You Are What You Eat

6.

***Unknown POV***

(Flashback)

It was a slow and boring day. I played with my dolls on the windowsill. It was raining, and the water droplets trickled down the glass on the opposite side. For just a moment, it was quiet. It's never this quiet. I knew it wouldn't last forever, because then I heard my foster siblings get into a fight. 

The commotion seemed to be over a toy. Little blonde Colleen and Gwen were hitting each other because Colleen wanted Gwen's toy. And of course, no grown-up was stopping this fight. Our foster mother was at work all day, and our foster father was drunk and dizzy on the recliner. Sometimes I thought he was dead, but occasionally he would yell in his sleep for us to "shut the hell up," then doze off into sleep. 

I was hungry; I got used to hearing my stomach grumble for food. I left my dolls on the window sill and padded over to the kitchen. I grabbed a chair, scooted it to the counter, and tried to look through the cabinets for something. Just dust and dead bugs, and an expired box of cereal. 

I hopped off the chair and sighed. I looked at my foster siblings. There were four of them. They were busy fighting, or playing, or watching TV. I sneaked off into the adults' bedroom, and walked over to our foster father's black jacket on the bed. I dug through the pockets until I found his cracked-leather wallet. I took a $20 bill and shoved it in my jeans' pocket. I was going to get us something to eat. 

I put my coat on, and looked over at everyone before leaving. Our father was moving in his sleep, and I froze in my tracks. His eyes snapped open and my knees were weak; expecting him to come over here and hit me for stealing his money. But that didn't happen. He reached over for his bottle, chugged some, then dropped the empty bottle to the floor and sunk back into the chair, snoring away. 

Colleen and Gwen were still fighting, then they disappeared into one of the other rooms. The other girls were watching cartoons, or making a mess of the place. Sometimes I think, are we too much to handle? Maybe if we were better kids, he wouldn't be drinking and sleeping all day. 

I quietly left the house, walking in the cold rain until I reached a convenience store. They had a bunch of hot food, so I used all the money to buy chicken nuggets, and tacos, and pizza, whatever they had. I was starving and it all sounded good. And my sisters will be happy to eat something other than expired food.

I came back, and he was still snoring on the couch. I gave some food to Nadine and Helen, and they ate while watching cartoons. I was happy to see them happy; their stomachs were always growling loudly. It made me happy to feed them. 

"Where are Gwen and Colleen?" I asked.

They just shrugged their shoulders as they ate away and watched TV. I ate with them and left the rest of the food on the counter. Cockroaches were crawling on the counter, so then I  just covered the food up in paper towels and a bag, then set it in the fridge instead. 

I went to find the other girls to let them know I got food. I knew they were hungry too. We only get to eat dinner when Mom comes home, and she usually brings us Burger King or something because she's too tired to cook. I was grateful for her. She was much nicer to us and she actually fed us. 

"Colleen? Gwen?" I called, not too loud so I didn't wake up the drunk man. I didn't hear anything. I walked down the hallway, when suddenly, Colleen popped out from her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She looked horrified, like she saw a ghost or a monster. 

"What?" I asked. "I got us some food-" I said before she cut me off.

"Something.. happened.. come here." She grabbed my hand, hers was covered in sweat. She dragged me into the bathroom and it was just the two of us.