Number 3 for the 10 Characters 10 Prompts Challenge
Character: Miele Prompt: Tooth
"Fairies are real, aren't they?" Miele sobbed to her older sister.
Flora looked down at the four-year-old, scooping her into her arms. "Of course they are Sweetie. You just need to believe in them."
"But mummy said that I was being silly." Miele looked up into Flora's kind face, her huge forest green eyes glistening with tears.
Flora sighed, holding Miele against her. "Mum's not been herself lately. She doesn't mean that."
"Is it from that thing she keeps drinking?"
Flora sat in silence a moment, not meeting the young girl's eye. "Partly, yes, but don't you worry too much about it Flower. Now, how about you put that tooth under your pillow, and we'll see what the Tooth Fairy has brought you in the morning?"
"Is she really real?" Miele sniffed.
Flora smiled. "I know she is. You might not be able to see her, or any of her fairy friends, but know that they are always there, watching over you and protecting you. Making sure you're happy. So, what are we going to do about that tooth?"
Like most children, Miele's face lit up immediately, the tears disappearing. She stuffed her missing tooth under her pillow and snuggled down, allowing Flora to pull the sheets over her.
"Goodnight Miele." Flora said softly, kissing her forehead.
"Night Flora." She replied, closing her eyes.
Flora left the room, leaving the door open a crack to let the light in. Once outside went quiet, Miele opened an eye, leaping out of bed when she was sure the coast was clear. She scurried over to the window, opening the curtains, the moonlight splashing into her room. Looking up into the clear night sky glistening with stars, she rested her chin on the sill.
"I do believe in fairies." She whispered to herself.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
SEVEN YEARS LATER
Miele walked sullenly out of the building and down the street with her new foster carer. Her and Flora had been moved around a lot recently, ever since their mother had announced she could no longer cope. Miele was finally old enough to understand what her pathetic excuse of a father had caused when he walked out and picked all of their lives to pieces.
After their previous foster mother had been diagnosed with cancer too late to help, and their foster father was struggling to find work, they decided they couldn't take care of the two sisters. Their social worker couldn't find anyone to take them both in, so now, Miele had to leave the only family she had left behind. And it killed her.
The woman she was now with smiled kindly at her, but she seemed to have forgotten how. As they approached the car, the woman opened the door for her. She paused, looking back at where Flora still stood on the steps of their old home.
"Can I just say goodbye?" Miele turned to her carer, her voice choked by the painful lump in her throat.
"Of course you can dear." She nodded her head in understanding.
Miele turned and ran towards her sister, the tears blurring her vision. She rushed up the steps and flung her arms around Flora's waist, burying her face against her.
"I don't want to go." She whimpered. "Not without you. I won't!"
Flora sniffed gently, stroking Miele's shoulder length red hair. Her voice was hoarse with the tears she desperately held on to. "I know, Miele. But getting upset is only making this harder."
"I don't know what I'm going to do without you." She held her sister tighter. "I've never been without you before, I don't know if I can do it!"
"Of course you can." Flora whispered, lifting Miele's face to look her in the eye. "I know you can."
Miele let out another sob. "I'm really going to miss you, Flora. I love you!"
"Shhh, it's alright." Flora soothed, the tears that glistened in her eyes finally spilling over the edge. "I love you too, Flower."
She bent down and kissed Miele on the top of her head, using her gentle hands to wipe the tears from her cheeks.
"Miele?" Her new foster carer said awkwardly from the foot of the stairs. "It's time to go now, dear."
Flora held her hands, giving them a reassuring squeeze and whispered, "Be brave."
Miele could only manage a nod, as the lump in her throat had gotten so big, it made it impossible to even try to speak.
Reluctantly, she trailed down the stairs and back down the road towards the silver car that was parked at the side of the pavement, looking over her shoulder at Flora, who remained where she was. She couldn't bear the thought of leaving her. They had always been together. Never had they had to be split up before.
Upon reaching the car, her new foster carer opened the door. Miele went to sit down in the back seat, pausing for a moment to look again at her big sister. Flora raised an arm in goodbye, Miele just about managing a small wave back, before the tears almost consumed her. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she sank into the seat and pulled her seatbelt across her, the door being closed behind her. The car engine started, and slowly, the car moved onto the road and set off. Miele twisted in her seat and stared through watery eyes out of the rear window, watching Flora become further and further away, until the car rounded a corner and she could see her no more.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
The screams grew louder each second. Louder, higher in pitch, more distressed...more annoying.
Miele hugged her knees to her chest, resting her chin on them and staring mindlessly out of the window into the night. Her new foster home was proving to be more difficult than she'd imagined. Her new 'parents' had four other children, only one of which was actually theirs. He had turned nineteen just last week, and only came home at the weekends. The other three were all foster kids. Two boys, one seven and the other ten, and then a girl. She was the youngest, and being only four, the most annoying in Miele's eyes, especially when she cried like she was crying now.
None of them, not even the oldest, were the same as Flora. Miele's heart was weighed down every day by the pain of missing her. She thought about her face every minute, her kind eyes, her warm smile, the way she could make anything better just by sitting next to you. She lay awake at night, the silent tears sliding down her cheeks reminding her of her heartache. When sleep finally did come, it was twisted with painful nightmares, forcing her to relive the moment her mother gave them up, when her foster mother passed away, when she had to say goodbye to her sister. When she had to watch as Flora became smaller and smaller in the distance, until she completely vanished altogether...
"Miele?" Her new foster mother, Yvonne, knocked at the door, poking her head round. "Can I have a word?"
Miele glanced sideways at her, then turned her head away.
Sighing deeply, Yvonne entered the room, closing the door, coming to sit at the foot of her bed. "Must you upset Molly like that? She's only young, and you know how sensitive she can get-"
"I didn't mean to." Miele's voice was harsh. "I was just telling the truth."
Her foster mother placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged her off. Folding her hands in her lap, she said, "Look, Miele, I understand that this has been hard for you, that you're missing Flora, but could you at least make an effort?"
No reply.
Yvonne sighed again, getting to her feet and heading to the doorway. "Just try to remember when you were that age. What would you have done if someone told you the tooth fairy wasn't real?"
Again, Miele ignored her, listening for the click of the door as she closed it and left.
She turned her head to the window, staring up into the pitch black sky, where not a single star was in sight.
"Fairies." She scoffed, trying to ignore the tears that were steadily rising in her eyes. "You said they'd always be protecting me. But they're not." She wiped her eyes angrily, trying to push any thoughts of Flora from her mind. "How could they? It was just another ridiculous delusion. They don't even exist. They never have."