𝕁𝕌𝔻𝔸𝕊 𝕂𝕀𝕊𝕊,, 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨

𝖙𝖊𝖓 | ʙᴇᴛʀᴀʏ ᴍᴇ

【＊＊＊】

❝𝚂𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚁𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚢❞

𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒔 = 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌
【＊＊＊】

     Being the oldest, Mila took on a lot of responsibility from a very young age.

For the first four years of her life, she learned that she could only depend on herself to care for herself; her mother always too caught up in suffering from the delirium which heroin intoxication induced to truly care for her daughter the way a mother should.

But, when she was 5, and her mother gave birth to a second child - most likely fathered by the same dealer who kept Luna's heroin supply fully stocked - it was a game changer for Mila.

The weight of responsibility shifted to it not only being herself that she depended on, but her baby brother now depended on her too.

It was never easy, not even as she got older, but Mila was a quick learner.

Every new challenge she faced - whether it be Mateo getting diaper rash, or having to dig through the bins for hours behind the grocery store to find enough partially expired food for a meal every night, or even caring for her mother through the agonisingly unpleasant flu stages of sobering up, despite said sobering up never sticking, - Mila pushed through whatever came her way. every. fucking. time. And not once did she complain, because she believed that in the end it would all be worth it.

That, one day, things would be better for her and Mateo.

Oh, how naive she was.

【＊＊＊】

Mila's forehead was pressed against the glass window, it being the only source of coolness that the stuffy coach had to offer. She watched as the sweat from her hairline connected to the glass, the beads running down it every so often, collecting at the bottom.

It was the middle of summer. The middle of summer in Southern California. The middle of summer in Southern California, in a caged-up coach with no air-conditioning and windows that could not open - not that she could reach even if they were able to.

Her small hand clutched the tatty and stained Christmas card. It had been sent to her mother many years ago by Mila's aunt, Neva.

Despite the sisters not being close in any shape or form, Neva was a traditionalist who enjoyed sending out Christmas cards to everyone and anyone who she had in her address book. And, being the traditionalist she is, just in case someone planned to send a card back in return, she even wrote her own address in the top corner of each card.