Everything And Nothing All At Once

•|Chapter Four|•

     We frantically scrub the wall with the painting of trees. We are using our shirt and some water. It wasn't very effective.

     Sir is going to kill us, our mind states to us. We were so stupid! We are so stupid!

     Tears prick out the corner of our eyes. We scrub with more force. The paint did not go away, it only smeared. Our ribs still hurt. They make it difficult for us.

     "What're we going to do?" We exclaim in despair. We close our eyes and try to focus on the task at hand.

     I give up, slumping down to the ground. I hold our ribcage. "I don't want to die!" I clasp my ears with my hands and shake my head.

     I stare at the other painted wall. The sun stared back. It's smile warmed our insides. We couldn't help but smile back. Our favorite kind of day is a sunny day.

     We imagined what the sun would say to us if it were real.

     "Don't worry! I'm here to brighten your day!"

     We smile wider. "Yes you are. You are brightening our day. We thank you." We stare up at the ceiling. "I'm sorry. Sir will not like you."

     The sun ignored us. It's smile seemed emotionless to us now.

     "I said that I was sorry."

     We pull our knees to our chest. Our hands rest upon our knees. We have never noticed how pale we were before. We're like a ghost. A spooky, scary ghost.

     We grin at our hands and imitate claws. Our fingernails were chipped and uneven. We threaten the sun with our eyes.

     The sun refuses to respond.

     We grimace and slump our hands. "Don't you worry, after I'm done with the trees you're going next."

     We try our best to imitate Sir's voice. "Or, you can clean yourself up."

     The sun doesn't seem threatened in the least.

     We stand up, a painful shock from our ribs pulsate throughout our body. We whimper and hold ourselves carefully.

     We turn back to the wall we were previously working on. The green and brown were smeared across the wall, overlapping one another. We should've left it like it was before...

     Too late now.

     I sigh and drop the shirt. It landed with a splat onto the ground. "I know. You are right, you are always right."

     Pick the shirt up.

     I do.

     Run water over it.

     I do that also. The water, coming into contact with the shirt, turned brown and green and went down the drain.

     Now continue washing.

     I go back to the wall and begin to wipe away paint. Miraculously, it was actually working. The more paint we wash away the more sad I become. All of our beautiful trees...

     We make multiple trips to the sink and back to the wall before we manage to have the wall cleared of paint. Except, for some faint smudges.

     We turn sadly to the wall with the sun. It's eyes begged us to leave it alone, let it be.

     My voice shakes. "I'm so sorry, I have to."

     "You don't have to do anything," the sun responds in our head. It glared at us with challenge.

     "Sir will hurt us again."

     Listen to the sun. We don't have to do anything.

     "But, but Sir?"

     Sir will hurt us anyways.

     "He only hurts us when we do something bad. We just have to be good for him."

     Why do our ribs hurt?

     I don't respond. We start shaking. We start crying. We crumple into a ball on the ground. We grasp our ribs and rock ourselves.

     Despite ourselves we start imagining. We imagine ourselves being rescued by a knight, like the princesses in the stories. We imagine his steel armor shining in the light. We imagine the feeling of a gentle breeze brushing past our skin.

     We imagine ourselves sitting on a dragons back behind the knight and flying away. We imagine ourselves feeling the warmth of the sun.

     We smile as our imagination fades away, leaving a taste of calmness on our tongue.

     We release the tension our body was holding and close our eyes. We fell asleep on the floor.

     "Wake up sleepy head~"

     We open our eyes and blink a few times. We forgot that we fell asleep on the floor. We realize that Sir was standing over us, a box was in his hands.

     We sit up slowly. We gasp at the pain our ribs cause us.

     "Let me help you," Sir said. He lifted us up by my armpits into our feet. Our ribs complained greatly, but we did not tell Sir.

     He patted my shoulder once I was on my feet. "Follow me to the kitchen."

     We do as he asks.

     He placed the box on the table and opened it. A delicious aroma flooded our nose. We eye the item in the box.

     He smiled at us kindly. "Do you know what today is?"

     We shake our head.

     "It's the fifteenth anniversary."

     We stare at him in confusion. Fifteenth anniversary of what?

     "Anyway, I brought you some pizza. You deserve some." He pushes the box towards us.

     "You can have two slices, I'll take the rest," he added.

     We cautiously take a piece from the box. It was triangle shaped. The smell was captivating. We watch the end of the piece droop down.

     We lower our head to get the end in our mouth. We instantly fell in love with "pizza" as it hit our tongue.

     "So, do you like it?" Sir asked, finishing off his own slice.

     We don't respond as we quickly consume the rest. We reach for our other piece, Sir stops us.

     "I asked you a question."

     We stop for a moment and stare at him with wide eyes.

     He let go of us and smiled. "Do you like the pizza?"

     "Yes Sir, thank you Sir," we answer. And finally grab the next slice. We consume this slice faster than the one before.

     We grab for another.

     Sir shut the box on us. "I said only two."

     My heart drops. "Sir, please, one more?" I plead. We pout our lip and wait for his response.

     "If I'd have known you'd turn greedy I wouldn't have brought you this," Sir responded. He picked up the box and strode toward the door.

     I trail him. "Please?" I beg, clasping my hands together.

     He turned around and slapped me across the face. I fell to the ground and groaned from my ribs. I rub them slowly, forgetting about the slap to the cheek.

     "Stop acting like a child."

     Sir then left us. We hear the tantalizing sound of the rattling. We hear his suceeding footsteps. We remember the taste of the pizza.

     We want more.

|Unedited|