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[seekingmiracles]

I don't even realize what day it is until nearly the whole day is done. Near the end of my life, I barely talked to my parents. I didn't talked to anyone, actually, but that isn't the point. It's strange, now. After so long away from then, all I find myself wishing right now is I could make up for so many of the things I missed. I clouded myself

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[sink_nor_swim]

Mikal happened upon Zia purely by chance, out for a walk along the shore, feet bare and jeans rolled up around her shins. Eugene, she'd left back at the hut, figuring she wasn't going too far anyway, and it was nice to have a little quiet for a while. Coming across Zia purely by chance, she was glad she had; it allowed her, without distraction, to cross straight to where he sat, instinctively slinging one arm around his shoulders, leaning in to quickly kiss his cheek.

"Hey," she said warmly, a crooked smile on her face as she looked over at him. If anything was amiss, she hadn't yet noticed it. "I'm glad you're back, you were gone a while."

[seekingmiracles]

I have to admit, I'm glad Mikal's shown up. She surprises me at first, I have to admit, but that in itself isn't anything new. Turning my head to smile at her once she's against me, I feel a little more at ease.

"I was going to head over to the hut soon," I say. I don't actually know how long it's been since I left earlier in the day. "Taking a walk?"

[sink_nor_swim]

"Yup," she confirmed, nodding before resting her chin on his shoulder, expression more fond than anything else. "Taking a walk, waiting for you. Eugene was pretty tired, but it's so nice out." The weather was one of many things she didn't intend to ever take for granted around here. After having been someplace infinitely worse, she knew better than that.

[seekingmiracles]

"Dog's getting lazy," I tease, shaking my head. Eugene's gotten pretty used to living with us now. It's a good thing, I think. She's even grown on me, too. Glancing over toward the water again, he let out a slow sigh. "The sunset's nice today."

[sink_nor_swim]

"Yeah," Mikal murmured, both expression and voice softening with the shift in subjects. It was always nice, just one more thing she had to be grateful for. Pausing just a moment, she let out a quiet laugh. "You're right, too, she is. I guess all the running around she's done is starting to take its toll on her. Or maybe it's just a phase."

[seekingmiracles]

"Do dogs go through phases?" I wonder outloud. I guess anything is possible. After a moment, I just shrug. "Maybe she's taking after who you named her after."

[sink_nor_swim]

"Either works," Mikal said, shrugging in response to his. She didn't really know that much about dogs, after all; she was lucky Eugene seemed to be so good-tempered, making her easy to take care of when Mikal barely had the first idea about it. "I'm not surprised, anyway. She's been running around like crazy practically since we got her."

[seekingmiracles]

"Well, she is a puppy," I remind her. Dogs usually run around a lot when they're younger. "The dog I grew up with...I remember he was off the wall until he was three or four."

Mentioning the dog is probably stupid of me, since I pretty much went right back to thinking about my family again. I hadn't even seen that dog in years. For all I know, he's not even living anymore.

[sink_nor_swim]

Frowning a little, Mikal leaned forward, tucking some hair behind his ear so she could better meet his gaze. "Hey," she said gently, trying not to seem too overly concerned. It wasn't like the shift had been an incredibly drastic one, but there was no harm in being sure. "You okay? You seem a little... I don't know, out of it, I guess."

[seekingmiracles]

I'm not surprised she notices. A part of me is glad she did, because I am not sure I could've brought it up without her prompting me. It's an awkward subject.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I reply, even glancing over at her to smile at her in a reassuring way. "I was just thinking a little about my family before. It's Father's Day today, you know."

[sink_nor_swim]

"Oh." It hadn't even dawned on Mikal before, but it didn't take much for her to realize why that might make him a little upset. It was times like these she couldn't help but be reminded that he'd wound up where they'd been because of something he'd done to himself, and self-assured though she might've ordinarily been, she couldn't help but be worried. If he'd done it before -

Taking a deep breath, she shook her head, shifting a little so she was kneeling at his side instead of just next to him. She stayed quiet for a moment before she spoke, though, biting down on her lower lip. "You miss them?"

[seekingmiracles]

"We didn't really talk for a while before I offed," I say, with an awkward shrug. I don't even think it's me missing them as me leaving so much left unsaid. I don't really think we ever would've gotten along as well as we used to. "I guess I just wish I did a little more now."

[sink_nor_swim]

"Gotta be one of the hard things about being stuck here," Mikal mused. The same thing would've went for where they were before, after all, but there, it was easier to dwell on what they didn't have; here, the fact that she was alive made anything strange seem inconsequential. Now, though, that perspective was skewed a little. "What... what would you want to say?"

[seekingmiracles]

"I don't really know," I say with a sigh. That's sort of the problem. Even if I could talk to them again, I don't really know what I could say. "I guess I'd just see how they were doing. I don't really even know that."

[sink_nor_swim]

"How long since you last talked to them?" she asked, unable to really help herself. Talking about his life before he offed wasn't something she usually made a habit of, if subconsciously so, but it was hard not to be curious now. "Before - before you died, I mean."

[seekingmiracles]

I pause, thinking about the question. Once Desiree left me, I pretty much cut myself off from everyone. Even before then, though, I was never especially close to them.

"A couple of months, I think," I say, shrugging a shoulder. "I mean, a lot of it was because I was going downhill and wasn't talking to anyone, but - you know. Things were never that great between us, especially after they split up."