Sunlight slanted in through the window. It swathed a little girl, who was on her knees and bending over a piece of chart paper. She twirled her long curl in her hand as she stared at her drawing. Then she pushed the end of the curl into her mouth and turned around to pick up her box of crayons.
Green. No. Blue. No. Green. Okay green.
Outside, a glass shattered. The voices stopped. The little girl looked at the closed door. A male voice mumbled something and a door in the other end of the house was slammed shut. The little girl picked up the green crayon and put it back in her box. She stood up and walked to her doll that was sitting in the corner of the room. She cradled it in her hands. "Haven't you gone to sleep yet?" she cooed to the one-eyed doll. "Come. I'll give you some food."
She reached for an imaginary cookie jar on the top of an imaginary shelf. The shelf was so high she had to stand on her toes to reach it. She held her doll carefully, not wanting to drop it while she opened the jar and took out two imaginary cookies.
"Here. Eat," said she gently, moving its blond hair away from its face. She put one imaginary cookie in the doll's hand and the other in its mouth.
The door on the other end of the house was being banged at. Finally, there was a click. Someone had come out.
(To be continued)
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