Annie and her siblings awoke to the sound of vehicles and early commuters making their way to lord knows where.
She rubbed her eyes, stretched herself and yawned as she sat.
In just one night, Bertha had screamed her awake more than two times.
She turned her gaze to her sister.
She wondered what the problem was. It had been happening since the night they lost their parents and it was fast becoming a routine which was sooo not good.
The screaming just had to stop but how she intended doing that, she had no idea.
She walked to one of the open windows and watched people go about their daily business.
As she watched, she couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy.
How she wished she was on her way to a store, shopping with her mom, arguing with her mother along the way, her siblings, holding her mom's hands, or on her way to but groceries with her mother, the two of them chatting away and laughing together on their way to the store, her mom at the wheels, driving whilst tapping her fingers to the beat of a song on the car's stereo.
She felt that stab in her heart that was fast becoming familiar.
Those things would only happen in her dreams. That lone tear again threatened to drop from her cheeks.
She turned her head back, away from her fantasies, back to butt naked ugly reality.
Her siblings were fully awake now, they'd been stretching and yawning when she got up but now Jon was absent from the room, gone to do some bit of exploration as boys usually do she was sure, Bertha was sitting wide eyed, staring at her.
A low grumbling sound in her belly reminded her that they'd eaten nothing for dinner the previous night.
She checked her pockets, they had just leftover spare change from Jon's pitiful act yesterday and even that wasn't enough to buy an ordinary hamburger for one person, yet there were three of them.
Annie shook her head and exhaled harshly.
"stay here" she said to Bertha as she walked towards the door.
As she opened it, she'd forgotten about the lack of railings on the mezzanine.
She almost fell off but steadied herself.
She walked down the stairs, calling out to her brother and intentionally avoided the rooms with the human waste, even with her eyes. She made sure her eyes didn't even look at the doors.
She walked downstairs, still calling out to him but she got no reply.
'where in the world was he' she wondered.
She went upstairs to the last floor and still couldn't find him that was when she went into panic mode.
She flew down the stairs and was heading towards the entrance, when he walked in, face and body streaked with dirt, carrying packing bags that smelled as though they were back in their mansion, the bakers in her father's employ, dishing out all kinds of things that could satisfy a sweet tooth.
She shook her head to clear impossible things from her memory.
'Focus Annie....quit with the musings' she chided herself. As though it worked, the thought vanished from her head instantly, replaced by a loud rumbling in her stomach
Jon carried one bag in each hand.
"where are you coming from looking like that and what are those" she asked, eyeing him, her hands folded across her chest.
"breakfast" he replied, walking past her, towards the stairs.
Annie ran after him. "Explain" she said, the moment they arrived at the room they slept in.
As she spoke, Bertha lunged at the bags Jon carried.
In an instant, she had a fat roll in her mouth.
Nope, those explanations were Annie's business, she had no time for that.
The worms in her stomach were having a feast in her stomach and the main attraction and main course served at that feast was her intestinal walls. She had to end that party.
Annie stared at her, mouth hanging open in shock. She'd never seen her sister lunge at food like that.
Seeing the look on her sister's face, Bertha abruptly stopped munching and looked at her with wide doe eyes, mouth full, food crumbs on her mouth.
Jon couldn't stand the sight and released a bout of laughter.
Annie turned to stare daggers at him, which did the magic of reducing his laughter to a chuckle and then she turned back to Bertha.
She knew the girl was hungry, Annie was hungry herself but she had no idea Bertha's was this bad that she would forget her manners.
If only she knew manners were the last thing on Bertha's mind.
Annie placed her head in her hands and shook it then she glanced up at Bertha who was still looking at her with those doe eyes.
Annie released a breath. "go on" she said finally.
Bertha resumed chewing as though a switch that controlled her teeth had been turned on then Annie turned her attention back to Jon.
"where did you get it" she repeated, this time, a bit more firm with her tone.
Jon stared at her calmly as she spoke, and slowly stretched his hands towards the bag but Annie lunged at him and slapped his hand away.
They'd settled down on the floor, were sitting with their legs crossed.
Jon groaned.
"Fine... I'll tell you" he said, rolling his eyes.
"I bought them" he said
"how... you have no money...we, have no money"
"rephrase that sis...we had no money" he said, putting emphasis on the had, fishing the back pockets of his shorts from which he produced a wallet and held it up.
Annie snatched the wallet from him, and stared daggers at him then she brought her gaze down to the wallet.
She gasped the moment she laid eyes on the contents, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.
Inside were crisp 50 dollar bills. She counted them and gasped again.
"how did... where did you..." she stammered, raising her head to look at him.
"stole it" he said, biting into a meatloaf non challantly. He'd taken advantage of Annie's distraction and snatched it from the bag.
"you did what?" asked Annie shocked.
"stole it" repeated Jon between bites.
Annie couldn't believe her ears. In just 3 days, her siblings were fast turning into a bunch of savages... first was Bertha snatching food like some wild animal now it was Jon pickpocketing wallets.
"return it" she said, throwing it to him.
"no can't do" he said casually.
"what do you mean by that" she asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"the supplier's long gone" he said, stretching his hand towards the bag to fish for more snacks.
"what do you mean long gone.... and who taught you that word" Annie said surprised.
"I didn't actually dip my hands into his pockets Annie...the universe decided not to let us starve to death" Jon said, pausing to swallow, then he continued.
"it fell off a guy's pocket as he was rushing off to somewhere...I tried to call him back but he didn't answer my call... he was in too much of a hurry...so I just took it" Jon said, lying through his teeth.
He wasn't stupid not to notice they had no money and his sister though the elder, would have to make him beg again and he hated it.
He'd preyed on a man hurrying off to work, too busy to notice when Jon slipped his fingers into the back pocket of his pants and fished his wallet.
So the story he told Annie wasn't far from the truth, he'd just bent it a little and left out the fishing part and the running part where someone saw him do it and shouted at the top of his voice.
Jon bolted immediately. He ran like he'd never done before.
"but you just said stole" Annie said brows raised, eyeing him.
"took, stole, same thing" Jon said shrugging his shoulders non challantly.
"how do I know you're not lying"
"you don't" Jon said simply, wiping his oily hands on his shorts, stunning Annie beyond words.
She shut her mouth because she had no response to his statement.
She reached out and fished the packaging bag for a bite.
The little worms in her stomach were starting a feast of their own.
Well at least their money problems were over for now, but she didn't like it one bit how the problem came to be over.
Now her brother had developed slippery fingers and he was just 9. Annie groaned inwardly.
If only she knew her brother had long had slippery fingers...one of those things boys picked up as they grew up...well some boys, but he decided to be one of those boys despite the fact that his family was well to do though he mostly did it for fun and now it had come in handy.
As Annie ate, she thought of the next problem on her long list this morning.
How were they going to have a bath because she knew she was stinking like a skunk.