The Broken Orphan [Being Rewritten]

Twenty Three- Cleaned

Evangeline

A few hours later, in awoken to Luke shaking me gently. My eyes flutter open to see him by the edge of my bed in different clothes than before, like he has to go somewhere.

"I have to go to the store to get stuff for dinner. Are you going to be okay while I'm gone?" He ask, I nod and rub the sleep out of my eyes. I have a lot more energy now that I've slept some.
"I'll be back in a little bit, okay?" He says
"Okay." I say
He kisses my forehead softly and walks out of my room. We say goodbye to each other and I hear the front door close after a few seconds.

'I don't have much time to clean the house because the store isn't far from here.' I think to myself. I shoot from my bed and race down the stairs, almost tripping over Nugget on the way down. I rush to the laundry room to get started there first. I throw in a load of laundry and start the cycle. I fold the clothes in the dryer and take them to our rooms. I make my bed as fast as I can and straighten my things, making sure I don't have anything out of place. I go to Luke's room and make his bed but leave all of his other things untouched in case he doesn't want me to mess with his things. I go back downstairs to start on the kitchen since it is the messiest. I collect all the dirty dishes which is only the ones that I didn't wash from this morning and begin washing them. I dry and put away the plates and then wipe down the counter. I search the closets until I find the one with the cleaning supplies and yank out the broom and mop. I sweep the whole downstairs and by the time I'm done, my arms are starting to get tired. I begin mopping the living room floor to make sure it's clean and then move onto the kitchen. Just as I get done with that, the front door opens to show Luke carrying grocery bags full of food.
"Oh no." I say defeatedly under my breath. Luke looks at me confusedly and then smiles.
"You cleaned." He says "Thanks, love bug." He says and pats my head. He sets down the food and begins preparing dinner. I put away the mop because there is no use in finishing now. I don't get tonight's dinner or tomorrow's. I'm not sure about breakfast or lunch though. I walk to my room with sadness filling my body. I slump onto my bed and curl into a ball with Ellie.

'But, I'm so hungry.' I think silently and my stomach rumbles in response. 'Stop! If you don't think about it then it won't be true.' I tell myself and will my mind to think about something other than food.
I sulk on my bed for a little while until Luke calls me downstairs. I walk to the kitchen with my head hung low, the great smells filling my nose and making my mouth water.

"What's wrong, Kitten?" He ask. I instantly perk back up to keep him from getting suspicious. Ms. Victoria always said to never complain or else she would make my punishment longer.
"Nothing." I say with a fake smile.
"Okay then. Dinner is ready. I'm sure you're hungry, I know I am." He laughs. He sits down at the table with the two plates and motions for me to also. I do as he wishes but don't dare touch the food.
'Why is he taunting me with this? Does he want me to try to eat it so he has an excuse to punish me?' I ask myself. He begins eating but stops when he sees that I haven't moved a muscle.

"Why aren't you eating?" He ask. I look at him dumbfounded as to why he is asking me this. He knows I can't eat because I didn't finish cleaning.
"I didn't finish cleaning in time." I tell him. He gets this confused look on his face and sets down his silverware.
"What do you mean 'in time'?" He ask
I sigh "I didn't get the house cleaned by the time you got back because I didn't have enough time." I say getting more emotional because of how good everything looks and how hungry I am and him taunting me.
"What does that have to do with you not eating?" He pushes
"I don't get dinner for today and tomorrow, but I'm really hungry, and now you're going to punish me because I'm complaining." I force out, beginning to cry my eyes out, into my hands.
He gets up and comes over to my side of the table. He pulls my sobbing, scared, shaking body into a hug and tries to calm me. I cry into his shirt and pray that he doesn't punish me. He could hurt me easily because of how strong he is.
"Please, I'll do better next time, I promise. Please, I don't want to be punished." I bawl. He doesn't say anything which scares me more. I see his hand move from the corner of my eye and flinch away immediately. He tenses at this and stops. I then feel his hand gently rest on my hair, instead of a hard blow to my face. We stay like this until I can finally force my tears to slow down.