The Up Hill Battle

14. 12 PM NOV 29th- North Carolina

- Narrator -

Mia was sitting down at a table right in the center of the café. A café that has just opened for the day. She drove and arrived ten minutes before opening. Haley Scott was surprised to see her as she was under the assumption that she was here for family breakfast. Only Mia was not. She was in what she called a neutral zone. She wasn't here for war, she just needed somewhere she can speak to someone where she couldn't be killed.

So, there she was. The entire Scott family at one end of the restaurant, a few customers at other tables. Mia looked up when a chair pulled away and the dominant old beauty sat down across from Mia. She crossed her legs. Mia pushed forward a cup of tea.

"Pu'erh Tea," Mia said as the woman lifted it up and drank some. "No sugar, or anything, just as you like it."

"This is," the woman looked around, "Pedestrian. I see your father's wife is here."

"Technically that's my aunt. She's married to his brother," Mia explained. "That older blonde next to him is his wife. The one that drives the 1963 Mercury Comet. The one that he wrote his book on."

"I see, is this what you wanted me to see," the woman asked. Mia shook her head.

"I asked you here to apologize for my behavior Grandma," Mia stated. She could see Lucas had turned around. "I shouldn't have stood up and yelled at you. I shouldn't have acted that way. I should have controlled my outburst."

"I see," Freda Strauss, Mia's grandmother said. "I understand your frustration Evelyn I do. But you have to see everything through my eyes to understand. Your mother is so stubborn and you have gifts, gifts that your mother is letting you waste away here. "

"But she isn't grandma. I'm still playing Piano, I'm still writing, I'm still doing everything I did in New York, just in a different state," Mia said practically begging for her grandmother to understand. Freda Strauss put her finger up silencing Mia.

Peyton and Lucas were watching. The adults at the table were watching. They could see the struggle in Mia's eyes. How she was trying to get a woman to see and understand, but it was falling on deaf ears.

"Grandma," Mia said. Freda Strauss shook her head.

"I can forgive you for your behavior, but I cannot for your words," Freda stated.

"I wasn't going to ask you to forgive me for what I said," Mia stated. Her grandmother looked at her, she held a little smirk.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't regret saying any of it. I perhaps shouldn't have yelled so the entire world can hear, but I don't regret a single word that came out of my mouth...I do regret coming here, I can see this was a waste of my time." Mia stood up and went to the cash register and paid for the bill. She went back and grabbed her purse.

"You are one of the biggest mistakes my daughter has ever made, Evelyn," Mia looked at her and Lucas stood up.

"Excuse me," Lucas and Haley said.

"And you're the worst grandmother on this planet," Mia stated.

"You're a firecracker Evelyn and you'll explode one day," Freda Strauss stated.

"I think that's enough," Lucas stated coming over.

"I already exploded," Mia stated and looked at her grandmother in the eyes. Her hands on the chair. "Yesterday, when you called my mother a disappointment and my sisters bastards," Mia seethed, "I'm trying to get you to care damn it!"

"Mia," Lucas said.

"No. You don't care. You never have. And you never will. You don't care about what happens to any of us. You didn't care if my mom cried herself to sleep from the abuse she endured. I almost died and you never visited once," Mia stated and pulled out a folder. "You weren't even there for mom when she needed you most."