Tradition Comes Third

Breakfast

Author's Note: Updating two days in a row, I wish I was always this productive. Hopefully this chapter covers a few loose ends.

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Ava's stomach grumbled, and she placed her hand over it. Dad pulled the paper towel off of the plate, and smiled.

"Are you two hungry?" he asked.

"No," I said.

"Don't lie," he said. "Take a seat at the table."

Ava curled her fingers into my arm. I took a step forward, and she followed close behind. Leah was sneaking a glance behind her as we walked into the dining room. We went around the table, and sat down beside each other. Jared and Taylor were finishing their card game.

I reached out, and placed my hand on her knee. I gave it a squeeze. Ava looked over to me, and gave me a weak smile.

Mom walked in carrying a bowl of eggs, Emme had the plate full of meat, and Leah had a stack of toast. They set the food on the table, and sat down. Dad came in behind, and sat at the head of the table. I noticed Ava's eyes were locked on the bowl of scrambled eggs.

"How did you two sleep?" Dad asked.

"Good," I said.

"That's great to hear." Dad picked up the plate of meat, and put a few pieces on his plate. "You two need to eat now."

Dad passed the plate to me. I grabbed it, reached over, and set it down away from Ava and I.

"We're not eating that," I told him.

"I'm not going to make you eat," Dad said. "But you're not getting anything until you eat the meat."

"You're going to starve us?" I asked.

"No." Dad shook his head. "I'm just going to wait for you to make the right decision. You need to take care of you and Ava."

"I am making the right decision."

The family continued to pass the food around the table, and skipped Ava and I. Under the table, Ava and I slipped our fingers together. We didn't pay attention to the conversation swirling around the table. My stomach grumbled, and Jared looked over at me. My mouth was watering as I stared at the eggs and toast. I could see the meat in the corner of my eye.

I wondered how much he was going to make us eat before we got real food? If we had just one tiny piece, would he let us eat breakfast?

I couldn't think like that.

I tried to focus on the sweat building up on our palms. I closed my eyes, and a wave of nausea me as a cramp passed through my stomach.

There had to be food somewhere else in this house. I had no more food left over in my backpack. Dad didn't lock my bedroom door last night. We could sneak into the kitchen tonight, and bring food back to my room. I couldn't wait until tonight. We needed to eat soon.

There was the freezer downstairs. Most food down there would be too frozen to eat, but we could sneak out a few ice cream sandwiches or munch on the bag of frozen fruit Mom had in the freezer. It was better than eating nothing.

"Can we go to the basement?" I asked.

"Why?" Dad asked.

"We're going to watch a movie," I said.

Dad looked over at Mom. She pressed her lips into a smile, and nodded her head.

"Go ahead," he said. "Ava, bring your dishes into the kitchen."