Caged

[Nine]

My mother was already gone when I had woken up this morning. She had either left incredibly early for her, or had stayed out for the whole night, which was the most likely of the two. I wasn't complaining though. It was my day off and I didn't have to deal with her first thing in the morning.

That fact made me smile as soon as I realised she wasn't home. I could actually take my time with everything today and could actually enjoy a proper breakfast instead of rushing to get away from her, or avoid her yelling. 

I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom to relieve myself. Although the morning was already quite hot, the cracked, broken and uneven tiles in the bathroom sent a shock through me as I stepped onto their coldness. 

I looked at myself in the mirror as I washed my hands and noticed a few more freckles had made an appearance on my shoulders and across my nose. I guess that's what I get for spending almost every day this past week at the beach. 

The bags underneath my eyes were becoming increasingly obvious, standing out against my almost pale white skin. I was thankful that the mirror was only big enough to show the reflection of my shoulders and up. I wasn't confident enough with my body to look into a full length mirror. 

I don't know why I wasn't stick thin like a lot of other girls that I see. I mean, half the time I can't afford to eat for days. Yet I'm the one that can't fit into anything smaller than a twelve. My stomach was flat, but it wasn't thin. 

I allowed those thoughts to drift out of my mind as I walked into the kitchen and grabbed the last few pieces of bacon that were left out of the fridge, and put them into a hot pan. I stood at arms length from the stove as the bacon sizzled and popped, spitting fat at me every now and then. We were out of eggs, so it was just bacon and toast for me this morning. I've had worse, so my stomach still growled in appreciation and anticipation. 

The bacon burnt my fingers as I sat down and started to pull it apart, and shoved the pieces unceremoniously into my mouth. I didn't know how long it would be until I would eat bacon again, so I was definitely enjoying it. So was my empty stomach. 

I spotted my notebook and pen that were sitting at the far end of the dining table and pulled them towards me. As I started to write out the list of things I needed to do today, I realised that I didn't have any assignments for Uni due next week. Great! I wouldn't have to spend all day cramming and rushing to get anything finished.

Looks like it was going to be a relaxing day for me today. Well, three quarters of the day would be. The first quarter would consist of me cleaning the house and making sure I scrape together whatever food we had left to make my mother's dinner. I didn't know what I was going to do today just yet, but I wasn't going to risk getting home late and her completely bitching me out for not having her dinner ready.

My list was written out and I sat at the table just eating my breakfast, glad that I could actually sit down and enjoy it, instead of rushing and barely tasting it in an attempt to get away from my mother. The warmth of the bacon as it slid down my throat was a welcome feeling. 

My last piece of bacon stuck out of my mouth, being held in between my teeth as I buttered myself a piece of toast. Butter and toast; the two foods in my house that lasted the longest, and that we had most of. Mostly because it was cheap, but also because it satisfied me enough to get through the day when we didn't have any other food left.

I could only have one piece of toast though. We'll be just scraping by for the next few days. Just enough to buy the essentials until I got paid again. I was still hoping that I'd get paid just that little bit extra for coming in an hour earlier at work yesterday. The chances weren't high though, considering Jace didn't even notice that I was there.