#me? wants to go to texas instead- nfgSDJK

[meatriarchived]

born mila mesaroš in the dead of serbian winter, nancy was the youngest child of six - evening out the mesaroš children to three sons and three daughters. her parents, katarina & aleksandar, were kind folk; loving and doting on their children, warm and inviting to neighbors. truly a pair of ideal mother and father to most peoples' eyes.

her five older siblings? spitting carbon copies of their parents; kind, helpful to others, affectionate with one another. until the years passed one after the next, and and their baby sister started to unnerve each of them.

nancy - or mila still at this point - was an outlier, a very quiet infant, very quiet toddler. rarely did she cry, rarer did she seem to crack a smile. she was a stoic child, who stared and observed the others in her family ore than she ever truly interacted with them.

even when her older sisters tried to coax her into playing around with them, even when her brothers tried to step in protectively when other children would tease or bully her, she hardly ever reacted to their gestures. to what made them care for her, want to look out for her. they were concerned, and voiced those to their parents; it was mirrored in them, how their youngest just appeared so... dulled, so subdued, in comparison to the rest of them.

and aleksandar and katarina, they both desperately tried for her. truly, they did.

from having her seen by doctors to biting tongue and visiting local healers with... different practices, none seemed to offer any clear or even remotely helpful insight on her cold demeanor.

and so, their parents opted to instead try working with their youngest and her differing personality rather than attempt to change it to better suit themselves. they slowly began to ease up on their doting natures, giving the child space from them rather than following her about lost and confused. they allowed her space to go out alone rather than be crowded by her sisters or her brothers. allowed her some solitude. and after a time?

mila smiled at them at the dinner table. and they were overjoyed.