Our Summer Is Not Over - vanish into fiction

Mia curled up, leaning against the back of the couch. The light filling the room seemed, somehow, similar to the light that always seemed to shine from Dylan.

Even though she turned her gaze away in an attempt not to think, the light shining from every corner of the room left Mia with nowhere to look. In the end, she squeezed her eyes shut. Though the light pierced through her eyelids, it was better than before.

But that didn’t mean she had completely erased thoughts of Dylan. As she resigned herself with a faint, relaxed smile, the light near the couch suddenly flickered and then went out.

The brightness that had been piercing through her eyelids disappeared in an instant, and only the dim light remained to illuminate her. In the blink of an eye, her mind that had been filled with Dylan vanished, and only a fear of the dark was left.

* * *

Not long after arriving in Murad and regaining her senses, there was a summons from the King and Queen of Murad. It started from there.

That was when she began to feel that something bad was about to happen. Maybe it was because she sensed the tense atmosphere all around.

“Mommy?”

“Mia, you must stay right by Mommy’s side.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Her mother’s voice was stiff and tense. Mia wanted to check what was happening to make her sound so scared, but all she could do was bury her face in the crook of her mother’s neck.

A difficult and incomprehensible conversation followed.

“—Hand it over? What are you talking about!”

“They said if we give it to them, they’ll spare our lives. We were given a choice, but you act so foolishly.”

The voices grew louder, and frightened, Mia squeezed her eyes shut, hugging her mother’s neck tightly.

The conversation escalated to its peak. Someone clicked their tongue, and the hands holding Mia tightened.

The scent of her father drifted to her nose, immediately followed by a sharp, metallic smell.

“Mia, close your eyes.”

Before she could even lift her head in surprise, her mother’s trembling voice stopped her.

She didn’t know what happened immediately after. It was only when some time had passed and her mother’s grip slackened that Mia realized she was locked in a very small and dark room with her parents.

“Mommy, Daddy. I’m scared.”

Mia was the only one still whole in that place.

It had been a while since she could no longer hear her father’s voice. Ever since she’d smelled that sharp scent earlier, all she could hear was a faint groaning, and soon even that faded away.

She didn’t know exactly what had happened, but she instinctively realized.

That her father, who had always held her tight in his broad arms, had gone away forever. In that pitch-black space, she sobbed so hard it felt like she couldn’t breathe.

How long did she cry like that? At some point, a thin, fragile voice rang out, both determined and full of longing.

“Mi…a.”

“Mommy…”

“Don’t cry. Don’t cry.”

Her mother now smelled like her father.

“You can promise Mommy, right?”

“I don’t want to.”

“No, our Mia can do it. You mustn’t cry too much… You’re already so weak.”

For some reason, her mother’s voice sounded as though she, too, was being swallowed by tears.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Mia…”

With a voice that kept cutting out, her mother repeated, “It’s okay, I’m sorry, I love you.” And then, even that voice disappeared.

“Mommy…?”

“……”

The darkness swallowed not only the light but also all sound.

Mia didn’t know what to do, but using the faint sounds she could hear in the distance as a compass, she crawled forward. Then, she made a fist with her delicate hand and pounded on the door.

“Mommy, Daddy’s acting strange.”

“……”

“Please save us.”

A child who doesn’t know what went wrong can only plead.

“Save… please save us…”

With dry lips and a hoarse voice, not knowing how much time had passed, Mia repeated the same words over and over.

“Please… save us…”

As she struggled to speak, leaning against the door, the voices she had faintly heard before came back to her mind.

“She looks so much like her, doesn’t she?”

“She seems very useful. If you give her to us, we’ll spare your lives.”

“Ugh…”

After thinking about it for a while, Mia could only vaguely understand what that meant.

“Uu… hng…”

Strange sounds kept slipping from between her lips, but for some reason, no tears would come. It was because her mother’s last words had been “Don’t cry.”

The memory of that day was one of the things that had bound Mia from a seven-year-old girl to a twenty-four-year-old woman.

* * *

The news delivered to Dylan, who was heading to his office, was about the member of the Murad Royal Family who still hadn’t been apprehended.

Jose.

“Traces were found in Rhodia.”

At Aaron’s words, Dylan stroked his chin.

Rhodia was a place a bit removed from the capital, where the naval base and naval academy were located.

Dylan immediately understood why Aaron seemed so urgent.