"I'm home!" Mia called out as she slipped off her shoes. She was surprised that her mom didn't answer; didn't she say she was going to be here?
"Mom?" she said loudly, as she made her way to the kitchen. It was empty, so Mia turned around and headed to the living room.
As soon as she walked into the room, Mia knew that something was wrong. Her mom was sitting on the couch, but the TV was off, and she didn't have a book or her crocheting box out. Instead, she sat, staring vaguely at the wall, wringing her hands.
"Mom?" Mia asked quietly, sitting down on the plush chair next to the couch.
"Miaka," her mom said, looking up. She seemed somewhat surprised that her daughter was home already. "Do you remember Mrs. Sato?"
Of course Mia remembered Mrs. Sato; she only lived three doors down from them. She was an elderly lady who had moved to this city from Hokkaido with her husband almost fifteen years ago. They weren't from the same city as Mia and her family, but they'd lived only an hour or so away. And when Mia's mom realized that their neighbor was from the prefecture that she herself had grown up in, they'd become quite good friends.
"I know her." Mia said quietly, unsure of what was going on.
"Well," her mom said with a long, drawn out sigh. "I just got off the phone with her husband about an hour ago. It seems that early this morning she fell down the stairs at their house. She's in the hospital now."
Mia was shocked. Sure, Mrs. Sato was frail, but it still wasn't something Mia was prepared to hear. She tugged her chair's armrest cover, gathering her thoughts.
"Oh..." was all she could think to say. "I'm so sorry."
"Well," her mom said, "She is very old, and sometimes these things happen."
"Is she going to be ok?" Mia asked.
"They're not sure." her mom responded quietly.
Mia wanted to say something, but she didn't know what. Instead, she just sat there quietly with her mom, keeping her company. After a few minutes, her mom turned to her.
"How was school today?" she asked.
"It was pretty good." Mia told her. "We didn't really do much today."
Mia wished she had more to report, but the only thing she could really think about was how much of a disappointment history looked like it was going to be. And Mia really didn't feel like telling her mom that; the last thing she felt like talking about was the two weird girls in her class – especially if her mom was already unhappy before the conversation even started.
The conversation lulled for a minute before Mia's mom turned to her.
"Would you like a snack?" she asked. Of course, Mia wasn't hungry and really didn't feel like eating. But she decided not to tell her mom that.
"Ok." she said.
Her mom got out a sleeve of crackers and took a block of cheese from the refrigerator. She cut about half of it into slices and set it on a plate. Even though Mia wasn't hungry, the two sat down at the kitchen table together. Having an after school snack and talking with her mom was something Mia almost never did, and it was actually kind of nice. Even better, it seemed like the act of getting up and doing something followed by talking with her daughter was helping to keep her mom's mind occupied. They talked for almost two hours and by the end, Mia could tell her mom was starting to feel better. Mia didn't stop talking until her mom was finally laughing. But still, Mia wasn't able to shake the feeling that something very bad had happened to Mrs. Sato.
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That night, as Mia lay down, she couldn't help thinking about Mrs. Sato. Her mom had looked so worried when she'd told her about the fall that even Mia had to wonder if Mrs. Sato would be alright. No, she'll be fine, Mia told herself. After all, she was in the hospital, wasn't she? That's what hospitals were for; they would take care of her.
Mia laid down in her bed and closed her eyes, daydreaming. She was starting to actually drift off to sleep when something woke her: a soft, almost faraway noise. It died down after a minute, and Mia started to wonder if she'd just imagined the whole thing. She had almost convinced herself that she must have been dreaming when the noise started back up again. She realized that whatever it was, it was coming from outside, and she quickly got up to investigate.
Mia made her way across the room and over to the window. When she'd first moved into this house, the window had had a screen on it. But she hadn't even finished unpacking before she'd taken that screen off and hidden it in her closet behind some old coats. Now, she slid the window open and leaned out, looking up and down the street and trying to determine where that noise could be coming from.
Now that she was listening for it, the noise seemed to vanish, but Mia refused to close the window. She knew that it would start up again in a few minutes – she just had to be patient. And she was right. The wind picked up, whipping past her window and blowing her hair across her face. With the wind rushing by her the sound came back, louder than ever. It took a minute for Mia to realize that she was really hearing that noise again; it was so low, and sounded so much like the wind itself. But as it got louder, the sound sent shivers down her spine. It was a long, low wail – maybe a moan. It seemed to float along on the breeze, a ghostly cry. Mia quickly stuck her head back inside and slammed the window shut.
She sat there a minute, hands still pressing down on the window sill. What could that horrible noise be? she wondered. Mia tried to convince herself that it was just the wind. After all, she'd heard the wind do some pretty strange things before. Maybe it was blowing through a tunnel or something. But as soon as the thought came to her, she quickly let it go. She'd lived in this house for almost a year and a half now, and she knew there weren't any tunnels around. She'd never heard a noise like that and she knew that whatever it was, it was not usually in the area.
Mia hurried back to her bed, glad that no one was around. She didn't want to admit it, but she was scared. Even though she was still trying to convince herself that it was just the wind, deep down she knew better. The wind might howl at times, but it never wailed like that. She pulled the covers up to her chin, but she didn't close her eyes. Instead, she laid awake all night, listening to the wailing as it continued on relentlessly for hours, refusing to let up until just before daybreak
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