The noise of the cars overrides the noise of the rain, or maybe the other way around. Mia can't tell, all she knows is that it's noisy. Hugging tightly her cart of pastries, she clops through the city sidewalk with her black newly found boots. It was great weather, the rain was perfect. No other weather like this could compare in the city of New York. 

The tourists would mumble “oh god oh no, we came on the wrong day, how awful, how rainy. How depressing and damp.”  But the citizens would be dancing and squealing, for they haven’t had rain in a long time. 

The years turned drier, the selling of crops became harder, and any remaining grass has turned yellow. Systems changed and the way of receiving food changed, families who were slightly wealthy would sign contracts with farmers up in the rainy lands and would receive their crops and meat from there, whenever they wanted. 

Even if the pastries in the cart turned soggy, Mia continued to run with hope. She ran to her apartment that was on the 11th floor. Unfortunately not high enough to be flooded, Mia thought if it flooded that would be fun.
“It’s not fun.” Her nana sternly says “It’s happened before to others, their furniture and food floats away along with their lives.”

Mia sets the pastries on to the table, they are too soggy to eat and will need to be baked in the oven again. She can put some egg on the ones without sugar and it would melt onto the bread. 

This was a brilliant idea.

Her mom would think so too, but she looks over into her room and her mom is on the phone. 

“Wasting money on those farmers I bet.” Her nana says, shaking her head in disapproval at the phone call. 

They both listen in, the speaker was loud enough to hear the other side. 

“Listen ma’am, sending things by delivery now is risky. No matter what you send, each box found is each house tracked down. We will come to you on our own to bring the crops.”

The line was replied with a tap tap tap of nervousness, the nervousness that seemed to have no reason to be there. 

“Alright then, do what you please. Don’t blame us if you are stolen during your travels.”

“Great, we will arrive in 2 days.”

Then it ended. 

All Mia understood was that there were people coming in 2 days and those people would be bringing food. 

“Don’t get excited” her nana huffed, “You probably won’t be allowed to see them anyway.”

Mia knows and she wasn’t excited. She was just hungry and the pastries were soggy.

In early warm morning, the rain came to a stop.  The asphalt was no longer in blurry glare and the fog was chased away by the intimidating heat of the sun. Insufferable heat reached inside. The walls and people were melting.

“Oh god, these scientists, when will they find us another planet… oh god.” moaned the voices from the television. 

Mia covered her ears, she didn’t like the moans and the groans and the complaints. Why couldn't they show something more appealing on the television, like laughter and whatever the opposite of distress was. 

Her dad turned it off and was grumbling about how

“We will never be saved”

“The next generation will die in the heat.”

It may be true but at least life’s more interesting thought Mia.

She layed on her side, hating the weekends. It filled her with boredom and a feeling of death. Her eyes glanced over to a window sill in the corner, the corner where it was always bright. Even during the dark skies, there was always a glow. It was the best place to count the dead bees. They pile up every so often… from the heat they shrivel up and stick to the glass. 

Her mom told her it’s a bad omen, we will become those bees that are dried and will stick to the edge of the earth.

Mia has heard many people say this, but in the corner of all the voices. She heard the mention of another side. There’s another side, where everyone gets  crops and everyone gets rain. No one complains about the television or the sun. It sounds great there, maybe she will go someday.

“Mia” her mom called “come, stop daydreaming by the window. You know I hate that window.”

She must have something interesting to say, so Mia quickly hopped down from the window sill and ran over.

“We are having guests over in a few minutes, so you can go outside and play. Please be careful of the sun.”

Mia pouted, she wanted to see the guests from the other side. What was the point of them coming over? If she couldn't even hear their stories or see their pictures of the famous rumoured fields. But disobeying her mother is worse, so she nodded and smiled and ran out of the house.

She warmly greeted the sun, skipping over to the sidewalks. In her peaceful daze, she heard the rapid footsteps of something. Then she turned her head back and her nana was chasing after her, holding a pair of sandals. 

“Mia” Her nana scolded, “Why on earth are you wearing your rubber boots?”

Mia Shrugged “They look cool”

“Yes, and they will look less cool when they are melted and burned to your feet.”

Her nana shoved the sandals into Mia’s face and watched as she changed them. As she touched her boots she felt the bite of the heat from them, and understood why she couldn't wear them. 

