The Daughter of the Sea

▬▬ 𝟏𝟑 ∙ 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗮'𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝝾𝗿𝘆

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽

˚✩ ⋆｡ ✩┊ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚 ┊✦ ˚ · .

▬▬ 13 ∙ 𝙼𝚒𝚕𝚊'𝚜 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢

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"Mila, what's wrong?"

    She had calmed down enough to tear her gaze away from the shaking ground and look at me. When she spoke, her voice was quick and unsteady.

    "We don't have time to chat right now. Follow me!" I looked at her curiously but didn't question it. When she jumped down, I did too. We ran for an empty plain that was littered with twigs and thin tree branches, where the earthquake had already passed. The trees bore light green moss and were tilting towards one side; I took cover behind one to avoid being seen.

    "Ok, let's stop here." Mila was panting, throwing fretful little glances at the troublesome sight.

"When my brother was three years old, my mother gave birth to me. At first, we had always been given the same love, despite the environment that we lived in. When I was eleven and my brother fourteen, our father died. My mom tried to be strong for us, she really did. But she had been so deeply in love with my father that his death had taken a piece of her away too.

    "My brother had to start hunting. In the forest, he tells me about everyone else that he runs into occasionally, all fighting for the same thing: survival. Because of how he was the one who supported the family now, my mother cared more about him than me. She tried not to show it, she still did love me unconditionally, but all three of us knew that she favored my brother. I could tell from how she was so much more worried for him, how he got more food than me. I didn't mind though, the most I could ask for was a family, shelter, and enough food and water to keep me alive. Wouldn't want to go and live in the community home like Jade.

    "One day, when I was twelve, I could feel that something was not right. I was outside looking for a little extra food, just to help out a little. I could sense it. The District was silent and there was a low rumble. I ran home to warn my mother, who managed to look for safety in our little house. But my brother, he was still out hunting, there was no way to tell him to come home. How was I supposed to get him home?

    "My mother and I huddled next to each other, under our small wooden table. That's when it started..." Her voice trailed off.

    "What started?" I prompted gently.

    "The earthquake. It's rare, almost impossible, for it to happen where I live. But it did. It shook our house and some parts of the wall were knocked off. The one book we owned was knocked off the shelf. And yet, he wasn't home. Do you know what I thought that day while the world was moving so quickly and he still wasn't home with no one to warn him? I thought that he would never return, I thought that I had lost him forever. My strong, courageous, unflawed big brother. Gone...

    "Twenty minutes after it had ended, one of our neighbors ran in with a young girl, maybe 11 or 12 years old. She urgently asked my mom and I, who had crawled out from under the table, 'Do you know Miles?' I could swear I was filled with some combination of exultation and terrible fear at the sound of his name. 

    "My mom told her, yes, and she began to explain. 'My name is Katniss. Miles was hurt in the earthquake, I saw him in the woods. He hit his head on a tree and it started bleeding. I took him to my mom, she can help him.'

    "We followed Katniss to her home, where my brother was lying on the table, eyes shut and not moving. I began to shake and ask, 'What happened? What happened to my brother?' Slowly he began to stir at the sound of my voice and slowly whispered, 'Hi Mila.' I had smiled widely at his words- though short, they gave me so much relief. I stayed by his side for the next three days until he had healed enough to come home."