"What the hell, I thought we just gathered firewood the other day", one of the kids complained.
"Yeah but they threw a barbeque party yesterday didn't they?"
"Oh yeah, the smell was so good", another one drooled.
"Shut up you're making me hungry"
"Well, you know dinner is going to be late"
"That's true"
"Do we really have to pick firefood at this hour, it's getting pretty dark", they grumbled.
"I can barely see anything"
"Get a load of your crap everyone and just gather as much as you can so we can go back inside, it's freezing out here", Nicaise ordered.
"Fine", everyone followed and started looking for firewood.
One moment we were getting ready for bed in our quarters and the next we were getting yelled at and forced out here in the blistering cold to fetch some firewood. We do our tasks diligently everyday so there's no way we ran out of wood that fast. They had a pretty loud party last night and because of it I couldn't sleep from the noise and the delicious smell of barbecued meat and it's why all the fire wood we had in stock was wasted out. Ah. I just realized I hadn't eaten in four days. I rolled my eyes to the side as I scratched my head.
The last 3 days had been rough for me too, we got busier and the food portions were all cut to even lower than it was before so it's a fight to the death for food. Nicaise took all of mine so I hadn't been able to eat anything at all. I could have shared some of the horses left overs but they stopped giving them apples and only grass now. I tried eating grass but it only made me more hungry and it tasted foul, hard to digest as well.
"Hey snake-eyes!", my ears rang with her loud voice and made contact with her furious eyes. I further realized that I had only been standing there zoned out when I was supposed to pick firewood like everyone else but how can I when my stomach feels like it's eating me up every time I move.
"Didn't I say to pick firewood?", she instantly hissed as she got to me and pulled me by my collar but I only looked away.
"I'm doing it", I simply said so she let me go.
I can't deal with this hunger anymore, I feel like I'll faint at any second and die if I don't eat anything now. But alas, I have to do my job first before we could ever get dinner. Maybe then I'd manage to steal some food. Even the kitchen is no use because they've put a lock on there as well like my mother.
Just like the rest, I went around the place to fetch for some firewood. And to make even more use of my time, I went and checked the belongings I had hidden away luckily they were still intact and not wet. Satisfied, I went back to picking wood even when they were wet, so long as they were flammable I gathered them. I was getting a handful of wood but I was getting further away from them, they were all gathered to the opposite side of me. As I was picking up the proportionate firewood I found, something squirmed from under it.
*chirp,chirp!*
It was a small bird. Wriggling about and trying to fly even though one of it's wing had been badly crushed up to half of its chest. It must have been hit and covered by this log when it broke from the tree and since it's too heavy for its size it literally shred it's wing off trying to escape from under it. It's already dying so no matter how much it struggles it'll eventually die. Wounds don't heal fast when it's winter, it'll only be rotten up by bugs.
I continued to stare at the poor thing. It's hopeless chirping ringing in my ear, it's dark sparkling eyes staring into mine pleading to be saved as it tries its hardest to breath despite loosing so much blood already. I wonder what kind of bird it is? Come to think of it, are gods able to read our minds? I highly doubt it because if he could, he would have already known everything I had been plotting. This bird has pretty yellow soft feathers but too frail to grow, young and dying…abandoned to rot.
* * *
*whistle*
"Alright, round up everybody. What the hell took you so long to get some firewood!", the fat belly goat of a caretaker whined as the children all gathered to him.
"Get your assess back inside, ye guys were trying to escape again weren't you?", he mocked as he lit his pipe in between his lips.
"No sir!", the children yelled obediently.
"Huh! That'd better be right or else you won't get dinner tonight", he puffed a smoke.
"Let's see here", the man grumbled as he pointed his fingers to the children while mumbling numbers, counting them.
"What the, one of you is missin'!", he instantly yelled the moment he knew someone was missed.
"What?", the children looked at each other anxiously, afraid of being hit and asked who among them could it have been.
"The girl!", the caretaker, gotten to the realization.
"The smarty one!", he said as he puffed a rushed smoke from his pipe.
"God dammit find her now!", he yelled.
"Yes sir!", the children quickly scurried and spread out to the search. Calling out their fellow orphan trying to find her so they wouldn't all have to starve for the night…
"Girl!"
"Girll"…When they don't even know her name.
A little while passed and the chunky caretaker was getting anxious as well, repeatedly tapping his foot on the ground and getting the urge to smack the children out of his frustration, until he finally heard the good news.
"She's here!", his expression lighten but quickly turned angry, ready to punish the girl.
"AHHHH!", the loud screaming of the girl who announced her discovery loudly echoed throughout the forest as everyone rushed to her.
"What's wrong, Annie", they asked the poor girl who was on the ground panting with a look of shock on her face but she only started sobbing and hid to her friends for comfort as she pointed at something.
"Her!", she yelled. Now everyone turned to what she meant but it was just the missing girl who looks to be picking up firewood from the ground.
"Oh you scaredy woos! Scared the shit out of all of us!", the caretaker gestured to hit the crying girl and moved to be ranting at the other girl.
"And you! Didn't I told you not to wonder off too far into the forest when--- Gaahh!", the man squealed as he fell down on the ground from the fright the moment he had lifted his lamp to see her. The girl simply turned to them but when she did it gave everyone a fright.
What they saw sent shivers down their spine, it was merely the girl holding onto something in her hands, a dead bird. The lamp flickered as they all stared at her bloodied mouth seemingly chewing on something and when she went for another bite, everyone screamed and got away from her.