Aviana (MC Riders #1)

B O K E T T O

/ボケっと/

verb

the act of gazing vacantly into the distance without a thought.

~🎲 ~

"When's mommy coming?" the four-year-old pulled at her kindergarten teacher's skirt as they waited at the front of the school.

The sun had begun to set a half hour ago and a chill had set in, yet there was no sign of the child's parents. Dalia Heifler sighed as she looked down at the child with pitying eyes. She was such a little thing, so small yet so beautiful it broke the young teacher's heart at how uncaring her parents seemed to be.

Dalia knelt down next to the little girl, mustering a smile for her as she held her tiny hand in her own. "I think I'll drive you again, yeah?" she tapped the child's nose playfully, desperate to bring a smile to her face before standing back up and holding her hand out. "Come on, Aviana, let's get you home."

It wasn't the first time Aviana's parents had forgotten to pick her up, nor would it be the last, Dalia feared. "I'm sure mommy and daddy just got very busy and haven't noticed the time," she tried to rationalise Aviana's sick-excuse for parent's actions to the child.

She opened the car door for Aviana to clamber in before walking around to the other side and climbing into the driver's seat. She hated Aviana's parents for making her do this. Hated them for making her break the law and risk her job just to get a child home because her parents couldn't be bothered enough to get her themselves. They made her sick.

It was a short five-minute drive before they arrived at the girl's house. Dalia got out first, opening the door for Aviana before grabbing the girl's hand in her own and walking her up to the front door. Everything inside of her told her to turn around and take Aviana as far away from that house as possible, but she couldn't. She couldn't do anything.

Knocking on the door, she tried to calm her mind enough to get her to a state where she wouldn't rip off the head of whichever deadbeat parent answered the door first. Her self-control hung by a string as the door opened, the sour smell of alcohol hitting her like a strike to the face. She closed her eyes for a moment, breathing deeply as she desperately tried to find a reason as to why she shouldn't hit the woman in front of her.

With a sinking feeling in her gut, she ushered Aviana inside with a push to her back, knowing she wouldn't be able to go in with her. "I'll see you tomorrow, Aviana," she tried to sound at least remotely happy at the situation.

Without so much as glancing towards the woman who still held the door open, she turned and rushed back to her car, leaving Aviana alone with her own two personal demons.

Once the front door closed, drugged, foggy eyes settled their attention on the little human that stood in the hallway. "The fuck are you looking at?" the drunk woman muttered before stumbling her way back down the hallway towards the living area.

Aviana reached out towards her mother, seconds away from begging for her attention when suddenly, she wasn't four-years-old anymore, nor was she standing in the hallway of their old home. Rotting walls surrounded her and the stench seemed to grow as she glanced around the familiar apartment. Her parents lounged on the double that had been pushed against the far wall of the room and Aviana was seated against the opposite wall on a single air mattress.

The twang of greek music lilted through the air as Aviana watched another puff of smoke rise from her father's mouth. It was then that her stomach decided to let out a muffled growl and brown eyes so similar to her own flickered towards her, catching her red-handed. She knew she should have stopped staring the second she started.