The Flower Children

Chapter Two

After Micah's confession about the impending doom of the Flower Children and possibly mankind, he refused to speak of the matter any further and said he was going to bed, therefore Maia had made her way back to her own bed but no matter how hard she tried, she just simply couldn't get back to sleep. "Micah?" She called out. Micah responded by moving around in his bed, rustling the sheets as he did so and further causing the bed springs to squeak in the process. Maia sighed and rolled onto her back, folding her arms onto her stomach and stared at the ceiling, until eventually at some ungodly hour in the morning, sleep finally came.

A few hours later, the Anderson siblings woke up in order to get ready for school. Maia was reaching into the kitchen cupboard for a box of Coco Pops when her mother entered, looking exhausted but classy as always. She was dressed in a white button up shirt and dark blue skinny jeans, with a pair of black heels. She ran a hand through her coiled russet tresses that fell just below her shoulders before her gaze fell on her daughter.

"Hello Maia," she greeted with a curt nod.

"Morning," Maia responded, returning the nod.

Mrs. Anderson turned on the kettle and headed towards the fridge and took out a carton of milk. Directly after, she opened the cabinet and took out a porcelain mug and some coffee.

Maia sat at the small table which was situated in the far corner of their relatively small kitchen while simultaneously eating her breakfast and watching her mother maneuver swiftly around the kitchen. Once Mrs. Anderson was done with preparing her coffee, she took a sip from it and closed her eyes, sighing with content. She leaned against the counter and eyed her daughter wearily.

"Have you woken up Micah yet?" she asked curiously.

Maia nodded.

"Is he not joining you for breakfast?" She added.

Maia sighed and shook her head.

"He said he would get something from school."

Mrs. Anderson clenched her jaw and nodded slowly.

"Did you not try and convince him to eat something at least, before you guys left for school?" She pressed, agitation creeping into her words.

Maia glared at her mother. Everyone in the household knew that Micah avoided eating the day after his nightmares. They were that bad.

"Mom, we all know that Micah hates eating when he has had his terrors"

Suddenly Mrs. Anderson slammed her mug down onto the counter, the brown liquid sloshing over the edge and staining the cuff of her shirt, but she didn't seem to notice at that point in time.

"Really? Well maybe you should try convincing him a little harder next time Maia," she snapped.

Maia flinched at her mother's harsh tone. It wasn't the first time her mother had been severe with her in regards to Micah's health. Quite frankly, their relationship had slowly deteriorated when Micah began having nightmares, partly because Micah would find solace in opening up to his older sister, rather than his parents.

Maia looked away, lips pursed into a line.

"Great, now I have coffee on my shirt," Mrs. Anderson mumbled. With that said, she set down the hallway, presumably to change her shirt.

Maia sighed and stood up and went to go place her dish in the sink. She turned the tap and quietly rinsed out some of the cereal that had gone soggy at the bottom of the bowl. While she wiped the bowl, her mother came back, now wearing a silky navy blue button up shirt and she had apparently sprayed herself with more of her sickeningly sweet perfume as Maia could smell her all the way from the sink. All the while, Mrs. Anderson stood in the doorway, phone in one hand and handbag hanging from the other.

Mrs. Anderson looked around, questioning gaze settling on her delicate features. "Where's Micah?"

"I-I'll go get him," Maia responded.

Her mother made a disapproving sound at the back of her throat.

"Seriously Maia? You couldn't think to do that 10 minutes ago? I'm going to be late!"

"I'm sorry!" Maia said incredulously, eyes opening wide in the process. "I was washing the bowl because I know how much you hate it when we leave dishes lying around in the sink!"

Her mother rolled her eyes. "It took you 10 minutes to wash a measly bowl and spoon? I think not. Go call your brother."

15 minutes later they were seated in their mother's red Honda Civic on their way to school.

The song Starving blared from the radio and Maia quietly tapped her fingers against her thigh and bobbed her head along to the catchy tune. Hailee Steinfield was however, abruptly cut short when her mother changed the station, muttering something about "stupid nonsensical pop songs" under her breath. Maia clenched her jaw but didn't say anything as she looked out the window and onto the changing scenery. Occasionally she glanced back to check on Micah who was seated in the backseat. He had his earphones plugged in and his gaze never wavered from the window. He looked exhausted, dark circles underlying his large brown eyes. His dark lashes occasionally fluttered but other than that, he barely blinked.

Maia sighed and turned around in her seat.

Soon enough, they arrived at Athalone Prepatory much to Maia's relief.

She disliked the days when her mother had to drive them to school in the mornings, partly because she and her mother didn't really have much in common, thus they didn't have much to discuss. Sometimes, it wasn't so bad as they could make small talk, although that small talk almost always ended in awkward silences. There would also be days whereby Mrs. Anderson would try make conversation with Micah and he would respond tersely with one worded answers or he just wouldn't say anything at all.

If their mother didn't take them to school, then their father would, well, when he could, and if he did, he would let Maia drive the car and let her choose the radio station and they would possibly engage in polite conversation, perhaps a joke or two would be added to the mix as well.

Anyway, Maia unbuckled her seatbelt and murmured a "Goodbye" to her mother, who wiggled her fingers in response and drove off, leaving Maia staring after her car. She turned back to see if her brother was waiting for her so they would walk through the school together and she would drop him off at his part of the school (As Micah was in the 7th grade whereas Maia was in the 12th grade and thus the school was separated in order to give both the primary and high school students their respective spaces) but to her surprise, Micah was already gone.

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This chapter kind of gives you an insight into Maia and Micah's semi-dysfunctional family after the incident👀

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