Different Kind of Peace

Prologue

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Mia

~15 Years Ago~

"Where are we going mommy?" I ask as my mom grabs my hand and pulls me out of our house. I have my small, pink backpack slung over my shoulder. My tiny fingers are wrapped tightly around my teddy bear's stuffed arm. My dad gave it to me for my birthday. A week later he was gone. I named my teddy bear Theodore and I take it with me wherever I go. It never leaves my side. This way I feel closer to daddy. Mom says that he is in a better place now and I shouldn't be sad, because there is no pain in there, unlike here. But I don't want him to be in that place. I want him to be here with us. I miss him.

"It's a surprise. You'll have to wait and see." Mom replies, not once looking at me, as she strides toward her car. She's in a hurry. I can tell. I almost need to run to keep up with her.

"I like surprises." I tell her excitedly with a big grin on my face. Surprises are nice. They make you happy. They are fun. I don't remember the last time me and my mom had fun together. Without my dad, mom is different. She's not as happy as she used to be with him around. Sometimes it's like she doesn't want me anymore. There are times when she tells me to 'just leave her alone'. That's why I can't wait for the surprise. I want to spent a nice time with her.

Mom doesn't say anything as she lifts me up and puts me into the car. She adjusts my seatbelt, then goes to the driver side and gets in. Without a word, she starts the engine and drives away. She's tensed the whole ride to an unknown destination. She keeps fidgeting in her seat, never looking in my direction. I keep playing with my Theodore, unaware of my mother's true intentions. Silently, I tell him how excited I am for her surprise. I tell him it's going to be the best day in a long while. And I have no idea how wrong I am at the moment.

Finally, we stop somewhere and I lift my head to look out of the window. I know this place. It's my dad's sister's house. I smile, because I like aunt Jena very much. She is always nice to me and she plays with me whenever I am with her. It will be nice if she joins us.

My mom's face appears in front of me and takes me out of the car. She walks over the house with me in her arms and knocks impatiently on the door. A moment later, my aunt opens it and before she has a chance to say anything, my mom speaks up.

"I need you to take care of Mia for a while. I have somewhere I have to be." She says and, without any further explanation, hands me over to my aunt. I see surprise and confusion on Jena's face. Well, I don't understand what's going on myself.

"But, Allison, I am meeting someone in two hours. I can't take care of Mia today." My aunt replies and puts me down on the ground, her eyebrows bunched together, confusion on her face.

"Oh, come on! I don't have anyone I can ask for this except you. I have a really important thing to do. I can't cancel. I'm sure you'll be fine." My mom tells her and turns around to walk away. Why is my mom leaving me? We were supposed to have fun together. At least, that's what I thought.

"Allison!" Jena shouts, warning in her voice, as she puts her hand on top of my head, probably sensing my uneasiness, and strokes my hair. "You can't just show up at my door and, without telling me anything earlier, leave your daughter for me to take care of. I have plans!" But my mom isn't listening to her anymore. She keeps on walking away from me. I'm sad. I really wanted to spend some time with my mommy. I thought we could finally become a little closer.

"Mommy!" I yell as loud as I can. "You said you have a surprise for me." She stops and turns to look at me.

"This is your surprise." She points at my aunt. "Go play with Jena." She tells me, sounding annoyed.

"But I want to play with you. I don't want you to leave me alone." I say, the tears in my eyes threatening to fall.

"Mia, you're a big girl." It's true. I am. I am four years old already. But I still don't like my mom's surprise. I wanted to have fun with her. "Go play with Jena for now and I'm going to be back within a few hours. I'm sure you will have so much fun that you won't even notice I'm gone." She tells me. I want to say something, but she turns and once again walks away from us. From me.

"Allison! Don't you dare!" Jena shouts, but my mom is already sitting in her car. I watch her drive away and hear my aunt sigh. She puts a hand on top of my head and ruffles my hair again. She kneels in front of me and wipes the tears away from my cheeks.

"Don't cry, Mia. Your mom will be back soon." She tells me softly, putting a smile on her face. I can see it's forced. "Come on. Let's play." She adds as she stands up and reaches her hand to take mine. She looks down at me and smiles once again. I smile back, because I like her and she is nice. Nicer than my mom.

We play together for a few hours, Theodore always by my side. I show Jena my doll,which I brought in my backpack, and she plays with me for a while. She even letsme paint her face. When I finish and we both look in the mirror, we burst outlaughing. At some point, a certain manjoins us. His name is Josh. At first he doesn't like the idea of staying in thehouse and playing with us, but Jena persuades him to agree and after a shorttime we are all laughing and he keeps kissing Jena just to make me giggle. Ilike him too. He's almost as nice as my aunt. And he's funny. He makes me laughall the time. I even almost forget about my mom, but then it's my bedtime and shestill hasn't came back. I notice Jena steal a few glances at her watch and thenshe sends Josh a few concerned looks. I keep waiting for my mom. The sleepinessstarts to slowly take me over and I want to go home to my bed. I keep lookingout of the window, but I don't see her. She lied to me. She doesn't keep herword. She doesn't come back. Not in a few hours. Not in a week. Not ever.