The birds chirped, sitting on the high trees that towered over the small yet cozy house, Liya lived in. There was definitely no one who would come wake her up. It was always the sounds of birds that disrupted her beauty sleep and forced her to start her day. It wasn't as if she didn't want to. She always looked forward to what was going to happen but mostly nothing exciting ever happened in Mozhao village. It was as if, the village was no longer part of the Kingdom of Riverdale. It seemed like a long-forgotten piece of, not so useful land.
Liya forced herself out of bed and went outside to look into the reflection of water lying in a tub near the washing tap, which they used for cleaning up in the morning. There were, of course, some sort of mirrors too, but it was considered a luxury that only the Royals got to enjoy.
After washing up and setting her hair, Liya decided that she didn't need to change her dress, considering the fact that she didn't have too many dresses, to waste one on yet another normal day of her lie.
Breakfast! Oh yes, she had to cook for herself and her mother and for the grandma who lived next door. The grandma was nearing the end of her age and lived alone. Liya, as she was, was always ready to help anyone and had agreed to send her breakfast and if possible, lunch and some snacks too. The woman, being old, didn't require a very huge serving, either.
The usual breakfast was a boiled egg and a steamed bun sometimes filled with some vegetables and rarely meat. Meat, once again, was quite a luxury. Liya's mother owned hens, so the eggs were no problem and Liya also used as many as she wanted to bake small cakes. The steamed buns were somewhat expensive but the lady selling them down the street always gave Liya a discount, in return for her cakes. But today Liya hadn't made any cakes, and there were no leftovers from the previous day either. So the only way out was to eat eggs.
She grabbed three eggs from the basket near the hens' cage and boiled them in warm water. Looking for a side, she fried some cabbage and peas left over from a few days ago, when her mother made pea soup, something they got to eat very rarely.
"Liya-yah", it was her mother.
"Mama! Good Morning. I'm boiling eggs. Sit down to eat, okay?!", she exclaimed and motioned her to sit.
The lady took a few pennies out of the bag that was tied around her waist, quite sulky and old.
"Why didn't you wake me up? Take the money and buy some buns too.", she gave her a slightly disturbed expression.
"It's fine! I will get some later when I go out to sell cakes.", she smiled at the woman who had now sat down.
'Are you always going to use your cakes to bargain stuff?", she said keeping the pennies in her sulken bag again, her hands slightly shivering as she did it.
Liya merely chuckled without any reply.
She took out the three boiled eggs from the pot and placed two in one earthen bowl and the third one in another earthen bowl, then she added the fried vegetables, making sure to add more to the second bowl with only one egg. Her mother watched her, a slight sparkle in her eyes, the kind which forms when tears settle onto the brim of one's eye, but that was it, no tears. The look in her eyes sort of pitied the girl and sort of despised who she was at the same.
After Liya was done preparing the bowls, she placed the one with two eggs in front of her mother on a slab, too unshaped and rough to be called a table.
"You eat. I'm going to give this to the grandma before it gets cold.", she smiled and left with the other bowl.
The woman behind her sighed as she began peeling the eggs.
Liya made her way through the unlevelled steps to the house of the old lady, next to them. The door wasn't locked, which made her heart skip a beat. Grandma's door was always locked when she visited. At times, Liya had to wait outside because it would take her a lot of time to come and open the door, with her failing knees.
Liya went inside without delay. As she entered the bricked room, the sight before her eyes made her heart stop for long enough that she could have died. She couldn't breathe. Something seemed to be suffocating. The plate of food in her hand that was supposed to be waiting for the old lady to eat her fill through it, fell from her hands and landed with a crash on the ground, its contents, all slipping near her feet. Her mind went numb and every possible consequence, assumption, fear, and possibility jumped into it. It sort of caused a spine-breaking pain to run across her head and neck
In front of her, lay the old woman all covered in blood with a knife stuck in her chest. But what was more surprising for her was that the knife was covered with a handkerchief embroidered with dandelions.
The handkerchief, it belonged to Liya.