Darkness//Z.M

vi

Mia's POV:

Silently I head downstairs, praying to God that my parents wouldn't yell at me. I hated getting yelled at, hated it. I would burst out into tears when anybody raised their voice even the slightest.

My feet pad on the wood floor as I head into the kitchen, only to see my mom setting down tuna casserole, my favorite. I look at my mom with loving eyes, "You made my favorite..."

She sighs, and nods. "I realized that I was out of line grounding you. It didn't occur to me how frustrating school must be at the moment, and that you must've felt overwhelmed. Just please tell me when you decide to skip school, I was worried when you didn't come home at your normal time."

A grin finds its way onto my lips as my mom's words play over again in my mind. "You don't know how much that means to me."

My mom embraces me and smiles at me. "Let's not mention this to your dad, okay?"

"Okay." I agree, my chest feeling as if it's about to burst from gratitude.

As dinner nears to an end, my dad looks over at me. "When were you going to tell us?"

"Tell you what?" I ask, taking a bite of my casserole.

"About school today."

My eyes widen as I look up to them, did they know? How was I going to explain to them that it wasn't me, would they believe me? Oh God, I'm in such trouble! "What about it?"

"That you aced your test! We got an email about it today." He grins, looking me right in the eyes.

"Oh." I furrow my eyebrows. "I mean, I was going to...but I wanted to be humble about it. You know? It's just a test anyway."

I only had a test in Mr. Talihone's class today, how would I have gotten a good score? I wasn't even there, and I'm positive he wouldn't mix me up for another student.

"Don't be humble about it!" My mom grins.

"I won't anymore." I smile slightly, my confusion growing. "May I be excused?"

"Yes, you may. But before you do, go take this to Zayn and his aunt. I bet that poor boy hasn't had anything for dinner yet! He's such a sweet boy, giving up his time to take care of his aunt." My mom gushes, handing me two plates.

"Okay, I will. I might go on a small walk in the woods afterwards." I tell them, grabbing the plates from my mom.

"Sounds good, but don't be too late." My father orders as he stands up, taking my mom's dish from her hand.

I don't reply and head out the front door to Zayn's house. As soon as I step out, I smile in satisfaction as the cold crisp air kisses my cheeks immediately. I quickly walk across the street and jog up the front steps of his house, knocking on his door.

My blood runs cold when I hear a blood curdling scream rip through his house loudly and shortly after small cries are heard. A shiver crawls up my spine as my face is pale in fear. Zayn opens the door, and pushes his hair back in frustration. "Hey Mia."

"Um, h-hi Zayn." I mumble, trying not to look too obvious as I try to peer behind him.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that, my aunt doesn't like taking her medicine much." He grins, tiredly. "Must've sounded bad from your perspective, yeah?"

I nod, letting out a breath in relief. "Haha, you have no idea. My mom wanted me to give this to you and your
aunt."

"Your mother is too kind to me."

"She likes having someone to look after besides me." I hand him the plates, and tense up as our hands touch.

"Help me!" A woman's voice pleads, echoing through the dark house.