Prompt: "When She Loved Me" by Sarah McLachlan
Character(s): Mia and Maya Fey
Originally Written: 8.5.2009

"When somebody loved me, everything was beautiful
Every hour spent together lives within my heart
When she loved me."

The bus ride is more painful than she anticipated.

She thought that she would be happy to have this opportunity, but all it's leading to at the moment is a dull despondence – it's more prominent than any other feeling she has, anyway.

She closes her eyes, hoping for sleep to come and relieve her of the guilt, but nothing – not even slight drowsiness – comes over her. Maya's face, betrayed and wounded, is etched into her mind and it simply won't leave.

She's almost afraid that she's going to forget that face.

Regret has always been a close friend of hers, but never has it been so prominent and nagging as it is now. She had adopted the responsibility of raising Maya when their mother left, but did she really raise her the right way? Did she neglect her need for affection?

Mia is the kind of person who draws confidence from herself.

Maya is not.

She tried to give Maya the warmth of a mother, but in the end she couldn't even give her the love of a sister.