When the night rises... *book three*

Mia

Me and Sam are sat in the living room when a young girl runs in, "Dad! I slept until one on the afternoon!? Why didn't you wake me up!? I'm going to be so late to school!"
"Mia, I tried to wake you up for around two centuries!"

He gets up and hugs her tightly.

"Dad, what do you mean two centuries?"
"You fell into a coma on your thirteenth birthday, and now, two centuries later, you've woken up."
"Oh..."

She looks at me, "who's that?"
"Damien Jean."
"They found him?"
"He... I actually don't know what happened."....

I don't think Mia likes me.

She told Sam that I should sleep on the sofa, but I really want to be another parent for Mia, so I agreed to sleep on the sofa...

I wake up screaming and crying and I sit up on the sofa.

"Sam?"

I put my hand to my side.

I then remember that Sam is upstairs in bed, and I'm down here, in the living room, on the sofa.

I take a deep breath.

I hate nightmares.

I've been alive for four months and every night, every single night, I have nightmares.

I get up and go upstairs to me and Sams room.

I go in and tap his arm.

"Mm?"
"I can't sleep... I keep having nightmares... can... can I sleep with you?"
"Of course... it's not up to Mia where you sleep..."
"Thank you."

I get in bed next to him and he wraps his arms around me.

I snuggle up against him and he kisses my forehead.

I fall asleep...

Someone shakes me and I wake up, "what?"

Sam sits up, "Mia, what are you doing!? Don't shake him like that!"
"He was supposed to be sleeping in the living room!"
"It isn't up to you where he sleeps! Go and get ready for school and don't shake your father like that again!"

He turns to me and hugs me, "are you okay?"
"I'm fine."

Mia frowns and leaves the room.

I sit up and sigh, "why does she hate me?"
"Damien, she doesn't-"
"Yes, she does. She hates me."
"I'll go talk to her."

He kisses my cheek, gets up and leaves.

I get up and get changed.

I then leave the room and go downstairs.

By the time I get down, Mia seems to already have left, and Sam is finishing his coffee.

"Hey, so... I spoke to Mia."
"Yeah?"
"She said she doesn't like you. So... sorry... I didn't realise that she really hated you..."

I hug him, "hey baby, it's fine. It isn't your fault."
"How long have I not realised that she's hated you?"
"Four months maybe?"
"Shit..."
"Hey, don't worry about it. I will work out how to sort things with her, okay?"
"Okay... um... I have work today.... So... maybe... pick her up after school?"
"Will do."
"Thanks love."
"No problem. Now, you go and get ready for work. Okay?"
"Okay."

He hugs me and goes upstairs. I head to the bathroom and notice my nose has started bleeding.

"Shit."

I wipe it up and then, as I leave the bathroom, I bump into Sam.

"I'll see you later, hun!" He kisses me, smiles, and leaves.

I go up to the attic.

I've been putting off checking the amount of orders I've gotten since I got back.

I open my laptop.

I open the app that Pietro made for my business.

There's actually only a few hundred.

And some of them are from one to two centuries ago.

I start making orders and that's all I do until half past two, when I stop, and do my makeup and hair.

I'll take the completed orders to the post office when I get back.

I head to the school That Sam said Mia goes to, and He told me that you're supposed to park in the school parking lot so that they know you're a parent, and a teacher is always stood by the gate to the parking lot to lead you into the quad/ outside area of the school.

I park in an empty spot in the parking lot and get out of the Car.

Someone else gets out of their car at the same time and looks at me, "hey there doll, haven't seen you around here before?"
"I'm picking up my husbands daughter."
"That's a very pretty accent, Russian, is it?"
"Yes."
"I've always loved the Russian language! Most people will say it's an angry language, but I find it really therapeutic..."

I feel my cheeks heat up and I thank him in Russian.

Why I had to say it in Russian, I don't know.

"You're welcome, love."

A teacher approaches us, "hello, are you two here for your child?"

"Oh! Uh... we- we aren't- he's not... I'm- we- he-"
"We aren't together, is what she's trying to say. I'm here for my daughter, she is here for her husband's daughter."
"Oh, sorry for the misunderstanding! That gate over there!"

The teacher walks elsewhere.

"I don't know where I'm going..."
"I'll lead the way."

We begin walking.

"Got all flustered back there, didn't you?"
"I... um... yes... I suppose I did..."
"What's your name?"
"...DayJay."
"Cute."
"It's a nickname, but... it's what my friends call me."
"Am I your friend then?"
"I... I guess you are."
"That's wonderful. My friends call me Carly."
"Hello Carly."
"Hello to you too. So, what's your daughters name?"
"Husbands daughter... she doesn't like me... and... I actually have no clue why."
"Okay."
"Anyway, her name is Mia."
"Ah, Sam Callas' Kid! Right? Sam your husband?"
"Mhm."
"So that makes you Damien Jean Callas."
"Uh huh."
"That's pretty cool. Thought I recognised you, my daughters a big fan. Also... maybe just keep it as DayJay here. This is a Christian school. And I didn't pick it! My ex wife did."
"Ex? What happened?"
"She... she tried to kill me?"
"I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's fine. We were... um..." he clears his throat, "busy, and she put her hands around my throat and started strangling me. And she's a professional trainer, so... she's strong."
"My god."
"Yup..."

We get to the gate.

We go through and a girl runs up to us, "oh, hey dad!"

She looks at me, "Wait, is that-!"

Carly covers her mouth, "sh!"

I smile and wave.

She waves back.

I look at Carly, "should I go and look for Mia, or wait for her to walk over?"

"Well, she knows your here, I've seen her looking at you. She's ignoring you and talking to her friends instead."
"Oh..."
"Maybe go over and speak to her? Me and Joe'll come with you."
"Thank you."

We walk over and Mia frowns, "what are YOU doing here?"
"I'm picking you up... your father has work today."
"Great... now I have to sit in a car with YOU!"
"...you could always walk..."
"I'm not walking!"

I look at the floor...