was going to protect her from that fact.

Mira felt her eyes burn as she climbed up the steep stairs to their apartment. She couldn't bear look at everyone's face when she dropped the news – that is, if they hadn't already guessed it just by looking at her. Her pace slowed with every step, her legs feeling heavier as she continued to climb until she came to a stop in front of their door.

Mira unlocked it and held onto the chipped doorknob, urging the tears that hadn't fallen yet to stay in their assigned ducts.

The whole situation was stupid. She was stupid. What was she thinking? Why was it a good idea? Gosh, and Amor, what was he even doing there anyway? Did the universe find it funny to replicate the moment they first got involved in each other's lives? Was it a sick joke? Because Mira wanted to laugh. The entire situation was so stupid she should have known that it would have been him there ready to take the hit. It was even more stupid that despite everything she felt comforted by the fact that he was still alive somewhere and appeared to be eating and sleeping well.

Mira pushed the door open and was greeted by the smell of falafel and bread, drugstore perfume and disinfectant. Immediately, the sound of jumbled up symphonies from the wonderfully aged piano reached her ears.

"I'm –" Mira started to announce.

"Wait, sweetie what are you doing home?"

And there it is.

Mira slipped off her shoes, and walked on the hard flooring, feeling a chill travel from the sole of her feet to the rest of her body.

She felt gazes bore into her, the most prominent one coming from the direction of the voice that sat at the old-fashioned piano.

"Hey Mama, and everyone else," she mumbled.

Her Ma, Soraya, sat on the piano bench with a young girl by her side and who was the source of the jumbled melodies. Mira didn't recognise the student, figuring she was new and shifted her eyes away to the older-than-her-life couch, but she figured her sisters were in their room. Her Baba, Arif, was in the attached kitchen, slaving over the stove. All of them stared at her as if she was a raisin in milk.

God, she loved attention but not like this.

"I missed you guys?" She said, her voice uneasy and showing the nervousness that she was so obviously feeling. She moved towards the couch and dropped her ratty backpack before slumping onto it.