Yours Soulfully...

12.

Mia Walker often times felt lonely without the presence of her daughter in her house. She had moved from Palestine Hills, Los Angeles because she couldn't identify anything with that town or the ash - ridden place where once there used to be a home. Her home, they say. But there had been no use staying there, especially if her father, the one family member she knew back then, lived all the way in the other end of the country. So, she had moved to Boston to live closer to her father. 

It took her some time to realize that even though she moved from Los Angeles as it didn't feel like her home, Boston wasn't truly her home as well. Her home was the one year old infant with a powerful wailing voice and captivating brown eyes. Mia had unconsciously framed her life dependent on Rae. Even though Mia was an amazing mother with excellent parental skills, somewhere, she always knew that she needed Rae more than Rae did her. And that was just a trivial fact, except at times like these when Rae is not under Mia's roof and on the other side of the country, where she originated from. 

Mia was mostly missing Rae and the feeling of being at home, but a little corner in her mind feared something else. Rae had gone to Los Angeles, the city from which Mia fled. Mia had not been able to identify with that place even for a morsel, but what the city meant to Rae, Mia would never understand. The biggest question that ran through Mia's head and taunted her sanity was: what if Rae could identify with that place? What if she never comes back? 

The very same question was punching her mind all through breakfast and Mia decided to take her mind off this by doing chores. From the experience of being a single mother who took two shifts at an inn to feed and school her daughter, Mia knew what it feels like to get lost in a work. Whatever stress she had on her mind, doing petty jobs and doing them very consciously will drag the mind off of it. Mia's stress buster had clearly been doing chores. So, as Mia loaded her dishwasher, she decided to do the laundry stress buster for the day. 

Quickly, she collected all her dirty clothes from her room and entered Rae's room, hoping to find her laundry bag full as well. But she was surprised to see her laundry bag only half - full, and dirty clothes covering her bed and half opened closet. Mia scrunched her nose. While Rae wasn't suffering from OCD like every mother in the world, she did like to keep her things pretty tidy. The mess of her clothes came off as a big surprise to Mia. 

It must have been stressful for her with Amana going to her hometown to come out to her parents and all. Don't judge her, Mia, she thought to herself. At her own pace, Mia emptied out her daughter's clothes onto her basket one by one. Next, she went to her bed and removed all the dirty clothes from it. And then, out of suspicion, she lifted the mattress off the bed and brought it to her nose. It had the pungent smell that qualified as needed to be washed. Softly smiling to herself, Mia removed all of Rae's bed sheets. Some 24 year old adult she is, can't even change her own sheets. 

As she put some force to remove the tightly tucked - in bed sheet, she saw something get thrown from the crevice of the bed and the headboard and onto the ground from the momentum of her pull. It landed on the floor with a clang. Mia bent down from the other side of the bed to see what fell on the ground. And she saw a small brass key lying on Rae's purple carpet.

Mia frowned. She didn't remember anything in the house that required a brass key to be opened. And a key so small in particular needs a hole that small as well. Mia mused on whether it could be her or Amana's dorm room key but then remembered that they had key cards instead of actual keys. So what was this key for? And more so importantly, why was it tucked under Rae's bed, hidden from everyone?

Mia dumped the sheets in the laundry basket and placed the basket aside before picking up the key. She tapped the key against the pad of her fingers as she thought and thought of all the possible key holes this key could fit in. Then she remembered.