Hello guys This is my first fanfic and I really hope you'll enjoy it. I'd like to apologize for any mistakes in advance; I'm an au pair from Germany that live in the US, so English is still my second language ;)

I have a rough concept in my head for this story, but who knows what will happen, I might change it along the way. Have fun reading!

Sanora

Chapter One

The alarm that was never set

"Alright, that's it!" Mia sat straight up in her bed and groaned. How can those kids be so unbelievable loud? They are what? Seven years old? Or eight? Who knows…but they sounded like some college hooligans watching a soccer game! And that on a Sunday morning…

Wait a second…Sunday morning? Mia jumped out of bed. "Mum, what time is it?" She raced down the stairs and met her mother in the kitchen. She could barely hold her panic back. "It's 10 in the morning, honey. What's wrong?" asked her mother, still stirring the pancake dough. She looked at her daughter with a worried look.

"No, no, no, no….!" Mia started screaming. "This can't be happening to me! MUM!" She turned to face her mother. "My flight left like an hour ago! Without me!" She let herself fall onto the next chair and sighed frustrated. "How am I supposed to survive one year alone in a foreign country, if I can't even set my alarm clock to get up on time to actually catch the plane that's supposed to take me there?"

Her mother started laughing and Mia sent a glare her way. Her mother hid her face in her hands, but still couldn't stop laughing. "You see" she started, "I got an email last night, your flight time was changed to 3 o'clock this afternoon. I just didn't want to wake you up for that, since you were already fast asleep, so I turned off your alarm. But if I had known the whole thing would give you such a heart attack, I'd rather have woken you up." She started giggling again.

Mia's head landed on the table with a loud 'bang'. "Seriously, Mum… Maybe being one year alone will be better for my health…" And with that she started to leave the kitchen.

"Where do you think you are going? I'm almost done with the pancakes!" said her mother smiling.

"Shower…not really hungry right now…see you later…" mumbled Mia as she went for the stairs. "Oh and Mia? By the way, you really should remember setting your alarm. I didn't turn it off." And with a wink she put the pancakes on plates. "They'll be here on the counter if you change your mind." But Mia was already up the steps.

Mia's POV

This can't be happening to me. That's how my great year is starting? With a disaster? Oh what the heck. I'm not gonna let this little incident spoil all the fun.

And with that thought I stepped into the shower. Wow, a shower never felt that good. No, it wasn't for the warm water or anything like that. It felt so good, cause I knew it would be my last one in this particular shower for at least a whole year. If everything went after plan, I was to stay with a host family in Australia as an au pair. Taking care of their two kids, finding new friends and having the time of my life, at least that was what I hoped for.

I got out of the shower and dressed quickly. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't resist the thought of my mother's pancake waiting for me on the kitchen counter downstairs.

I savored every bite of them and when my mother told me that we had to leave for the airport in 30 minutes, I started feeling sad. I've been so excited for this trip since I got the 'yes' from my host family and it never occurred to me that my mother might not be as happy about the whole thing like me. We got into the car and when we left our driveway, I asked my mother "Mum, you did download Skype right? So we can talk? I'm taking my laptop with me, so you'll always hear the news first! "I'd turned in my seat to look my mother in the face, trying to see the reaction in her face. She just smiled. "Yes, I did sweetie. Don't you worry about me. I don't worry about you! Okay, a little bit…but I know that you always had a way to figure things out yourself! You're good on your own." She gave me a reassuring smile. "Sometimes even too good. Remember that day when I came to your school to pick you up and you weren't there? I totally panicked and called the police and everything, just to find out later that you decided you were old enough to walk home on your own!" She started laughing and so did I. Yes, she was right, I could take care of myself. Sometimes I did pretty stupid things, but I usually found a way out and learned my lesson.

I rolled down the window and my black hair flew in the nice breeze. My hair I got from my mother, soft black curls, that went down to the middle of my back. That's why I usually preferred to wear it in a ponytail. But my blue eyes I got from my Dad. He left us when I was 3. My mother never really spoke that much about him and we didn't really have any photos of him. But what was left of him, were books. Books in a foreign language that my mother has been teaching to me since I was 6. We sometimes even used it at home and it could be quiet confusing for my friends at some points.

Sometimes the thought of my father hurt, but most of the times I didn't even bother thinking about him. I knew that he came from somewhere far away and this 'somewhere far away' had to be more important than wife and kid. Since he went back there and left my mother and me behind. The strange thing though was, that my mother almost seemed to accept the fact, that we couldn't go with him back then. She never complained or anything like that. Could really give me a headache…

But enough of that.

That's the past and it's the future that I should be concentrating on.

In that exact moment I heard thunder and it started pouring. My mother cursed about the weather changing so abruptly and turned the wipers on. "Enjoy those raindrops, Mia, you won't have a lot of them in Australia!" Sure Mum, she could always joke. Even when we landed in a thunderstorm like that, where we could hardly see the road or anything else. Lightning cut through the grey sky and it got really dark. And I got nervous. "Mum…", I whispered. "Oh don't worry. Remember your physics class? The car is the safest place!", my mother tried to calm me down.

And that's when it happened. The tree on the side of the road got struck by lightning, right in the moment we passed it. I started screaming and so did my mother, sparks from the now burning tree taking away her sight of the road. There was smoke everywhere, my mother slammed on the brakes, the car sliding on the flooded street till it finally stood still. We both looked at each other, I saw pure horror in my mother's eyes and I started panicking. My mother was never scared! There had to be something wrong, seriously wrong. I tried to get out of the car, slamming into the door, till it finally opened. The moment my feet hit the asphalt they got soaked. By water that was freezing! It was June, this was supposed to be a summer storm, with warm rain. Me feet started to get numb from the cold pooling around them. I could hear my mother yelling for me. "Mia, get back in the car!", sheer fear in her voice. "But Mum, there's something wrong!"

That's when I heard a loud crack and everything went black.

Okay, I hope you enjoyed it! I'd be really happy, if I could get some reviews?

Everybody have a nice day! ;)