Bits and Pieces

Day 16 - Moving

Write a scene based off something that occurred in your life.

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A/N

All English in bold are German.
Sorry, I don't know the language AT ALL, so please forgive me if I misuse certain words. ^^;

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Mili took a last, longing look at the busy streets of San Francisco before walking into the airport, dragging her carrier behind her with one hand and clutching her passport with the other.

It seemed like just yesterday that she moved here from Germany —but it was actually five years ago— and already missed her cozy apartment at Taraval street situated in front of Ocean Beach.

Now, she was going back to the ruddy, dilapidated house she had grown up in to take care of her ill younger sister, Evony, and her small children whom she had never met in person.

She sighed as she boarded the plane. Knowing that there was no one else to take care of them after the train accident that took the lives of their parents and her sister's husband, Mili had half-willingly agreed to her sister's request in one of her few letters to come back to Germany.

How could she refuse when Evony was sick with Tuberculosis, and there were five young children still in need of motherly care?

No matter how much you want to go back to California, you can't, Mili. There are new responsibilities waiting for you, and whether you like it or not, you're going to fulfill them. Mili repeated this in her head until she fell asleep, drained from continually forcing selfish thoughts away.

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It had been two months since she arrived in Würzburg, and Mili was sure she was going to fall apart any second.

Waking up at five every morning to get ready to send the older children to school made sure that she didn't get more than four hours of sleep everyday. Every night, she had to stay up outside the room of a wide-awake Evony on her medications until she dozed off.

Her sister never liked to be alone for long, and Mili had no intentions on leaving her to suffer for herself. Although there was nothing much she could do, her poor baby sister seemed grateful just for the fact she had given up her dreams in California to come take care of them.

By the time she heard Evony's breathing even out, it varied from one to two am, and Mili was fast asleep before her head even hit the pillow. However, the loud clattering of a rusty alarm clock always disturbed her sweet moments of slumber too early, and never being a morning person, she was always cranky when preparing breakfast and lunch for the children to take.

Today was no exception as she cut up loaves of bread and spread margarine on them, while the sleepy kids kept dropping their heads on the table. She placed the Roggenmischbrot* in front of them with a grunt, indicating they wake up already and eat before she got crankier.

During the two months, Mili could tell Evony's children were kind at heart, like their mother —though they were like most kids, playful and naughty at times. She immediately took them all under her wing when she saw how hungry they were for love and attention.

At first, it was hard for the eldest two, Alhwin and Karlin, to warm up to her. Though they were still the tender age of 14 and 13, poverty and hardships in their childhood had bereft them of their youthful vigor and replaced it with hastened maturity.

However, over time, it felt like they were slowly opening their hearts bit by bit, and Mili made sure to handle gently the fragile trust they had in her as it increased by the day.