One Shots 'The nursery nurse'

Helmet

TW: Traffic accident

______________________________________

The sun shone through the dusty garage window, painting golden patterns on the floor as Mia and Charlotte rummaged through old boxes. It was a small, messy corner of the house, but it was the last step before Mia moved in with Charlotte for good.

Charlotte had been rummaging through an old box when her eyes suddenly fell on something unexpected. "What's this?" she asked as she bent down to reach for the object. She pulled out a red motorcycle helmet, the outer shell of which was deeply scratched and partially dented in several places, and the visor was cracked in one place.

Mia, who was packing a box, froze at the sight of the helmet and her expression immediately turned serious. "Oh..." she whispered as the memory hit her with full force.

Charlotte, still holding the helmet, could tell that something was going on with Mia. "What is that?"

"That... that was my old helmet," Mia said quietly, taking a step closer.

"Yours?" Charlotte looked at her in surprise. "I didn't even know you had a motorbike... What happened?"

Mia slowly lowered herself onto an old chair. Her eyes remained fixed on the helmet as the memory of a day she had long repressed came to life. "It was a long time ago. I was in my mid-twenties. Things with Reece and Autumn were in full swing and I needed some freedom. You know, the ability to just run away when things got too much for me."

Charlotte sat down next to Mia, the redhead took the helmet from her hand and placing it on her lap. "What happened?" Charlotte asked again carefully.

"It was a normal day... But Reece and I got into a huge fight."

~~~~~

The sky was dark, the clouds black and heavy. It started to rain slowly, and every now and then a bolt of lightning broke through the clouds and lit up the streets.

The cup shattered on the wall with a thud. Reece jumped. "What the hell, Mia!" he shouted.

The argument between them had been going on for minutes and was getting worse and worse. "Shut up already!" Mia replied angrily.

"It's not my fault that you can never behave!" Reece countered.

The redhead wanted to say something else, but she didn't have the energy. The last few days had been stressful. Roger was in her ears telling her that she couldn't control Reece, on top of that Autumn had gone abroad for an indefinite period of time to do a "leap year". And on top of everything, Mia's mother had also been unwell for some time. It was just too much for her and every little thing drove her crazy.

"Fuck you! I'm out of here!" Mia hissed and stormed out of the room. She quickly went to the cloakroom and grabbed her red motorcycle jacket and helmet. Reece was hot on her heels and when she tried to open the door he grabbed her arm. "Stay... don't do anything stupid..." he said calmly. Mia looked at him angrily and pulled away. The door slammed shut with a loud bang.

With a determined look on her face, she sat down on the bike, put it into first gear and slowly rolled away. Her heart pounded in her chest. It felt liberating, but with every mile she rode, the unease inside her grew. She was unsure, but pride and anger over her fight with Reece kept her going. She didn't think about the danger. She just wanted to get away. Away from him, away from the feeling that she couldn't make her own choices in this world.

The rain beat down on her, the light from the streetlamps reflecting on the wet road, but Mia was not deterred. She drove faster to get as far away from the city as possible.