Why me?

7

"... the president noted that the problem will be fixed shortly, but that it wasn't his to say anything else", the TV rambled on as Alice walked into the room with dark circles under her eyes that were even more noticeable due to the extreme paleness of her skin. She looked sick and that didn't miss Berta's eye. "You had quite of an adventure last night, huh, little one?", she asked without turning around. Alice yawned, lowered herself onto the chair in front of the table and lowered her head, as if she were embarrassed to talk about it, though that wasn't the case. She was extremely scared to even look into Berta's eye, let alone talk to her. "... the team's third medal in the past year but the first golden one. Stick around for more information right after the commercials"

"Do you like your eggs scrambled or...?", Berta asked, still not turning to face Alice.

"I-... Whatever's easier to make", Alice said after a short moment of silence.

"Scrambled it is", Berta said in a jolly voice, while Alice's shook with fear. She was looking at the TV screen, yet she wasn't processing anything, her eyes were just lingering from one corner of the screen to another. "Now you haven't a reason not to be scared, I get that pretty well from just looking at your face. You're kind of ugly, don't you know that?" Alice nodded, but she didn't even pay attention to what the old woman was talking about. Her eyes were now concentrated on the huge scar on Berta's left cheek from which blood was still dripping. When Berta put the plate with eggs in front of her, Alice could see little red spots all over them and she started to feel sick. "I-... I'm not really hungry", she managed to say through gritted teeth because she felt as if she would throw up the second she'd relax jaw.  "Nonsense, you have to eat breakfast. After all, it is so disgusting to be as skinny as you are. I want to make you chubbier, you know? You need energy for working"

"Working?"

"Well, of course! Did you really think you were going to live here for free?" Alice curled her eyebrows. "What kind of work do you mean, exactly?"

"House cleaning, gardening. You're starting today. The first thing I want you to clean is the attic. I'm an old hag as you can probably see, I can't really climb up the ladder anymore. But don' worry, you'll get enough food. And if you need some love, as I was told that children need love to grow, you can give me a hug. Aren't I such a good guardian? Next to me you will not just stop suffering because of the death of your parents, you'll also forget about them too".

"I will never", Alice said. Her eyes narrowed and she finally dared to look directly at Berta's eyes. "Eat those eggs already", Berta told her. "What is that?", Alice said pointing at her scar. It was rather obvious that it was fresh. "Well that ain't  such a good habit of yours, meddling in someone else's business. Eat!"

"There is blood on my eggs", Alice managed to say. "Well then eat around it", was the last thing Berta said before walking out of the room. Now, the blood on the eggs started to mix with tears. Alice's tears.