Lovefool (complete 1st part of Lovefool trilogy)

#18 WHATEVER GETS YOU THROUGH THE DAY

  The 1st January was kind of a strange day for Mia. She woke up and went to the kitchen. She lived in a small apartment with her grandma. There was a kitchen and three bedrooms, one for Mia, one for her grandma and one for guests, although they never had any guests. Everything in this apartment was simple and there were no personal things around, if you don't count Mia’s books in her room. In the kitchen, there was a letter on the table and Mia looked surprised at the piece of paper. She didn't talk much with her grandmother and didn't know what to expect.

  She opened the letter and read:

  “My dear grandchild, you didn't mention your school trip and I would be a bad grandmother, if I didn't allow you to go with your new class and get to know your class mates better. As a late Christmas gift I paid for your trip.”

  Mia intentionally didn't mention this silly trip; she just didn't want to spend any time with people she was going to leave soon, anyway. What she was wondering about right now was the reason why her grandmother was behaving like this. It wasn't normal. It was the first gift in Mia’s life and she didn't want to ruin anything, but she felt a need to explain the situation.

  She was moving from one place to another since she was three years old. First, she lived with her Aunt Renata, her father's sister. It didn't last long, two years only, and she had to be given into care of the only family member she was still having: an old lady which didn't like her. Mia knew that her grandmother was just feeling forced to take her and if it had been possible, the old woman would have given her back as soon as possible. On her 18th birthday, Mia wanted to leave the grandmother and live alone. It was already an almost hopeless life for her. If she lived alone, she would have more books and wouldn't be forced to spend so much time outside. It would be less complicated than it was right now.

  What was she supposed to do? Should she write: “Thank you very much, grandmother, for your generosity”? Should she thank her personally? Should she even accept such a gift? Overwhelmed with indecision she started thinking about the trip. Her class had decided to go to Karpacz, it was a small city in the Polish mountains, near Sniezka, the highest mountain, which was easily conquered in two or three hours of walking, not even climbing, but walking. The sight of the mountains alone made it worth going there.

  Mia loved mountains and she dreamed about them almost every night since she was a child. Then on the way there was Wroclaw, one of the other big cities in Poland and one person Mia really loved lived there. She already had an idea how to go with her class and to combine the it with a trip to Wroclaw.

  It was one of the brightest days in her last months.