It adds to the list of why she wanted to see the other side, and wondered if the guests would arrive in big rubber boots. They will not know better and their feet will stick, they will have to wear those boots forever. But maybe that's not so bad, because they will look cool. 

She waved goodbye and started off back to her adventure, she decided to glance back at the house. A big black car pulled in, that must be the guests. They must have special plating on their car, or else it would have broken down from the heat. That plating is hard to get, she wanted to go inspect the car. But she would be scolded. So she admired it from a distance and turned away.

She could get some pastries now, and it would be better than any car plating. 

Nothing could beat down her motivation to explore, not even the sun. Mia learned to listen rather than to see, because interesting sounds are the ones that lead to the fun. 

On the far left of her, she heard the whirring of the air conditioners near the city buildings. Usually on the more cloudy days, there would be old ladies sitting on their lawn chairs outside of the apartments. Bickering about their grandchildren and dinners and how their life used to be different. 

They knew Mia well; she would stop by with a cheerful smile, asking if anything new had happened and listen to their stories. An old woman in her late 70s, Mrs. Peterson would complain to Mia about her cat who wandered everywhere.

“Oh my poor cat! My poor baby Whiskers!” she would throw her arms up and wail, “getting lost in every bush, ending up in every garbage. I lose sight of her once and she's gone! Mia dear, if you find that free-spirited cat, make it a mission for yourself to catch her.”

Mia has counted a total of 3 times that she has caught Whiskers and brought her back. Maybe it was Mrs. Peterson's poor eyesight and hearing, but Whiskers was always somewhere very close to the apartment. It could take less than a minute to find her. 

Mia skipped over to the ventilation to find that the streets were empty. Nobody was willing to come out today. It was understandable. Everyone was hiding away from the sun, but the longer they hide the worse it gets. They lose their few seconds to enjoy the outdoors while they can and soon it will be too late.

It’s better to stay in the shade, so your head doesn’t overcook. The poor bushes can't move, they can only rustle and shake. And from inside of their dry world, a small cat pops out. Gray and messy fur, which matched the color of its partially blind eyes. It stared rudely back at Mia, as if she interrupted its sleep. 

That’s what Mia thought it was doing, but it wasn’t sleeping. It was focusing its attention on an unfamiliar noise. And while accepting the fact that sitting and watching would not find the source of the noise, the cat jumped swiftly to its feet and ran towards it’s left.

Mia was in disbelief, she’s never seen this cat before. Something she’d never seen and it was running too… Without thinking she ran to follow it.

The cat came to an abrupt stop, there was nothing there that would be amusing for it. Just a little rest before it continues its journey. It stretched and yawned and slowly started making its way forward. 

Mia found herself to be facing a glass window of a shop, the sign read:

CLOSED SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS

She didn’t have any money anyway.

There were TV’s in the front window that were turned on, their quality was going in and out with interruptions of static noises. 

“Attention! Breaking news! It has been reported that unknown and dangerous individuals from the Middle Field have invaded this area. Please stay indoors and do not open the doors for anyone. We have captured sightings of them through cameras, this is what they look like.”

A chill went down her spine, the people from the Middle Field… She’s heard of them, they are from the hottest places of this time. No one saves them, they live as the lost souls.  That they raid nearby cities by stealing from homes and killing others.

Mia felt paralyzed, those are most likely just stories and rumours but for her it seemed too real. If she stayed out here she would die, but if she moved she would die. That was her thought process. The poor antics of a 9 year old child. 

The world around her started to become much more suffocating than it actually was. She sat down and cried, it built up her motivation to get up and go home. In fact, she wasn’t sure why she was crying. Nothing happened but something made her feel like there was a tragedy, it was all too much for her to bear.

She would rather not get burnt to a crisp, maybe not a crisp but more like a tomato, a crispy tomato. She didn’t like the idea of that, so she quickly shook off her tears and got to her feet. Good thing it was hot outside, nobody would want to come out of their houses already and there was no need for dangerous things. Now if the weather was slightly nicer, the TV man would have been completely ignored. 

There were noises on the other side of the road. They echoed from the tall buildings. 

It was them, probably. 

Mia took deep breaths, her skin turning pink, her hands were rough. She could stay here for a bit. Like a shriveled up flower, she wilted on to the ground. 

The sun stuck her on the sidewalk. Curled up, she became a part of it.