Mia the Martian

[8]

"Mia! Mia, open your eyes, damnit!"

I know that voice. Why does he sound so worried? I can't have overslept so much. Is it something important today?

"Mia, this is a horrible prank for April Fools. I'll forgive you if you just open your eyes. Please, Mia."

April Fools? Ouch, why does my entire body hurt? Why does it feel like I'm not doing something I should? Why does he sound like he's been crying?

"Mia, please." He's whispering now. "Please, please, just . . . breathe, Mia . . . please."

What? What happened to me? I force myself to start breathing as I begin to realise that I'm not.

"Please, Mia. You can't die on me, you're the hero here. I promise to never call you a Martian ever again. Please wake up."

Hell no, I refuse to die today. Breathe, damnit!

I hear his relieved laugh and I feel his lips on my forehead. "Oh, thank God, Mia." He kisses my forehead again.

What happened to me? Soothed by the sound of his breathing as he holds me as tight as he possibly can, I allow myself to drift off.

---------------

I am twenty years old and returning home after failing the licence test yet again because I can't keep my perverted thoughts to myself and I either scared off or disgusted my examiner.

My mother sighs as I drop the house keys on the kitchen counter.

"Again, Mia? When are you going to learn to hold your tongue?"

I laugh. "I'll get my hands on a ship one day, mom, don't you worry."

"Oh, I have every reason to be worried, Mia. You're a terrible person, just like your father was."

I smile at her. I know it hurts everytime she thinks of him. She'd put her own surname on my documents for fear of the authorities taking me away from her too. When I was three, they got my father and my sister, Melissa. My mother then bore the shame of claiming me as a child born of another father to keep me away from the fate of the other half of our family.

I laugh. "I'll bet Melissa would've been a goody-two-shoes like you."

My mother smiles at me, shaking her head. "I still can't believe you changed your documents."

"Well, despite what the gossip next door thinks, I know you're one hundred percent faithful to dad - dead or alive - so another Melissa isn't coming along anytime soon. I had to put her name somewhere."

My mother rolls her eyes. "You could've saved it for your daughter instead of creating a middle name for yourself."

I laugh. "Mom, the whole city thinks I'm a hybrid - they're not wrong, but they are - and who wants to bang a hybrid?"

My mother sighs. "One day, your mouth will get you what's coming to you."

I wiggle my eyebrows at her. "A hot man with money and a brain like mine?"

My mother laughs. "Please, darling, you'll end up sleeping with a human from Earth Prime before your Prince Charming shows up."

"No prizes for guessing who's brain I inherited," I mutter. "Okay, but what if said human from Earth Prime is my Prince Charming?"